This one really has me stumped. I was in the process of swapping out a standard blinker module for an electronic one. As I had my hand up under the dash, all of a sudden my interior lights went out. Checked the fuse, blown. Put in a new fuse, good to go. I'm thinking, why did it pop? Oh, well. Installed new blinker module and lights go out again... hmm..... wierd.... Put in a new fuse and it pops immediately... wtf? Checked up under the dash and nothing looks amiss. I hadn't changed out anything else. The wiring under the dash has all been renewed during the rebuild, and has been working fine for months. The interior lights appear to be the only thing on that circuit. I've checked everything I can think of. Anyone ever have an issue like this?

 

Randy - I'm confused regarding your statements. 1st you state you were swapping out a standard blinker module for an electronic one. Then the fuse blown crap - whatever. But, then you state "...installed new blinker module..." What new blinker module are you referring to? An original new standard blinker module or a new electronic blinker module?

 

I'm not completely certain if this will help, but is there any chance you purchased an electronic blinker module with an X and an L on the bottom of the can? 'X' is power in, 'L' is power out. I suppose if you inserted that type of electronic blinker module you could be feeding power into the incorrect side of the blinker module can? Not sure - but might be something to examine since they make several different styles of those electronic blinker modules.

 

I was just doing a swap to an electronic one. I should have mentioned that I removed the electronic one and put the original one back in. Also, they are not on the same circuit. Still stumped.

 

Might be coincident failure not related to your parts replacement work.

Check the courtesy light door switch wires in the each of the door jambs.

They move every time you open the door and have a very confined space behind the kick panels to move in. They can wear over time and ground out.

 

Randy the power for the courtesy lights is also the power for the cigarette lighter. Try pulling the lighter and see what happens. if the fuse still blows then pull the orange connector just above the fuse block this will kill the power to the under dash lights ans see what happens. I have had the lighter go out on me and cause this or it could be the wiring from door to door for the under dash lights has insulation missing and is grounding on the metal dash.I don't think it a problem with the sail panel light
I have the main harness and dash out of my car so if you want pictures let me know

 

The courtesy light door switches and all connected white wiring are on the ground side of the circuit. Any short within those items will result in the courtesy lights staying lit. The clock, lighter, courtesy lights and the 1/4 spade terminal marked Bat are on that circuit. Is there anything connected to the Bat terminal in the fuse block?

 

Nick, you are correct, and I actually was aware of that. But, your comment got me thinking, and looking. My lighter isn't hooked up, but my clock is. Seems the orange wire to the Clock had come loose on the clock case, and was shorting to ground. Wire removed, no more short! Never would have thought of the clock causing this problem. Thanks Nick!

 

Exactly, so I knew it wasn't coming from the door switches and associated wiring. Bad Clock, Bad Clock..........

 

Glad you found it, now to fix the clock.

 

Thanks Eric. PITA to get the clock out. I had to remove the D/S bucket to be able to work under the dash...........the clock sort of came out in pieces as I removed it, but I was able to get all back together and working. Testing clock overnight to make sure it stays working......... Not looking forward to reinstalling it.

 

Electrical gremlins are the most difficult to chase but the most satisfying to fix😀 Glad you were able to figure it out.

 

Somewhere around here I have a thread on replacing the guts with Chinese quartz mechanism. I have one car with the old points & spring movement which keeps pretty good time - 5 minutes a week one way or the other. I updated the Starfire to quartz. The directions are not so good, but with a bit of tweaking, it works great.

Must say the quartz movement is superior for accuracy, but no satisfying “thwack” like when the points snap the spring back in the original clocks.

 

I had actually purhased a quartz movement for the clock in my red car a couple of years ago. I didn't like that the clock didn't work. As I was disassembling the clock to replace the movement, I noticed that the contacts on the old one were stuck together. I gently pried them apart, filed them a bit, then added a drop of solder to each side to kind of refresh the contacts. I manually operated the mechanism and the clock started working. Hooked it up to a battery and the darn thing kept going. It turned out that the quartz movement I bought would not fit in my clock, (sold it to a member here) so I put the old movement back in and installed it back in the car. Still working today.......