silverriff

I just got a 1972 Cutlass with a 455 in it. The previous owner cared much more for the engine than the interior/electrical. And now I get to put it all back together again. The main issue I'm having right now is the dash gauge "night lights" not working. The gas and speedo themselves work, the turnsignal lights work, but not the rest of them. Fuses are fine, bulbs are fine, and the plugs are giving power, but still no go. There is currently nothing where the clock was, and the radio is missing. Is something in the circuit missing? Under the dash I found this silver bullet looking thing that has a teardrop shaped bracket coming off the side and an orange wire leading to an in-line fuse,connected to a grey wire. This bullet thing is not attached to anything. What is that? Also my horn is not working. I replaced the relay yesterday, no go. I know I asked alot of questions. Whatever answers you could give me would be great!

rocketraider

There's a grounding bar that surrounds the plastic gage cluster and connects to the metal part of the dash. Check to make sure all the screws are in it and tight.

The bullet thing sounds like some type of floodlight housing, probably for the ashtray, maybe for the headlight switch if it's on LH side of dash. It will attach to something rear of the dash and light whatever it's directed at. Bet there's a little pinhole opening in it at one end; that's where the light will shine out.

Try rapping the horns with a screwdriver handle or other such lightweight "agitation device". Coils may be stuck. You may also need to pull the steering wheel cover and check the connections on the back side.

I strongly recommend getting a 1972 Chassis Service Manual. It will have pics of all this stuff and repair procedures. Invaluable for trying to get someone else's cobbled-up mess working again. An Assembly Manual would also be a good investment.

I have spent way more time fixing someone else's electrical mess than I ever should have, and "owner electrical engineering" is one reason I stay away from all Chevrolets and most musclecars. You would not believe some of the things I've fixed, and I'm convinced I got to some of it just in time before the car went up in flames.

I became a stickler for doing electrical work correctly after one of my lifelong best friends lost a gorgeous 65 Impala to an electrical fire in our high school parking lot. Guy he bought it from had installed an 8-track player and aftermarket gauges underdash shortly before Tommy bought it, and we always believed it started in the ammeter wiring. He'd had it 3 weeks when it burned, and the damned old azzhole school security guard let it get fully involved before he even called it in. His excuse? "I just thought one of them kids was sitting in his car cutting class and it was smoking out the tailpipe."

He knew whose car it was, and he didn't like us, we didn't like him. He was one of the first real certified azzholes I ever met- seemed like his whole MO was to see how many people he could screw over or **** off in a day's time.

silverriff

Sorry to hear about your friends car! I would hate to have that happen to mine. This is my first venture into the electrical system, and I am quickly finding out how important it is. I would love to rewire everything with a new harness, but I'm not quite ready to drop $600.00 on one. But I did order an electrical diagram for my car, hopefully that will shed some light on my situation....no pun intended. Thanks for your help!

silverriff

I have spent the past 3 weekends trying to find out whats wrong with this electrical system. No luck. Everytime I think I have narrowed the problem down, I just find something else that is not hooked up/hooked up incorrectly. I have the official chassie assembly guide coming today, and that will be my last ditch effort to fix this, but I am really looking into just getting the Painless GM muscle car harness and re-wiring the whole thing. My boss has used it before on his old Monte Carlo, said it was pretty straightforward and well worth the investment. Does anyone have any thought on this plan? Good, bad, anything?

2blu442

I've used painless wiring kits twice... I didn't learn the first time! For me it was very painful! I pulled out everything from bumper to bumper and rewired it, spending several days on it. The fusebox was different and needed a bracket fabricated to hold it. I had to remove the seats to run the wires back to the trunk. And now I need to keep track of the book that came with it as the colors don't match the factory setup. I would be inclined to replace just the portion you need with good used or repop harness sections. If you bought a Chassis Service Manual it will have a color schematic of the wiring, and throughout the book various diagrams showing wiring of various things. If you get really hung up, I believe I have a 1972 dash in the garage with the harness still attached. I could take photos of whatever portion you need to see. John

silverriff

Which one of the harnesses did you use? The GM 60's-70's muscle car, the Hotrod, or generic harness? I was really into the idea of rewiring the whole thing, but if it is going to be that much of a pain in the butt, its not worth spending $400 on it. The problem is that there are wires everywhere. The car was converted from a column shifter, to a floor, so all the wires that were in the column are out and about. He never hooked up the 2 wires to the horn buttons, and I can't find them. The radio and speakers were all dissconnected, and the air-conditioner was ripped out too. It also looks like he replaced the whole dash itself, because it has the dummy AC vents, but the car did originally have AC. Anyway I have the Chassie manual coming today, and will do my best to fix it. If not, I will just take the Painless Plunge and hope for the best!

-Eric S.

redoldsman

There is a guy in Garland, Texas that makes wiring harnesses that use GM connectors and color codes. I have one I bought several years ago for a 56 Chevy pickup I still have not got around to doing. I think he is still in business and the name of his company is Hot Rod Wires. I used to see him at the big swap meets but I haven't been to one in a while. He as a really nice guy and I think just a one man shop. He had two different kits with each having a different number of circuits. His price was very reasonable. It would be worth a try to Google him.

68conv455

Check your headlight switch. This switch also dims the dashboard to your preference. Make sure you have power out to the dash in all positions.

68conv455

check power at your horn too. Many times on these old cars the problems are not related as they failed years apart.