[sheetmetal]

i have a 67 chevelle. the 4th fuse from the top does not have power, with key on or off. there is a male spade termanal to the right of the fuse, no power either. what is this fuse for and why does it have no power. how do i fix it and is it switched or always hot. now for my question. im trying to hook up some aftermarket gauges and trying to get the lights in the gauges to come on when the lights are turned on. my thinking is the fuse i mentioned earlier was the source. however i do have dash lights. thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

I'm guessing you mean the right hand side. Believe that's the turn signal fuse. You don't have power on either side of the fuse? Are you touching the metal part of the fuse when you measure it? Scratch the fuse clips, make a clean spot,and measure the clips. Guessing you will see power on one side. Old fuses and dirty clips can cause a lot of problems.
Gage lamps get tied to the circuit run off the small short LMPS fuse on the center bottom. Believe there should be a male lug down there to connect to the Lamps circuit.

 

[sheetmetal]

John, thanks for your help. this car only has 7 fuses. they are all the standard length and they are all in a row, 1 on top the other. the bottom 4 have a male spade termanal beside them. i have disconnected the fuse block and looked at the wires behind the block. the offending circute (4th from the top) has a grey wire to the center most fuse end and a green wire at the other end. there is no power to wires these. the spade termanal next to the fuse ( 4th from top) is labeled "lamps". all the other fuses have power. thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

"the offending circute (4th from the top) has a grey wire to the center most fuse end and a green wire at the other end. there is no power to wires these"

That's the lamps fuse. The green wire is the input, the gray is the output. Power comes from the rheostat on the head light switch. Check to see if the rheostat is turned up. If it is, check to see if the car has running lights. The same switch inside the headlight switch works both. If you have running lights, suspect a problem with the headlight switch rheostat. May be burnt.

 

[sheetmetal]

OK John, i checked and i have no running lights. just have head and tail lights. what is this an indication off? thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

Running lights and tail lights are the same thing, just different words. Orange is the headlight switch input to power both tail lights and dash lights. Orange to the head light switch is fused by the tail light fuse. If you have power to the rear running or tail light fuse, sounds like the switch input is OK from what I read. Maybe check out the switch. This help?
http://www.chevelles.com/forum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=001504#000002

 

[sheetmetal]

John, are ya still with me? i dont have fire to the front turn signals either. i though thats what you ment by running lights. is this and the fuse related? im dreading pulling this dash to get at the light switch. Thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

I'm back. Have you checked for power on both sides of the tail light fuse? That fuse goes to the input orange wire on the headlight switch. The orange power wire feeds both the tail lights and the dash lights.

 

[sheetmetal]

John, i have dash lights, and tail lights. the lights in the dash are not really very bright but they do turn up and down with the switch. the 4th fuse has no fire and now i find there is no fire to the turn signal lights in the front of the car. thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

Do the rear turning signals work or light up? Have you tried to see if there is 12 volts to the front sockets when the turn signal is on. Front turn signals use the frame for a ground and an open ground tends to be a problem.

 

[sheetmetal]

yes John, the front turn signal wires do have power when the turn signal lever is moved left or right. they do not come on when the head lights are turned on. ( this may be normal, dont know) i tried grounding the head light switch to get power to #4 fuse but it did not work. seems im going to have to pull the dash to get at the switch and go from there. thanks Dave P.S. i ordered both new forward engine harness a while back and had them omit the voltage regulator and any circuit that had to do with a/c and heat. does this in anyway deal with the #4 fuse?

 

[John_Muha]

"they do not come on when the head lights are turned on. ( this may be normal, dont know)"

Not normal. Suspect you have a second problem. Possible ground problem with the front lights but it's probably best to ignore it until you fix the problem with the fuse.

"i tried grounding the head light switch to get power to #4 fuse but it did not work"

Yeah grounding it won't fix it. Your fuse with the gray & green wires on it is the dash lamp fuse. The green is the input. This comes from the headlight switch. The headlight switch gets power from the orange wire. Believe that's the fuse right above the gray & green wire fuse. If you see power there, check the orange wire on the headlight switch.

"i ordered both new forward engine harness a while back and had them omit the voltage regulator and any circuit that had to do with a/c and heat. does this in anyway deal with the #4 fuse?"

No the 2 circuits are not related. Time to check around on the headlight switch orange, green, and brown wires.

 

[sheetmetal]

John, im a complete idiot! i did not relize i had to turn the light switch on to get power to the 4th fuse. its been working all along.

learning experiance here. at any rate, my fuel gage is at fuel. there is no gas in the tank. while i have the dash loose i pulled the wires off the back of the gage. still shows full. does this mean the gauge is bad? Thanks so much for your help. Dave

 

[derekf]

I don't think that the gauge will move without any power at all - I'm not positive, but I think that if you apply power to one lead and ground the other it should go to E.. but I am not positive about this and I am not sure which terminal would get the power and which the ground.

 

[John_Muha]

derekf is right. It will probably just sit up there. Believe your gage only has two wires to it, a pink and a tan. Pink is 12 volts, tan is the fuel sender. The gage gets it's ground from the gage frame or case. Think the 3 wire gages came out in 69.
Since your dash is loose, you may have one of the ground wires loose. Try hooking up the connector again, turn the key on and ground the gage case to a known good ground. See if it goes empty.

 

[sheetmetal]

thanks guys, got both problems fixed. Next is the horn. if i apply 12 volts directly to the horn it sounds as good as a 37 year horn should. if i use the horn button it is very very weak. Mind you im just useing a battery charger to power the cars system for now. also the car has a grant steering wheel with its own horn button. any ideas? Thanks Dave

 

[John_Muha]

What's it sound like if you ground the horn relay black wire directly to the chassis? May consider using a battery. Horns take more current that a couple of light bulbs.