I have a super short orange/black wire lead above the fuse box I can’t identify, from either the CSM or ASM. I also have an unknown orange wire that was tied in a knot when I found it in a group of wires. It has no power from anywhere, but I can’t quite get my fat hands up to the lead to test for 12V. My ashtray and glove box lights do not work. I am hoping and assuming that this broken wire and this lead should be connected. Can anyone confirm that?

 

Orange wire is usually to the cigarette lighter. Should be hot at all times.

 

OK - I'm going to try and get a tester up to that lead and see if it's hot. If so, then a quick jumper to see if the broken wire is leading to the non-working ash tray. This space is narrower than my sausage fingers can navigate easily.

 

Look again at the wiring diagram in the CSM. There are two circuits that use orange wires, the DOME/CTSY circuit and the TRANS CONT circuit. The trans circuit only powers the kickdown switch on the firewall. The dome/courtesy light circuit powers the dome lights, the front and rear cigar lighters, the clock, the rear inside quarter lights, the under dash courtesy lamps, and the turn signal flasher. Which of those don't work? That would be the first place to look.

 

Thanks, Joe - my perception of orange on the diagram isn't the greatest. I see the circuits you're referring to. This is the Dome/Ctsy circuit, and I confirmed that the broken wire pictured above does indeed go back to the ash tray lighter element. I was also able to test the lead wire above the fuse panel and there is no power there at all, switched or not. Everything else you listed works: dome lights, quarter lights, courtesy lights, flasher. So is that lead supposed to be cigarette lighter? I'm not sure why I am not getting any power there.

 

Yep, cigar lighter on my 66. Part of the 30 amp courtesy circuit. Powered at all times. Are you still having the weird issue where the car must be running for power to appear in some places?

 

What's that big rectangle shaped relay for? My '66 doesn't have a relay there.

 

That's the flasher which is stuffed up into the wires instead of being clipped onto the lower left panel. It should be a smaller unit that this.

 

Thanks, Mike - that's for sure the wire I have hanging under my dash that needs to power the lighter. The other end of this wire is the broken wire I am holding in my hand above ^^^. I see that it COULD be repaired and then attached to the short orange wire above the fuse panel, but there is no power to that wire whether the car is on or off.
I still have no HI speed on the blower fan, and I'm currently looking suspiciously at the AC control panel, which might be full of dirt and gunk from the barn years. It doesn't quite shut off, nor do the other switches stay pressed in.

 

No this one,



Not this one,

 

Also a flasher - here is the ‘67 fuse panel diagram:

 

The rectangular flasher is OEM and it's for the hazard flashers. The one on the pigtail is for the turn signals. Same as on the A-body cars.

 

Ahh, I see. I guess because mine doesn't have the hazard flashers, I don't have the relay? The '66 manual shows the slot is available but nothing plugged in:

 

Yes, and still not a relay.

 

Haha, my mistake. I guess I see box, hear clicks, and think relay. Dohh.

 

Well, I repaired and patched the orange wire ends at the fuse box, and at the lighter, which was a bit corroded. Having nowhere to attach the end of the repaired orange wire that goes to the lighter, I plugged it into the short lead above the fuse panel (in post #1). There's no power. I'm not sure where the power for that female plug is supposed to come from, but there's a disconnect somewhere. And maybe I missed a broken wire sticking out of a wrapped wire cluster somewhere that the lighter wire should attach to, but I didn't see it. All the other lights in this circuit work. But just like the glove box (different circuit, same story), there's no power to the lighter wire. Does anyone know where their lighter wire actually connects into the harness?

***EDIT*** OK, so one reason I've been confused as to where this circuit comes from is that the bottom edge of my fuse panel is broken off below the 30A fuse - the part that says, "DOME CTSY". This wire to the lighter is in this circuit, or should be. For whatever reason I'm not getting power to this feed wire. Is there any reason I can't just use a simple fuse tap on this 30A fuse at the fuse box to provide power to the lighter and just call it good? If I find another place in the future (say, when I pull the dash and gauges out) where the lighter's orange wire should attach, I'll attach it then.

I'll revisit all this in a few weeks. I'm going to do a bit of a motor teardown tomorrow and Friday, then vacation for a week. Back at this sometime mid-December.

 

OK, so maybe a little janky, but it works. I used a simple fuse tap from Napa to grab power to the lighter. I just couldn’t find where that orange power wire broke from, so for now, at least, I have power to the center of the dash. When my lighter socket gets here, I’ll button up that section and get ready to remove the gauge cluster at a later date. There is still a mystery, as the glove box light still has no power, and it’s connected to an orange wire, not brown like the CSM shows. I’m guessing that orange wire leads back to the same point where the lighter wire broke, and I’ll find it sometime this winter. For now, little victories.

Oh, and you can see how the bottom of the fuse block is broken, hiding the fact that this was the DOME circuit I was searching for...

 

that fuse box area is a terrible place to have to work. This alternative repair is 100% justified