TheBMan Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Hello! See attached photo. When I turn on the headlights (72 Monte Carlo Custom with ZJ9 lighting group) the turn signal indicators light up as well as the high beam indicator. All lights work properly otherwise. Hazard lights (four-way flasher) work properly. All fuses are good. Headlight switch is tight in the dash (thinking about the ground strap behind the dash). Toggling the high beams doesn't affect it. This happens when the headlight switch is in the parking light or headlight position. I suspect a bad ground somewhere but thought I would ask in case it's a common thing - save myself a lot of time troubleshooting. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Peters Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Sounds like a POSSIBLE short in the circuit but it could be something else, let's see what others say. rob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dtret Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Check the ground on the headlight switch. Also not on the Monte but I have had light like that on due to a burnt out bulb, but I donât think itâs the case here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Like Dennis said, bad ground on the H/L Switch. What is the history? Just bought it and it always did this? Had it for years and now it started. Worked on the or replaced the ....... and now it does this. two pics from my 71 NO A/C Monte. One showes the groung wire connected to the H/L Switch and the other shows the instrument cluster / printed circuit grounds.  1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 36 minutes ago, stangeba said: Like Dennis said, bad ground on the H/L Switch. What is the history? Just bought it and it always did this? Had it for years and now it started. Worked on the or replaced the ....... and now it does this. two pics from my 71 NO A/C Monte. One showes the groung wire connected to the H/L Switch and the other shows the instrument cluster / printed circuit grounds.  @stangeba - doing it since I bought it. I took the dash pad off today and found some interesting stuff... Pictures attached. 1. The cluster housing was broken at the lower left corner where the headlight switch comes through. Also cracked at the top left. The ground cable was connected but the connection was loose due to the breakage. I tightened it and it was secure but the issue was still there. 2. The ground strap does not look like yours or what I've seen elsewhere. It's the large ring that the headlamp switch goes through, clamped between the metal cluster housing and the switch but it's just a black wire that goes into the harness. There is no metal strap like I see on yours and I've seen on others. I even bought a new ground strap in anticipation of this but it doesn't match what I have. I'll check continuity on the existing ground wire. Update: It did just occur to me that the ground wire that you show in your picture is not present on my car. At least there was nothing attached to that screw anyhow. Going to check that now... 3.) The headlamp switch was disintegrating. See attached picture and note the white litter. And the screw I'm pointing to in the photo was half-way out (not contacting the circuit board). I've purchased a new headlamp switch to replace it. 4.) It's clearly been out before as there were other broken mounting tabs on the cluster housing. Three of the 7 were broken, in fact. I've ordered a new housing. I'm going to make sure everything is grounded when I reassemble and I'm going to replace all of the 194 bulbs while I have it out. If you or anyone else has any thoughts on the unique ground wire, I'd love to hear them.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 @stangeba - Updates. The ground wire I mentioned has continuity. I'm curious about the ground wire you're pointing out since I don't have that. There was nothing attached on my cluster at that position and I have no stray wire(s) that aren't connected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 The lens was pretty dull so I broke out the orbital and polished it while I have it apart. Turned out pretty good. I have a Griots G9 random orbital (6") and I used JaxWax Perfect Polish for the first pass and JaxWax Final Finish for the final pass. This works well on plastic headlights, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72-CLASSIC_RIDE Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 4 hours ago, TheBMan said: The lens was pretty dull so I broke out the orbital and polished it while I have it apart. Turned out pretty good. I have a Griots G9 random orbital (6") and I used JaxWax Perfect Polish for the first pass and JaxWax Final Finish for the final pass. This works well on plastic headlights, too. I am going to guess your unique Ground Wire was installed as the original was broken and having something to do with the cracked housing where ground wire locates. I have seen those Straps on eBAY often. Yeah, that Plastic looks Awesome.  I'm gonna have to try that method. Doug 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 Pretty confident I have things sorted out. See attached picture. The ground wire attached to the wiper switch should actually be attached to the cluster housing. The end you can't see attaches to the dash frame where the metal strap part of the headlight ground strap attaches. Then attach the headlight ground strap as it's supposed to be attached - large ring to the headlight switch, metal connector to the wiper switch (two screws) and metal strap to the same ground point as I mentioned before. This would make sense and explain my lighting issue as the cluster housing wasn't properly grounded. I'm waiting on some new parts but as soon as I have it reassembled, I'll take pictures and post for clarity and future reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 Did I mention the Headlight switch difference? I remember someone replaced their H/L switch and then no longer had dash lights. There is a "connector" that joins two male terminals together that was special / different than the replacement switch (didn't have it) he purchased. My 71 has (7) seven male terminals and you can see the piece of metal that connects these two. Just compair your new one with the old one. (Your year may be different?) Picture: Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted December 22, 2020 Author Share Posted December 22, 2020 1 hour ago, stangeba said: Did I mention the Headlight switch difference? I remember someone replaced their H/L switch and then no longer had dash lights. There is a "connector" that joins two male terminals together that was special / different than the replacement switch (didn't have it) he purchased. My 71 has (7) seven male terminals and you can see the piece of metal that connects these two. Just compair your new one with the old one. (Your year may be different?) Picture: Â @stangeba Yes, my old switch (and the new one) look exactly like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 Great! Merry Christmas! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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