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#1
09-02-2009, 01:51 PM
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Electrical Question - New Dash Installed
Put the new dash in the 71 Castillian Bronze Hardtop today (thanks Todd) and everything went pretty well - took a little under 4 hours start to finish using PB's (thanks as well) excellent directions.
Here is the issue - everything seems to work, however when I put the lights on, my gas gauge goes to zero, and heat & oil pressure have similar reactions. When I dial the dash light intensity up/down the amount of change in the gauges varies as well. Is there a simple answer to this, or will I be pulling out the test light and my hair? 
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Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 |
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#2
09-02-2009, 02:02 PM
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Maybe George K. will jump in here, but it appears to be a "ground" problem that I have seen before.
The light switch is seeking a ground to complete the circuit, and it goes through the ground for the gas gauge. My initial troubleshooting would be to make sure the Light switch has a good ground. Ogre
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“Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.” -- Benjamin Franklin - (1706-1790) US Founding Father |
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#3
09-02-2009, 02:04 PM
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Make sure all the ground wires are secure. I ended up putting in a new headlight switch because of the rheostat being worn out and not making good contact. It help with brightness of all the lights.
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#4
09-02-2009, 03:13 PM
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Another vote for a bad ground. Perform a voltage drop and load test on the grounds.
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1971 Pontiac GT-37 Car is a junk yard dog and maybe one day will be restored. 
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#5
09-02-2009, 03:29 PM
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Where does the switch grab the ground. Does it come through the harness?
__________________
Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 |
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#6
09-02-2009, 04:10 PM
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Yup, it's the ground...IIRC....there should be some type of ground that goes from the gauges to headlight switch. It's a wide, flat piece of metal...maybe missing? Goatff, will probably recall..I'll give him a shout.
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Pat Brown |
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#7
09-02-2009, 04:20 PM
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Quote:
How do you do this? I had some problems with my gauges, and it was the ground. I used a jumper wire to ground the back of my gauges to a good ground, and they worked fine after that. I will try to fix the problem correctly when ever I remove my dash. |
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#8
09-02-2009, 04:21 PM
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There was a flat metal piece that went from the guages to the tach - but don't remember one going to the switch.
Does it ground some how through the threaded collar? Here's a picture
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Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 Last edited by The Boss; 09-02-2009 at 04:28 PM. |
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#9
09-02-2009, 04:45 PM
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Tim (goatff) will chime in ...but it all connects to the wiper switch...the gauges connect to the wiper switch..there is a metal bracket behind the switch and then there is a metal strap that goes to the headlight switch...where is all gets grounded. Tim will explain a bit better than I have...
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Pat Brown |
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#10
09-02-2009, 04:51 PM
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Boss, there is an odd looking bracket on the back side of the wiper switch and then there is supposed to be a metal strap from the back of the gage cluster over to the wiper switch bracket. Almost all of the ground goes through here....when its not there the dash seeks a ground through everything and anything including gas gages and light bulbs and causes all the odd lighting issues. hope that helps.
I didnt see it in your pic but the wiper switch isnt in the pic either This might help also, not sure though http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...31#post3645031 T/A Last edited by GOATFF71; 09-02-2009 at 04:58 PM. |
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#11
09-02-2009, 05:16 PM
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There's a cage around the light switch that has 3 large hex screws that go through it and into the dash, one screw from the front which catches the bottom tab then a phillips screw on the top right tab (from the back) that catches the bottom of the guage pod housing. Those are all in.
If I run a ground wire from anywhere on the guage housing should that solve the problem - or does it have something to do with the light switch? Also when I hit the horn the guages jump too. (found this out by accident)
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Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 |
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#12
09-02-2009, 05:43 PM
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Boss,
The ground should come from the wiper switch not the light switch the reason is the way it is screwed to the frame work of the dash, the head light switch doesnt make enough surface contact to get a good ground. here is a pic of what the bracket looks like on the back side of the wiper switch http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Wiper...4506.m20.l1116 There should be a small hole on the back side of the gage cluster that you can put the ground wire to and then screw it some way to the frame of the dash that the wipers and light switch are on, this should give you a good ground. T/A |
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#13
09-02-2009, 07:32 PM
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Coming back out tomorrow, all of the cage screws are in, something else is wrong.
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Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 |
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#14
09-03-2009, 12:23 AM
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I have the dash out of my Lemans..I know it has the ground that is being talked about.I can get a pic if you want.
Craig |
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#15
09-03-2009, 06:41 AM
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Thanks Craig, I know what it looks like and all the screws are in. I'll have it back out later this morning.
__________________
Some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece, Some guys come home from work and wash up, And go racin' in the street. Bruce Springsteen - Racing In The Street - 1978 |
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