Christopher Henry Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Black wire going into bulkhead connector that comes from the hot stud at horn relay shows a ground when I open either door, the glove box door, and only when the headlight switch is in headlight position. HELP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Peters Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Christopher, maybe it is my age, time of day or need of sleep but even after reading your post multiple times I have no idea what you are asking. Hopefully someone else does because I must be having a brain fart. rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Henry Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 Hello Rob 1972 has horn relay left firewall. Next to that is a stud that has twelve volts on it at all times. looking at my wiring diagram there are two red wires. One goes to the voltage regulator, the other to the generator. The black wire goes to the bulkhead connection block. This wire is the one showing the ground as I described in my initial post. In my service manual there is a warning about this stud being hot and to be sure not to short it to ground, say good bye to a fusible link. This info is under checking horn operation. It also shows the three wires that connect to that stud. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Hey Chris, so your question is where does this black wire go?? I will ck my 72 later for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.Maug Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 wish I could help, getting my weekly chemo infusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBMan Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Whenever I hear about odd things happening when you turn the headlights on, the first thing I tell people to check is to make sure the grounding strap is in place between the dash and headlight switch. It grounds to the metal dash frame. Many guys, when replacing the switch or doing other work, think it isn't necessary. It's critical and if it's missing, it will cause all sorts of gremlins. Here's one on eBay. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Yep! Info from my 71 if it helps anyone. I remember hearing that replacement headlight switches may be missing one of the terminals. My 71 has 7 as shown. The ground wire shown above is critical! I have another picture I will post if I can ever find it!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 When my 71 instrument cluster was out I took a picture of it and you can see the ground wire that turns into a skinny piece of metal. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montemedic Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 Always great photo documentation Bruce. Thank you for sharing !!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 Always happy to try and help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Henry Posted May 11 Author Share Posted May 11 Still searching for that ground. May have to pull dashboard!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stangeba Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 This is from my 71. I don't know if other years have the same thing or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jft69z Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 2 hours ago, Christopher Henry said: Still searching for that ground. May have to pull dashboard!!! FWIW, the 2 door switches do provide the ground path for the courtesy lamps when opened. Same with the glove box door, the lamp is always hot, but opening the door completes the ground to turn that light on. The reason I mention this is because that was one of the symptoms you stated earlier. Are you blowing fuses or fusible links? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Henry Posted May 12 Author Share Posted May 12 I believe I found my problem. Upon trying to start the car the starter made some unusual noises. Me thinks either the solenoid is grounded or starter is going to ground. This is what cooked the ground wires on my aux. gauge panel. Being only a 20 gauge wire it just couldn't take the current draw. I learned a lot about cars electrical systems. Being in the steel industry as an electrician and doing side work in residential the theories are the same but the application is not. I'll let you all know what happens. Thanks for the help. Chris 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC1of80 Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 Do you have the ground "trifecta" as I call it? A ground from the block to chassis, chassis to main body, and from body to engine again. Not including the ground from battery cable to alt bracket and negative terminal to fender. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Henry Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 I do have the ground "trifecta". Thanks for the tip. Ground from battery cable & neg terminal to fender all connected. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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