Bryan59EC

Trying to repair a wiring issue in a Cutlass convert at my friend's
body shop.
After some searching for pics of a gutted dash and a couple of posts
in the archives here, I'm getting closer to my problem.

between the fuse and the dash lights there is a short to a battery or ignition fed wire.

remove the ignition switch--rear body harness--engine and front light harness
and headlight switch----still have a direct short between the 2 or 3 wires in the harness somewhere.

Original symptom----battery drain----dash lights stay on all the time---backfeeding to the taillight and park light circuits.

Disconnect HL switch---dash lights still on---exterior lights go off

No continuity from the green HL switch wire to the battery feed wires (dash lamp fuse removed)

The load side of the fuse has 000 resistance to the battery fed buss, and very little resistance to the ignition buss in the fuse box.

disconnect the connectors from the gage pods-----no change.

Now---the green wire at the HL switch goes DIRECTLY to the fuse and then DIRECTLY to the dash lamps (in a perfect world).

wire from the HL switch to the fuse is good

Now I get to pull the harness down, unwrap it, and locate the area where the wires are all fused together (and not supposed to be).

This car has been a nightmare as far as electrons go.
so far had to fix a horn, turn signals, top and the taillight harness had been chopped into 4 pieces. Thought I had it all ironed out and now this.

As it stands---HL switch was burned, terminals no longer grab the terminals on the switch, and the HL connector body has melted.

Car was fine one day---couple days later this weird thing happened.

Could be working on my own car, but ended up working on his customer's car----that's okay----doing things like this and the occasional 12-pack keeps my labor rates rates down and provides covered parking while I get my car together.

Lady72nRob71

Wow - almost sounds like a new dash harness will be required for safety and reliability...
Loose burned connections in the light switch connector will be difficult to replace. Not replacing them will cause big trouble later - they are too hard to clean and polish well.
Wires that are fused together were probably overheated at some point - glad no fire occured.

Bryan59EC

Yep--dash harnes is what I would do if it were my car.
Rest assured the owner will be informed of the issues with this car.

replacing the terminals and connector bodies won't be a problem---I have a healthy stock of Packard terminals, and will appropriate a connector body from a salvage yard. (have one somewhere at home--can't find it)

Bryan59EC

Well----found the issue and repaired it. (shorted between BATT & Ign )

Have no idea how GM put these cars together in an efficient manner.
I think it took me over 12 hrs to just get the dash pulled out to see what I was getting into.

Dash harness actually looked pretty good except for the starter sol. wiring(-----the Accy. harnesses {top, ctsy lights, console}were a different story.----butchered)

Anyway----got the dash back in (This took about 7 hrs) and will hook everything up next Saturday when I return from yet another work related trip.

Gonna need some luck

Lady72nRob71

Well best of luck to ya!!
Glad you are making progress... Keep in mind that mass produced products are meant to be put together, NOT disassembled. They had the assy process well streamlined - I would love to see how they did it so quickly (and were able to make them stay together)!