Strange Electrical Problem

[Rowdy1]

Two years ago this winter, I had a very capable Wyoming Tech grad and close friend completely rewire the 62 with a Painless 18 circuit harness. Everything's been perfect until I finished the trans swap, I lost the dash lights and the rear parking lights. I have blinker and brake lights in the back, front, high and low beam, etc. he checked it out last night and said the head light switch was bad and even ohmed it out. Now mind you, I have NO electrical knowledge, but he was totally convinced it was the switch, until today, when I replaced it with a brand new one, yep, you got it, same thing. No rear parking lights and no dash lights. I replaced the head light switch and the ignition switch as well as the high beam when we wired it, they worked, I just wanted to eliminate any future problems with forty plus year old switches. I used a Balklamp sold by NAPA, is there something I should know here, or should I say HE should know?

 

[Mac]

On a guess, I'd say start chasing ground straps. Without ground, the circuits can't work and Vettes, with their fibreglass bodies, are notorious for having this kind of problem. Take a circuit which you know works and test the ground on your faulty circuits. If it isn't ground, then you're going to have to start chasing wires. Problems like this can drive you crazy but you'll find the solution!

Changing the switches wasn't a bad idea from a reliability perspective, so don't feel your time was wasted.

 

[bossvette]

Mac is correct, if you used an off the shelf painless kit it might have enough "grounds" to run everything correctly and by changing the trans you may have disturbed a ground or a 40 year old electrical connection.
A Corvette as well as most kit cars need two wires to almost everything a "hot" and a "ground" In addition your MSD should have each head grounded.
Craig sr.

 

[Rowdy1]

Coincidence?

I used extra ground blocks knowing that with the vette, they were notorious for just that. If we take a hot lead from the battery post on the switch to the terminal on the switch for the lights, they work. We have power to the switch, but not coming out. Not likely a brand new switch is bad, possible, but the same thing with the one that was in there and worked up until I did the trans? We're going to really get in to it Friday, just thought maybe there was something we might have missed.

Thanks Guys, I'll let you know what we find and how we fix it.

 

[IH2LOSE]

ROWDY1

I always say start with the basics.what could you have damaged in the trans swap? check every pinch area thats may be possible.

Did it have reverse lights before and you disconected them? or vice versa.

If the light were working when you parked it I doupt the switch would go bad from sitting .

Maybee there is a piched wire that is burning out the switch thats why the old one died and the new one also doesnt work.

Good luck I hate electrical problems they are very frustrating

 

[Subfixer]

If I remember correctly, the dash lights and tail lights are on the same circuit. If your new wiring replicated the original, then your problem could be at or near the fuse box.

 

[IH2LOSE]

what could you have damaged in the trans swap?

Sorry it just sounded rude and came out the wrong way!

Let me refrase this

Is there any possibilty that you may have pinched or torn a wire during the trans swap? Did you have to remove any of the interiour for a shifter change? Good luck and sorry for RUDENESS

 

[Rowdy1]

Agreed

If I remember correctly, the dash lights and tail lights are on the same circuit. If your new wiring replicated the original, then your problem could be at or near the fuse box.

They are on the same circuit, hence, losing both at the same time.

IH2LOSE, no offense taken and no, there's no way I pinched or stretched anything doing the trans and shifter swap, just very timely that everything worked until I made the swap.

We're off Friday, he's coming over with his meters, etc. I'm positive he'll figure it out. I'll have good news by the evening.

 

[Dave Worsman]

Is your parking brake light out as well? All three were out on mine and a new fuse did the trick. Good luck getting to the fuse box

 

[Rowdy1]

Read First Post

I have a new harness and a new breaker panel, Painless as I said in my first post. I appreciate all the replies, my tech is coming Friday, I'll post what the problem was as soon as I get back in from the garage.

 

[Rowdy1]

FOUND IT!!!

Due to my lack of electrical knowledge, I may not even be able to explain this properly but here goes. After my tech friend checked and rechecked EVERYTHING AGAIN, he was convinced it was in the headlight switch. Along with the dash and tail lights not working, the horn was also not working. It was finally determined that the dash and tail lights draw their power from the horn circuit. We put a new breaker in and everything works the way it was before I did the trans swap. Why Painless, the maker of the harness I put in when I had the 62 completely wired used the horn to draw power for the lights is not known but after putting the breaker in, he looked at the schematic from Painless and sure enough, something he had not realized at the time, that's the way it is. So, I may have bumped something to cause the breaker to go when doing the trans swap, we don't know, but we had everything on, kept blowing the horn, checking wires and it's perfect again. Chalk it up as a fluke but my friend was and is convinced there's no short any where. We put the hard top on when we were done, took the car out for a few hours and had the lights on and again kept blowing the horn and no problems.

Thanks to all that offered help, as always, it's appreciated.

 

[Mac]

Glad everything worked out, Lou.

I had a visual of a couple guys driving around in a white 62 Vette, honking the horn, flashing the headlights, waving their arms in the air.... basically, I started singing an old Trooper song.... :L

lyrics, "Boys in the Bright White Sports Car"
Here they come
The boys in the bright white sports car
Waving their arms in the air
Who do they think they are
And where did they get that car

There they go
The boys in the bright white sports car
Honking at all the girls
It's jack-of-all-trades Stan
And Jerry the garbage man

There they go
The boys are really rollin'
Some old lady called the cops
Said the car is probably stolen, stolen

There they go
The boys are really rollin'
Some old lady called the cops
Said the car is probably stolen, stolen

Here they come
The boys in the bright white sports car
Waving their arms in the air
Who do they think they are
And where did they get that car