I am stumped, my 69 is having major electrical problems. It started out as a drain on the battery. I disconneccted the negative and put a meter between the cable and the batt, I had a 0.4 amp draw. I took the fuse for the tail lights out and the draw went away. There was a trailer plug rusted into a lump. I cut it off and sealed all of the wires put fuse back in now I have a 7.4 amp draw.

Pull another fuse out draw goes away so I pull the fuse box off to check for corrosion. It is clean and not corroded at all.

Looking around under the dash I notice the plug for the ignition switch has the yellow wirre pulled partially out. I order a new plug from LMC, when I take the old one out I notice it is a little melted I put a new switch in while I am doing it. Now the drain is now 2.4 amps but when I start the truck I can't shut it off. Turning the key to the off position does nothing.

I am starting to think a totall rewire is needed but it is not in the budget both time and money wise.

I need to get this thing running before my shoulder heals so I can get back and forth to work when I go back. Anybody have a good idea where to start. Thanks a lot

 

Turning the ignition switch to the "Off" position is supposed to remove the voltage from the coil's field, so it can't fire into the distributor any more.

Assuming the replacement ignition switch plug was wired correctly, I'd guess you have a wiring mis-connection at the solenoid. Something from the hot side is keeping the field active at the coil, probably through wire 262 on the schematic.

Double/triple-check the wiring for the ignition switch plug.

Check to see if your Solenoid is installed upside down.

Check to see that all of the wires that are connected to it are correct.

If you still haven't found the problem, look for corrosion/shorting at the 4-pin "yellow" connector.

If it isn't any of those things, let me know and I'll look at the schmatic again.

 

Thanks I'll try that tomorrow morning. I replaced the plug 1 wire at a time so I wouldn't screw it up. I cut 1 wire off of the old plug attached it to the new one in the same spot then moved on to the next.

Thanks again, Mike

 

Mike if you disconnect the out put wire on the alternator you should not have a current draw anymore. This may help to to see if anything is wrong. Usually a bad solenoid will prevent the engine from stopping when the ignition switch is off. Kenny

 

You were on the right track, I went to check the solenoid and some po had added a wire to the hot side that had frayed and melted into the wire to the coil. the wire to the coil was hot all the time because of this. Pulled them apart and starts and shuts off fine.

On the plus side the new plug and switch seem to have solved my power drain problem. I have some more sorting out to do on some other stuff under the dash, but hopefully that was it.

Thanks again for the help, Mike

 

OK now it starts and stops fine but I have no brake lights or rear turn signals the front turn signals work just fine. The tail lights and backup lights are fine but no brake lights or rear turn signals. I am lost!!!!

 

That would probably be right in the mess from the trailer lights but could be the feed to the turn signal switch or the switch itself. Some probing with the test light at the column connection should help you isolate that issue.

 

Hey, Mke, did you ever get your brake lights and rear turn signals working?

 

Welcome to owning an old truck. You have 4 wires running to the taillights. Taillight, brake/turn R, brake/turn L & backup. Since you have neither brake light I would be looking at the turn signal switch. Assuming you put the fuse back in.

 

I'm going to take a shot in the dark on this one. My guess is he got this issue resolved, afterall this thread is dated 10-22-12 with the last post being 10-25-12 I could be wrong but I don't think so.
Once again a pet peeve of mine, start a thread and never finishing it. I've seen people on here opening a thread's that are 2-10 years old. Without a solution.

 

Yup, I know what you mean.

I'd be happy to hear something, nearly anything. I'd even settle for something like "Nope, never figured it out, but it got crushed by a falling tree, so I don't have it any more." At least it would give closure, if not guidance for others in the FTE forums.

 

So, is our only real hope just replacing the entire wiring harness at this point (to rid our beasts of gremlins), or is there a modular approach?

 

Actually I did get them working and I posted the fix in another thread but should have posted it here too, sorry. Part of the problem was a previous owner installed a tilt/telescoping steering column from a '66 Cadillac. That is why I couldn't follow the wiring diagram, none of the wires were the right color. The other part of the problem was maybe the same PO installed some sort of relay or power booster or something into the rear turn signal/ brake light wiring. It was getting hot and probably shorting out I took it out and spliced the wires together and it all works now. I will try to post a pic of the relay or booster or whatever it was.

For some reason I can't post a picture right now.

 

I don't know if I should laugh or cry

 

I tend to do both with this truck.