[tard01]

So the dimmer switch did end up being my root cause. headlights worked afterwards.

i then set my sights on the brake/park lights, back up lights, and blinkers..

i was testing electric signals at the last connector on the wiring harness before they go itno the lights (behind the license plate) and found that the previous owner had opened it up and attempted to make trailer signal lines... unfortunately it appears they tried a few different methods in doing so. i found several oddities when looking. he had used tube splicers to combine 3 wires... and i was getting power/volatage on my ground connections... he also had a few wires just randomly hanging out and taped off that i couldnt identify where they went since the grounds were bad.

I mapped which pins i felt were doing what and how should i see certain signals coming in and noticed that one of the pins never went hot that i'd expected was the back up light. I went and looked at my shift column and found that not only was the shift indicator was removed completely, but i didnt see electrical going to it... so i didnt know which of it was correct. I went to the parts store, got a neutral/back up switch and came back.. then realised on the 75 that it was way at t eh base of the column, but i still found no electrical wires for it... i saw a light green plug hanging, assumed it was it since it would fit one of the pins and i was expecting a light green at the rear... plugged it in (tight space!) and finally got voltage to the rear, but not to the light.

in the end, i decided to just suck it up and pull out the wiring harness and just rebuild it. I'm so glad i did... i ended up finding all kinds of weirdness and bad contacts/splicing attempts.

I cut off all the connections he messed with and added onto... and i basically just rebuilt the pre-existing wiring. Fired up the truck and first try my lights all worked. brakes, parking, reverse, blinkers...


i had a current/power drain on the system when running lights + blinker was used... i saw a lot of corrosion on the lights themselves, so i went to the store and bought new lights. that fixed the power drain. i assume the rust/corrosion on the bulbs themselves was sucking away power because after that, everything was gold.




I appreciate the help with the dimmer switch - that one would have probably stumped me for a bit, even if it is a simpler fix.

i got my truck inspected the next day, passed. now i get my registration on wednesday. i took the dashboard/console/instrument panel out opf the truck last night and cleaned it all up. will be painting it shortly.

i figured out a paint scheme i wanted to run with, but i cant seem to find a spray can that has the color i want. will have to research.

(wanting to do a deep dark graphite/charcoal gray on the dash - i assume the material is vinyl)