So something was grounding out on the stereo so I un hooked it trying to fix it now and when I plugged it in on the tail light fuse the wire was just pushed into the fuse box on the left for the 12 volt constant. Well now I have no power and nothing will work is there a fuse from the fuse box to the ignition? I have power from the horn relay to the fuse box but then to no where else? My guess is there a fuse hidden somewhere else?

 

What year is your car?

 

Sorry I forgot that it's a 67 cutlass. I believe it's the ignition switch burned up cuz I have power there till I plug it into it then I don't

 

Do the headlights work?

 

No head lights now nothing I replaced the ignition switch what is getting me is the bottom 3 fuses I believe on the left the stop tail and dome all show power and the red wire that that runs into the ignition shows power till I turn the key then all those don't show power. What could I have shorted out to cause that?

 

Ok took dash apart and traced all the wires to see if I could find a cause I'm guessing the neutral safety switch is fried. If that's the part on the lower colum with two purple wires running into it cuz every other wire didn't have any breaks or were burnt and it's weird that I lose all power once I turn the key. Not sure why that is killing everything no lights no crank no fuel pump. Also shouldn't there be some kind of wire running into the car grounding the dash? I thought it would be on the passenger side but I don't have that. Should I run a wire from the engine block and bolt it to the dash somewhere to get a better ground?

 

Not sure why the mutiple meter was showing 12 volt I hooked an old light bulb I had and it didn't work so I used that to trace the wire and found at the firewall plug the wire was bad.

 

Don't mess with the neutral safety switch it is not your problem. There is a large red wire that runs from the horn relay power stud to the firewall bulkhead connector. It is the main power wire to the inside of the car. See if the connector is loose and if there is power to that wire.

 

It's the difference between no load and load on the circuit. The multimeter has a very high input resistance so it will not load the circuit, so if the circuit has any connection at all, the meter will read voltage. But when you connect the light bulb, which is a low resistance and draws a lot of current, the faulty circuit can't support that amount of current so the bulb doesn't light up. This is one reason for using a test light (which you did with your home made one) instead of a voltmeter for circuit troubleshooting.

 

I wish I knew that sooner and I'm definitely buying a test light now. I'm very new to all this so I'm glad I was able to figure it out. It sucks I tore the whole car apart and have a lot of work getting it back together but at least now I know 100 percent almost every inch of wire in that car and where it all runs too. I was just gonna run a fused line off the battery terminal as my 12 volt constant for the radio and I think what was shorting is the metal bracket that is broken from where it use to hook up to the factory radio. I'm I'm the process of fully re wiring the stereo to make sure that's all right with no issues. It's getting really hot out today in phx so I hope I can finish soon. I ended up breaking the plug tips off for that main red wire so I ran a wire just straight through the hole and spliced it and heat shrink it then wrapped the entire harness again really well I just hope I solved my dash light issues too. Maybe I can get the speedo cable to work but when I took that off the tip just fell out so I'm thinking that means the cable is snapped.

 

I guess you posted your issue solved just before I posted my last suggestion through my phone. Glad you got it.

 

Well thank you still. I started working on it after I got home from dinner last night and am trying to button it back up before dinner tonight still haven't slept today either. Lol