Electrical Nightmare

[corvetterider84]

I'm not too sure whats going on, but my interior lights used to come on when I opened my doors, but now they do not. When I pop the hatch, the lights in the back come on. I think this problem happened after I had installed my aftermarket radio, but not too sure if thats exactly when. Either way, it also used to blow a fuse whenever I manually turned on the interior lights with the headlight knob. This started happening after the radio install. And now, tonight I pulled the radio out and wanted to see if that made any difference. The only difference now is that instead of blowing a fuse when I manually turn on the interior lights, it starts smoking behind the dash near the headlight switch. LOTS OF SMOKE. Also, when the lights are on they are very dim. If i push the map lights on the doors on they go on fine and are bright. Has anyone had this problem before??

 

[geekinavette]

First thing I would do is park it, disconnect the battery, and find the source of that smoke! It'd be a real shame for such a nice car to go up in flames from an electrical fire...and it does happen.


Then I'd start taking the dash pad off and looking for signs of tampering with the wiring, especially around the headlight switch. I have all of the 84 wiring diagrams scanned and posted on a webserver if you need 'em:

http://misterbill.homeip.net/vette/wiring/

Good luck man, that sounds like a real mess.

Bill

 

[Robertwav1]

I agree, disconnect the battery. You have a dead short somewhere! Reason for the fuse blowing. My guess is you have a B+ wire pinched somewhere. Think of everything you did, not just the radio. Any work done underneath the car recently? In the engine area? The smoke is probably from the insulation on one of the wires....should be easier to track down....look for a toasted wire.

 

[corvetterider84]

The only work I have done to the car so far is the radio, a brake light switch, catalytic converter, and I replaced some bulbs in the cluster. Tonight I pulled the cluster out to see if anyhing might have gotten pinched when I removed/reinstalled it, but everything was fine. I did notice two burnt looking wires that go to the cruise control switch, so I respliced them and taped them up. They were actually melted together.I thought that was the problem, but unfortunately its still doing the same thing. It seems like the only way I can gain access to the headlight switch is to remove the entire dashboard. ad I've already removed some of the screws but am debating whether to even bother. The fuse doesn't blow and the switch doesn't smoke if I don't try to manually turn on the interior lamps. The only drawback is i won't have interior lights when I open my doors. I can only use the maplights.

 

[Robertwav1]

Get the prints that Bill had posted. Look at the interior light wiring that is causing the problem, see where it goes, this will give you a good idea where you can check for the short. See if any cross member under the car pinched a wire when the cat was replaced. Maybe they had to move something out of the way to replace the cat and in turn crushed a wire...got to look at all possibilities. Could be the switch but, the cruise control wires being fried would really bother me. Keep looking!

 

[geekinavette]

Dude don't leave it "as is". Something is shorted and you need to find it. Pull that dash pad off, get in there and see where the problem is. It is a major PITA, but you will feel SO much better when you get it fixed.

Bill

 

[Vette_Newb]

The remainder of the dash is not hard to remove. DO IT B4 YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY HATES YOU!

Good Luck