sammicurr86

Car = 1970 Cutlass 350
Found a pair of random black and white wires hanging under the hood behind the brakes. (Pic 2) Do they belong to the device in Pic 1? What is the device in pic 1? (I'm electrically retarded)

Also my Fuel gauge and Speedometer night lights don't work. Dummy/directional lights work and they both function properly, it's just that they don't light up when I pull the light switch for a nighttime drive. (Fuses are good, also replaced bulbs behind those two gauges) Still nothing...any ideas? Thanks




What's that for?




Found these randomly hanging around?

oldspackrat

Those wires are not original to the car. The thing in the first picture is the high speed blower relay. Often the 3 wire connector that attaches to the relay gets hot & melts the connector. That's probably why yours is missing. Not sure what the black & white wires are for, trace them to the other end? I'd guess your fan does not work on all speeds?

You may need to pull your fuel gauge & speedo & "carefully" disconnect the black plastic harmonica connectors & check for power to the appropriate pins on the back of your instruments. I don't remember which wire is the power but I'm sure someone on here can post a picture of the wiring diagram. Maybe someone has been hacking/cutting wires under the dash for some reason?

MDchanic

Those look like the ends of the wires from the aftermarket windshield washer pump in the lower right of the picture.

- Eric

midrange

I had this same light problem just yesterday.
What is most likely happening is the tabs in the socket are too loose to get a good connection with the bulb's wires, even though the bulb feels tight in the socket.

You need to tighten up the tabs by taking a small screwdriver and prying them towards each other, in order to 'snug' up the bulb's connection.

I used a meter to check continuity between the tabs in pic 2 with a known good bulb in place, while I was doing the adjustments. That way I didn't have to keep installing and removing the gauge from the dash to see if I was making progress.

I also had a couple of sockets that weren't getting a good connection on the circuit board. The second pic shows what to look for there.

Hopefully these pics will help.

sammicurr86

I'll give it a shot. In the meantime here are some pics behind the dash/speedo. Maybe I'm not seeing something.



Behind the Speedometer.




Wiring behind dash/fuel gauge




Behind fuel gauge. Anyone know where that white light bulb is supposed to go? Found it hanging in limbo...

oldspackrat

It looks like some hacking has been done. In the bottom left of the first picture I see some electrical tape. I'd untape those & others & see what has been done & repair it correctly. Get rid of any unused or unneeded wiring to simplify things.
In the 2nd picture there is a flat metal ring that is supposed to be mounted between the headlight switch & the dash. It is a major pain to install with out taking the dash apart. It contains a small bulb that shines a small beam of light onto your light switch ****. Also there is a blue wire that seems to be cut or damaged. Check to make sure it is good & repair it. There is a stray red wire in the lower right of the picture that is not factory. See where it goes & fix or remove. I see another white socket in that picture also. Those are mounted into the little metal grill piece right above the wiper switch. There is another above the heater control panel. There should be 4 sockets (2 per grill) that illuminate your lower dash. Do some more work & get more pix & we'll get it straightened out for you.