Need some help with electrical problems i've been having. Never done anything electrical and have no idea where to start. I haven't been able to drive my car much since i've had it because everytime i turn around something else is broken. So i finally got it running good and then i get pulled over tonight for having no lights. So i guess i'll have to fix something else before driving it again. Now I replaced the light switch not too long ago with a junkyard piece. One night when i was driving the car all of a sudden the lights on the dash went out and the lights on my aftermarket gauges went out. So i checked the taillights also and they too were burnt out. So i replaced the fuse and some of the lights that weren't in very good condition. But when i took out the lights it was very nasty and corroded in the light sockets. I tried cleaning them out and drying them, because evidently the lenses retain water in rain. Sorry for the length but I have no idea where to start. Sockets are very cruddy and corroded and hold water when it rains. Just replaced the light switch. And the wiring on the old skylark isn't in the best condition so where do you guys think I should start? Where is a good place to get new sockets and the things that hold the sockets (have no idea what they are called, anyway the things the lenses screw into)
I've not dealt with tail lights before, but have a few questions. The switch you replaced - I take it you replaced the one on the dash that turns on the headlights/parking lights? Are the headlights out too? Have you checked the switch for the brake lights (behind the arm of the brake pedal)? When I had headlight problems it turned out to be the fusable link at the starter - its a length of wire that looks crimped onto a longer, and bolts to the starter solinoid. I'm not familiar with the wiring, but someone else will chime in as to weather the headlights and tail lights are on the same circuit. However, a fuse blew (and also, if the fusable link melted) you might have a short somewhere. I'd first make sure there is a good ground on the headlight switch (to the metal of the dash), and that the guages are also grounded. Looking for a short can be "fun," so I'd check the grounds first, and make sure there are no obvious wires touching bare metal. You can probably get sockets at a local parts store in the "Help" section.
replacing those nasty sockets is a good move. make sure and solder the wires when splicing and you wont have to re-do them in th future. if your headlights are working and the taillights aint, you can rule out the fusable link. when you replaced the tailight fuse, your lights still didnt come back on? if not ... take the fuse back out and check the fuse with an ohm meter. you should get a reading of less than .2 ohms. make sure you dont touch the leads from the meter when testing or it will "test" through your body and give a false reading. if its a bad fuse ....put in a new one. while the fuse is out, take a test light and see if one of the fuseblock terminals will make the test light come on. if so, put your test light away. and take your ohm meter and ground one of the leads to the car body and carefully touch the other lead to the terminal that DID NOT make the test light come on. what was the lowest number that you read on the meter? if it is less than 1 ohm ...you have a problem somewhere. and we will eloborate after you reply. keep us posted
Ok let me ask you something. Say someone were to drop the gas tank out and rip a ground wire in half and then not worry about hooking up either one of the wires to the tank, could one of those cause? I just thought about it today and sure enough I did those things and I didn't notice any shorts until I did those things. Are those wires linked to the same fuse?
taillights and gauges are generally on seperate fuses. if the broken wire is brown, it could be a taillight wire. why didnt/dont you fix the wires you broke yankin th tank out?
Why didn't I fix it? Cuz i'm an idiot. The tank took me all day to get out because of the nex exhaust that was getting caught on the lip of the tank so it wouldn't just drop down. So I fought it all day then I wasn't thinking and just threw the thing back up in there because I was pretty frustrated and now its coming back to bite me. So i guess i'll go through it again and hopefully that will fix my problem or I'll be REALLY P.O.ed So a reminder to all DO THINGS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! ou:
