NorCalSS

Hi Guys and Gals. I need some help with the wires in the pictures. I need to know where they go to and what they are for. The white/tan looking one on the right and closest to the dash is for the door plunger on the passenger side. One is for the flood light under the glove box, one for the dash pannel, Radio, and ?? If anyone knows the color of the wire and what it goes to it would help me greatly. The wires are from the wire loom that runs above the Cluster and from looking at my manuals it is the IC wire loom. I will post pics of the wires and the connectors that are on some of them. The previous owners tapped into various wires under the dash when installing the Alarm and after market Stereo and it was a mess. I want to clean it up and trace all the "extra" connections and do it right.

Any help would be great, Thanks....Joe

WIRES THAT ARE IN THE LOOM.
Picture006.jpg

WIRES IN THE LOOM DIFFERENT ANGLE
Picture011.jpg

VARIOUS CONNECTORS ON SOME OF THE WIRES
Picture009.jpg

MDchanic

Honestly, I'd look carefully at the wiring diagram in your Chassis Service Manual first, and trace every wire in the vicinity of the instrument cluster, then worry about any you can't find. The diagram has a tiny picture of the business end of just about every plug in the car, mostly down at the bottom of the page, and you can use those, along with the wire colors, to identify pretty much every plug there is.

- Eric

Lady72nRob71

Assuming 72 Cutlass:

Big orange wire with single big black connector is constant 12V for clock or tach/clock.
Smaller grey wire with single connector is for clock/tach backlighting.
Big lighter orange wire with small clear 'bullet' terminal is for cigar lighter.
If black connector has green/white stripe and a black (hard to see), thats for seat belt buzzer.
Yellow - radio.

I never thought those wires could be pulled out so far...........

442much

Actually they can be pulled out even farther...as long as they are not connected to anything on the other end.

NorCalSS

There is a self sticking wire loom anchor/holder on the back of the speedo area that if not connected you can pull the wires out. The double sided tape is no longer sticky so it just hangs there and allows me to pull the wires out pretty far. .

Wow. I had a brain fart. Sorry I forgot the most important detail! Yes it is a 72 Cutlass Supreme. 350/350.

Sorry about that.

Thanks for the info. Also thanks for taking the time out to answer a basic question for me. Now it will be archived for people doing searches for the same thing. I have the diagram at home but wanted to be certain on some of the wires, luckily I asked because I had 2 of them mixed up.

Thanks again

Joe

Lady72nRob71

Glad I could help.
The scary part is that I did not even have to look it up.
Spent too much time in there a few years back....
The belt buzzer socket was kind of a givaway that it was a 72.

NorCalSS

Im knee deep behind the dash now. Trying to separate stock wires from aftermarket wires is a bare when they are spliced together in no certain order and just looks like Spaghetti . If you must splice into stock wires for an aftermarket radio and alarm at least keep the splices in the same general area and with some sort of order.

I guess thats just me. I mark and lable mine when I tap into existing wires. makes life much easier for me or anyone else down the line

Lady72nRob71

Sounds you had a circus city or worst buy installation...
All the wiring I added to my car was done in similar colors so I could ID them easier later on.
I had to pull a ratsnest tangle of wiring out from under my dash after pushing in the lighter with the radio on released a black mushroom cloud of smoke from the dash. The lighter was hooked to the radio pwr antenna lead with a switch box, so his CB would turn on with the radio. It could not handle the lighter's current. I hate rigged stuff like this.

MDchanic

The radio power in my Delta was taken off the cigarette lighter wire - the wire was cut and re-twisted with the radio wire, not soldered, taped, or covered, and sitting a fraction of an inch away from grounded bare metal dashboard supports.

12-gauge heavily fused wire + dead short to ground = dashboard flambé.

One of the first things I do when I get a car is to open up the dash, for just this reason. It's unbelievable what you find.

- Eric