strange electrical problem

[lostforawhile]

ok i have a wierd electrical problem,and since my labrador retriever ate my service manual,I don't have an electrical diagram right now. correct me if i'm wrong though,on the secondary part of the ignition circuit,the first part is power to the coil etc,the second is power to anything that is on when the key is switched on to ignition correct? on the way home,lost all my gauges,my warning lights,buzzers etc. anything connected to accesory works,and the car starts,I just don't have any warning lights,temp gauge,gas gauge,tach or voltmeter{on clock circuit]. I checkecd the fusible link for ignition 1, it's fine,if it was blown the car wouldn't run anyway because ignition 1 and 2 run off the same feeder wire,also accessory runs off the same. any ideas? I'm thinking key switch contact is fried, just replaced it not too long ago too. :gun: no blown fuses or links,and the connector to the fusebox is tight.

[A20A1]

I forgot if the guages were tied into the dinging box or not, that chimes when your door is open.

[w261w261]

I have the '89 electrical troubleshooting manual...don't know if there is much of a diff from '86 to '89.

Of the several circuits that come out of the the ignition switch and go to the dash fuse box, one of them splits up to fuses 4, 1, 2, & 3. So if it was an ignition switch problem as you suspect, there should be no power to any of the circuits having those fuses.

You sure fuse 2 is ok? That's the one upstream of the clock, gauge assembly, warning display, etc. Also your back up lights are probably not working.

Give me your email address and I'll scan the circuit diagrams and send them to you.

[lostforawhile]

I have the '89 electrical troubleshooting manual...don't know if there is much of a diff from '86 to '89.
Of the several circuits that come out of the the ignition switch and go to the dash fuse box, one of them splits up to fuses 4, 1, 2, & 3. So if it was an ignition switch problem as you suspect, there should be no power to any of the circuits having those fuses.
You sure fuse 2 is ok? That's the one upstream of the clock, gauge assembly, warning display, etc. Also your back up lights are probably not working.
Give me your email address and I'll scan the circuit diagrams and send them to [email protected]
thanks!!

[lostforawhile]

ok it's not the switch,I downloaded the manual from Pauls site,crap it could be anywhere, that means I'm going to be hunting electrical gremlins all day. the freakin backup lights are on the instrument circuit? what is that fuse labeled anyway? I'm going to start at the very back checking my trailer connector.

[w261w261]

schematics sent. GL

[BITESIZE]

Good luck mang!!

[w261w261]

<what is that fuse labeled anyway?>

Fuse #2 (at least in '89) is in the middle of a group of three fuses at the top of the box. I'm emailing you the page from the elec book that shows the front and back of the fuse box.

I really should pull the book apart and put it online or on a CD.

[lostforawhile]

<what is that fuse labeled anyway?>
Fuse #2 (at least in '89) is in the middle of a group of three fuses at the top of the box. I'm emailing you the page from the elec book that shows the front and back of the fuse box.
I really should pull the book apart and put it online or on a CD.I found the fuse,I just haven't found the short yet. I suspect something in my trailer wiring harness,I'm building a new harness right now as a matter of fact. I have left and right turn signals,brake lights,running lights,backup lights,and neon on the trailer. pretty good size harness,plus a couple of power feeder wires to pull 12 volts on the trailer. on mine it's the second fuse down from the end where the fuse puller is. backup lights/turn signals is blown. I can barely even see the fuses under my dash.due to the secondary harness on the car that runs all the electrical goodies I've added. it looks like the space shuttle under there.

[w261w261]

Where did you hook up the power wire for the trailer harness? On one of the existing circuits to the fuse box, or straight from the battery? Do you have one of those controller boxes that use the turn/brake circuits to actuate the trailer lights, but the power comes from somewhere else? If not, and you're using one of the existing circuits to the fuse box for the main power to the trailer, you might be overdoing it, and if it's the circuit to the instruments, taken down the fuse as a result. Or you have a short in the trailer wiring, and that's taken out the fuse.

I'm pretty sure the fuse is gone, because the ground circuits of the individual instruments are spread out.

[lostforawhile]

i'm pretty sure it's a trailer wiring short too,the lights run off of existing circuits,but the neon and the power feeds have their own relays and their own circuit from the battery. i've had the trailer harness for years,and never had a problem before now. it gets even more complicated,the neon on the trailer has it's own radio control. and it's own electronic control moduel. LOL. everything has a subharness,run off the non used parts of the underhood fuse box,I inserted connectors into the empty slots in the factory plugs,such as those for power windows,etc. so everything runs off of it like factory. one side of those missing fuses is actually hooked up to the bus,the output side of the fuse just doesn't have connectors in the plugs. the rear subharness includes the wiring and power for the trailer,the rf unit for the analog cell phone,the rear neon,the power to the tv screen in the rear,some audio cables,the active crossover network,the cargo area lights in the hatch,power to the high power backup lights under the car, so this is going to be complicated,all the wiring diagrams are in my head.

[lostforawhile]

i'm pretty sure it's a trailer wiring short too,the lights run off of existing circuits,but the neon and the power feeds have their own relays and their own circuit from the battery. i've had the trailer harness for years,and never had a problem before now. it gets even more complicated,the neon on the trailer has it's own radio control. and it's own electronic control moduel. LOL. everything has a subharness,run off the non used parts of the underhood fuse box,I inserted connectors into the empty slots in the factory plugs,such as those for power windows,etc. so everything runs off of it like factory. one side of those missing fuses is actually hooked up to the bus,the output side of the fuse just doesn't have connectors in the plugs. the rear subharness includes the wiring and power for the trailer,the rf unit for the analog cell phone,the rear neon,the power to the tv screen in the rear,some audio cables,the active crossover network,the cargo area lights in the hatch,power to the high power backup lights under the car, so this is going to be complicated,all the wiring diagrams are in my head.

[w261w261]

I hate this kind of work. I'd imagine you should lay in a big supply of 10a fuses, and then try to disconnect as many pieces of the trailer wiring as you can. Put em back one at a time until the fuse goes pop.

[lostforawhile]

:nuts: :stupid: ok it's my fault,on the night before the wiring went haywire, I was going to take the trailer the next morning,but I couldn't get the lights to work right,I thought the ground wire was bad,so instead of removing everything from the hatch,I used a power tap to connect a ground wire to the trailer pigtail temporarily,well I forgot there were two identical colored wires in the pigtail,so what I had done was connect the backup lights to ground,nothing blew though because I had the car pulled in in reverse,the fuse didn't blow until i backed up at work to go home. :slap: . I thought the key switch had gone bad because everything that runs off of ignition two went out at once. I spent all day redoing my trailer pigtail to get rid of the wire hanging off the back, now it's got a nice long wire with split loom that coils up inside of the hatch door in my floor. when I tow the trailer now I just unroll it and close the hatch door on it. have to redo the trailer wiring too. this is the santa clause trailer with all the lights and the neon,and so on. while I was back there I finally put a connector plug on the light in the underside of my hatch cover,no more visible wires.