I really need help with this problem as I want to get my 1965 Bucamino on the road this month. The drive train and and the wiper switch are 65 GS Skylark and it was rewired by PO using a U done It, or some such brand of wiring harness. Most everything works like head lights, tail lights and the engine starts and runs. However currently the wipers, and horn don't work. Also, the thing that has me confused is that the turn indicators seem to work and their dash lights work, BUT when I turn on the windshield wipers the turn indicator dash lights both go on, even when I turn on the turn indicator? I have printed out the wiring diagram and it only helps a little. Seems the turn indicator gets it power supply from around the flasher, but I can't tell what the symbol means. So I am looking for help trying to understand how it should be wired. Any help appreciated.
It gets worse. When I turn on the headlights right turn signal flashes both front lights and back works ok. Left turn signal flashes just the front left light. I am going back out to the shop with wiring diagram and try to figure out if the steering column is wired correctly. Hard to tell with wire colors wrong. Not sure if they have the right switch in the column.... more later.
Yikes! I would say track down a wiring diagram from a service manual but like you said, with an aftermarket harness, who knows what the wires colors are. Sounds like you could have a short or bad ground somewhere. I learned from my issues that even bad grounds can do all sorts of odd things. I ended up completely taking out the ground harness for the instrument panel and soldering up a new one becuase the previous owner did a hack job repair. I used the wiring diagram from the service manual which shows exactly how things should be wired. If you car is anything like mine (72 GS), the gauges, instrument panel lighting, turn signal indicators, wipers, light switch, and cig lighter are all on the samge ground harness. One bad ground was enough to make some stuff work, some not work, and some to do wierd things. A bad ground or short could cause power to jump from one component to another, so that when you actuate one it powers another as well. Does the symbol you had a question about look like this? || ---|||| || If so, that is a gound.
Darn it, the formatting wont hold. Imagine the top 2 and bottom 2 lines being spaced over to line up with the first two middle lines... | ------ --- -
Hey WarHawg75, I looked in the dash of one of my parts cars and there were no ground wire looms to be seen. They just used the dash to ground all the switches from what I could see. Thanks for the suggestions.
You are having a ground problem, and they are a little tough to find, but try this. Get an ohmeter and connect one lead to a good known ground point, test the connection on another bare area of the body, the reading should be zero or close to it. Then check the ground continuity from the body to the chassis. Again the reading should be zero or close to it. If so that is good, if not it is bad. If both readings are good leave one lead on ground and then test the body of the acceccories that are not working and the readings should be close to zero again. If not the unit is un-grounded and the current is returning to ground through your lights, etc. If the reading between body and chassis is bad run another grounding strap between them and retest. Good luck.
I think I have found some of the problems. Seems the wipers and horn are now working. I suspect the wiper switch was loose in the dash which caused grounding problems. I also found that the right front turn indicator/parking light is internally shorted. I removed the socket and connected a continuity tester to each wire and everything work correctly. So at least one problem was a socket. I am going to replace the whole assembly as it was cut to fit, probably started out as a 65 El Camino part and ended up in a 64 bumper. They are not the same. So that is $120 for both assemblies. But hey, they are Chevrolet parts so I can just pick up the phone and have them in two days, much easier than getting parts for a 65 Skylark. I really want to get those parts so I can move on to redoing the interior and get this thing on the road. My wife even wants to go to a Hot August Nights event, surprised me. So thanks for the help guys, I will let you know how it comes out.
Bought the turn indicator buckets from TrueConnection at the Good Guys Pleasanton swap meet Saturday. They were glad to see me, I dropped $1,500 for parts and I was just about the only customer they had because of the heavy rain and winds that day. Anyway, the parts are installed and the lights work great. Now to redo the upholstery......
