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Most days I love my old truck. Some days I want to push it in the river. Been working for some time to get electrical working right. Replaced the nss and got the back up lights working. Replaced the turn signal switch and got the brake lights working. Replaced the head light switch and got the dome light working. Yesterday I went for a drive and the aftermarket radio started powering on then off and back and forth. Sometimes a few seconds. Sometimes a couple minutes. Had it for a year. It was a cheapie Walmart radio that I was planning to replace anyway. Then I noticed my signals had quit working altogether. Got home and checked and backup lights didn’t work. All quit on the same day. Brakes and running lights are all good. Emergency flashers work too. Just no signals.
In messing with the radio I’m getting no power at the fuse block when the key is on.
surely this isn’t a huge coincidence and something is killing all 3. Last thing I did was get the backup lights working and out leds in. They’ve been in for several weeks.
any initial thoughts?
what year truck? it's possible the connections on the back side of the fuse block are getting corroded. I assume you've checked/cleaned the affected fuse contacts?
the best way to help us help you is to get a volt meter or test light and start chasing out circuits.
Start with making sure the cab to chassis ground strap is solid and contact areas are clean metal. It should be right there by the driver's side front cab support mount.
No below is a nightmare. There feel better? Since all was working and then stopped, I would start 1st by looking for damaged wiring. Like something arking, sparking, rubbing, chaffing on something mice chewed. Some wiring touched on a hot exhaust pipe. Some thing the PO hacked into the elec wiring. Like an amp or off road lights, brake controller. Check fuses, clean grounds, check ALL the wiring runs for damage.
all the circuits you mentioned share a common buss in the fuse block as well as a common power source...so the problem is most likely exists between the ignition switch and the fuse block...unless you just randomly happen to have issues with all of those circuits downstream of the fuse block...which is possible, but unlikely.
Haha ok maybe not a nightmare. Thanks for the perspective. But I know my skill set and limitations. Electrical is not my thing. Thanks for the suggestions. In that schematic it also notes instrument panel lights which have not worked for some time. They come and go. I’ll do some research on the ign switch. Appreciate the help. At least I feel like I have a path to follow.
In that schematic it also notes instrument panel lights which have not worked for some time. They come and go.
Classic sign of a bad or going bad headlight switch. Yellow button is what you push to get the switch shaft and **** off as one. That is how that are suppose to come out. Some people just yank the **** off.
The arrows point to what needs checked or cleaned to be able to brighten and dim the dash lights.
Not saying the headlight switch is not the issue. It was replaced within the last few months. After that the dome light could be turned on and off however it didn’t change the instrument panel lights. Cheap china stuff could be bad though.
If the dash lights "come and go" it makes sense that the headlight switch (even being new or newish) is/could be the problem, since they are controlled by the headlight switch only. Now if they did not ever work in the 1st place then other issues like the printed circuit board on the back side of the instrument cluster could be at fault. or the bulbs, as I understand it. I would search for a OEM NOS headlight switch to rule out the cheap switch possibility.
Another thing you can do to check the instrument lights, if you haven’t already done it, is to remove all the fuses, wipe them down, clean the contact points in the fuse panel, and put them all back.
With older glass fuses this is a practice that should be done every couple of years to keep a little bit of corrosion at bay and keeping the full current capacity going through.
Over the years, they build up resistance, and some of the circuits are very sensitive to this.
Sorry to bring this back but I like to wrap them up so if someone else comes across it they know. Dlburch was on it. I had a wired break at the fuse block. That one wire controlled the failed stuff. Got it corrected and now I have most everything working again. Dash lights are still funky. I took out the cluster today and the plastic housing around the sockets are pretty broken up. I just went ahead and ordered a new housing and a new circuit since I was there. I think it looks ok but it’s kinda wrinkled in places. What’s another $50 right? Anyone buy any of the led kits for the whole dash? They have some on Amazon and eBay for pretty cheap. Is one set better than the other?
congrats on the fix. And thanks for the follow-up here too.
Not sure about the LED's, but plenty of members seem to be using them nowadays. Mostly with good results, but sometimes some issues. Such as them being polarity sensitive in some cases, so putting a bulb in one way means it won't work, while in the other direction it will.
So if you go that route, check their function before putting everything back together.
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