The Sheriff

[carrman]

Sounds like you've got some floating ground, and I'd start with making sure the taillights and front turn lights/park lights have good ground.

 

[cbarge]

Back feeding somewhere. As process of elimination,for what it cost,replace the foot dimmer switch.
Also make sure you have good ground between the steering column and dash.Run a jumper wire as part of the diagnostic.
Underhood,clean the ground for the main headlamp harness that screws to the rad core support (somewhere in front or around the battery).
Check the harness connection of the TS switch at the foot of the column,clean any corrosion and use dielectric grease on EVERY contact.
Find all loose unused wires that pertain to any accessories that were removed from the car when decommissioned.Check them for juice--hot or switched.
Any hot or switched wires laying around still getting juice can wreak havoc.
All bulbs need good ground..Any freshly painted surfaces can cause a bad ground or backfeed.
Hope this helps.
Getting ready for that teething problem soon myself......

 

[cantflip]

GAAAAAHHHHHH!

Sigh. No dash lights. No gauges work, powered ones anyway. The electrical issue is getting worse.

Thought is was the headlight dimmer. Headlights on, hit the dimmer for high beams then hit the dimmer again to drop to lows, no change. WTF? Turn off lights and back on, lows are on. Rinse and repeat. Accidentally hit the turn signal, now headlights flash in time with the turn signal. :/ Replace dimmer, same issue. Screw with dash dimmer wheel as I notice when the lights are on no dash lights but both turn indicators are glowing. WTF?

Turn on the lights, go to high beams hit the switch for lows and all four are still lit up. Move the dash dimmer wheel down to halfway and the high beams go off back to lows. Eh? Turn the wheel back up all the way and repeat. Same outcome. Repeat, this time turn on turn signal and make the lights flash. Move the wheel to half way, lights stop flashing and got back to low beams. Who built this car? Oy.

Then I remind myself the electrical had to have been touched somewhere in it's existence for the siren/bubble and extra equipment.

Now what? The dash dimmer is next to impossible to find. And they aint cheap.

On a good note, went out for another run. Going further everytime. Took my Father in law out for a ride in his dads car for the first time in 20 years or so. He enjoyed it, loud exhaust and all.

For symptoms like you're describing the problem is you lost ground or power somewhere. Lots of back feed problems are from power not being present where it is supposed to be. I would start with volt meter checks, preferable back probing connectors while still plugged in. A fused jumper wire would be a quick shade tree way to determine if a circuit was missing ground, but use a very light fuse in case you screw up and short a circuit. It's easier to deal with a blown fuse than a damaged electrical part.

 

[cantflip]

Sounds like you've got some floating ground, and I'd start with making sure the taillights and front turn lights/park lights have good ground.

Back feeding somewhere. As process of elimination,for what it cost,replace the foot dimmer switch.
Also make sure you have good ground between the steering column and dash.Run a jumper wire as part of the diagnostic.
Underhood,clean the ground for the main headlamp harness that screws to the rad core support (somewhere in front or around the battery).
Check the harness connection of the TS switch at the foot of the column,clean any corrosion and use dielectric grease on EVERY contact.
Find all loose unused wires that pertain to any accessories that were removed from the car when decommissioned.Check them for juice--hot or switched.
Any hot or switched wires laying around still getting juice can wreak havoc.
All bulbs need good ground..Any freshly painted surfaces can cause a bad ground or backfeed.
Hope this helps.
Getting ready for that teething problem soon myself......

Great thoughts guys...

 

[67Monaco]

Thanks Fellas.

 

[carrman]

Had a similar but less serious issue with turn signal/park light sockets not seeing good ground with park lights and tail lights searching for ground through my turn signals.

 

[carrman]

Thinking some more about this. What's the one component that touches all these circuits? The dash cluster. Check the ground for the cluster.

 

[67Monaco]

Funny you say that. I took the cluster out this afternoon during a break from work. Headlights go from hi to low with no impact form the dash dimmer. Signals still flash faster than normal but I blame that on the missing fender mounted lights and more modern bulbs. Hazard flashers go at normal speed though. Might be just be the turn flasher itself. Now I wanna look at the cluster. I'm thinking of adding a ground or two.

 

[cbarge]

Funny you say that. I took the cluster out this afternoon during a break from work. Headlights go from hi to low with no impact form the dash dimmer. Signals still flash faster than normal but I blame that on the missing fender mounted lights and more modern bulbs. Hazard flashers go at normal speed though. Might be just be the turn flasher itself. Now I wanna look at the cluster. I'm thinking of adding a ground or two.

Cluster gets grounded as it is screwed into dash frame.
Hazard flashers run on it own flasher unit separate from the turn signals.
Fender mount signals were optional and did not make a difference on the load
Are you running LED's for the park/brake/turn signals?
If so,you need to run this flasher that has an external ground.I usually screw it to one of the bottom of the dash..It is polarity specific so you may have to swap the spades in the car's connector if it does not work the first time out. I have this in the Waygun,and the 66 300 both run LED'S
44890 - 3 Pin Flasher, Variable-Load Electronic LED (Pilot) - Grote Industries

 

[67Monaco]

Cluster gets grounded as it is screwed into dash frame.
Hazard flashers run on it own flasher unit separate from the turn signals.
Fender mount signals were optional and did not make a difference on the load
Are you running LED's for the park/brake/turn signals?
If so,you need to run this flasher that has an external ground.I usually screw it to one of the bottom of the dash..It is polarity specific so you may have to swap the spades in the car's connector if it does not work the first time out. I have this in the Waygun,and the 66 300 both run LED'S
44890 - 3 Pin Flasher, Variable-Load Electronic LED (Pilot) - Grote Industries

Nope. All incandescents. But brighter more modern version of the 1157's Nearly the same load (slightly more) but almost twice as bright.


Oh and just so we're clear it worked with this setup previously. Signals were fast then too.

 

[cbarge]

You said you had no gauges?? They get powered up by a 5 volt limiter on the back of the cluster which is fed by the ignition switch.
Since you got the cluster out,test continuity of the 5 volt limiter that feeds the gauges.
Check the switched power wire with test light that feeds the limiter.
If it does not have power with key on test the ignition switch and connector.

 

[67Monaco]

You said you had no gauges?? They get powered up by a 5 volt limiter on the back of the cluster which is fed by the ignition switch.
Since you got the cluster out,test continuity of the 5 volt limiter that feeds the gauges.
Check the switched power wire with test light that feeds the limiter.
If it does not have power with key on test the ignition switch and connector.

The 5v limiter is solid state now and puts out a steady 5v presently.


This is what the problem looked like before. As you may notice it actually had dash lights. At the time I was trying to figure out the Flasher wigwag. Only difference between this video and today is 1100 miles south and almost a year of sitting outside waiting for the house to be built. Other than that, nothing's changed electrically to the dash.

I have added a electric fuel pump and tach. Both are fed from relays under the hood triggered by the keyed side of the regulator. Ground from each is fed back to the battery ground directly.

 

[cbarge]

OK...thanks for showing that.
Problem is on the right side.
That is a bad ground somewhere in the circuit.
Steering column must have a wire grounded to the dash between the break-off tabs where the column is bolted to.
As mentioned before check all bulbs/sockets.
Are you running an cheap flasher or a heavy duty electronic one like the one people used when towing??
Recommend that one with hi power incandescent bulbs.
The alternating flashing left/right of flashers is weird.
I had seen bad flasher switches since they do not get much use and internals corrode. I had luck spraying electronic spray in them and move the switch like mad and work fine afterwards.
I had new working bulbs that were internally shorted,too.

 

[carrman]

Another thing, be sure any 1157 type bulbs are indexed correctly. Had that happen on the Newport also.

 

[carrman]

Side to side flashing of the flashers could be a throwback to the police light wiring??

 

[67Monaco]

Side to side flashing of the flashers could be a throwback to the police light wiring??

I honestly don't know.

 

[67Monaco]

Something in the cluster. Got dash lights back. Both dimmers work as they should. Signals and flashers are good, signals still fast but I'll take it. No idear what it was to be honest. It was most definitely a ground though. Had it out and in several times for testing never saw it light up. Took the left circuit board off, too it to the car plugged it in, and saw dim lights and one bright. Jumpered to ground and the lights lit up like they were supposed to.

Added two ground wires to the back of the cluster on either board using the screws that hold the circuit boards to the cluster itself. Put back in hooked up, turned on lights in preparation to test the new grounds, whole dame thing lit up and I hadn't used the new grounds.

Said F'it, it's 12:30 I'll leave it til tomorrow and figure out where the permanent ground will be routed.

Check back in at work and I think it's a night til I gotta get back on the conference calls at 7am. But on the good note, I'll have time to putter with the car again.

 

[67Monaco]

What mess the garage is, yikes.

 

[GJS]

What mess the garage is, yikes.

Yup.

 

[67Monaco]

Yay. Got dash lights that dim. I can actually see the turn signals in the cluster now. And best of all the gauges are working again. Found the terminals where the old voltage limiter was connected weren't working. Hooked up the solid state buck regulator to the gauge terminals and everything is looking good.

Got the chance to test the throttle stumble from a dead punch. Spun those tires all the way through 1st. Still seems to be shifting early but the adjustments are getting closer. I'll probably put another turn or two on the kickdown rod and see how it does tomorrow. Having a bit of fun now.