Back to my electrical(maybe) nightmare! UGH!

[67stepchic]

So today is a brand new day. To those who have been helping me so far you've been awesome! I'm not messing with the distributor or intake for now... now here's a new issue...

So yesterday I painted the inside of my cab... (looks good btw) and today the car won't start. I mean not even a click, tick... nada! Headlights won't come on either... so... I have power going everywhere (have checked the battery, starter, alternator(int regulator), distributor(HEI), every little prong on my ignition switch plug, every section of the fuse panel. Everything that should be reading 12V reads 12V, all others were continuity pass/fail) For some reason I get no reading in the fuse panel for the lights and the "PNL"(I assume instrument panel?) Can't figure out why either... The radio works great! lmao
Can't tell you if the dash lights up because it's been out of the truck for 2 weeks now... but til today it had always started and ran great despite the lack of gauges and lights

So what on earth could have gone wrong in painting?! Turning the key and absolutely nothing happens, as if the thing wasn't even plugged into the car... My head hurts and I've been chasing wires since 10am...nothing seems out of place...

[truckdude239]

Did you remove the grounds when painting?
Posted via Mobile Device

[67stepchic]

Not that I'm aware of... And I can't find any out of place wires that wouldve been grounds I somehow missed... I dont get it..
Posted via Mobile Device

[67stepchic]

As an update to this... my battery tested bad apparently so I got a new one... also got a new ignition switch "just in case". Still not a darn noise when I turn the ignition. It will kick if I jump the starter... so where would I start looking for something gone wrong?

[geezer#99]

Automatic or standard. If auto then could be nuetral safety switch.

[67stepchic]

Automatic. And I have a wire jumping the safety switch (two purple wires)...

[hobbz]

Might try unplugging and connection and plugging it back in. Same for fuses. It is possible that the pain overspray got in one and you are not making good contact anymore.

[mikeshome]

Do you have power at your ignition switch?If so does the power go to another wire also when key turned have to follow down system till power stops.

[VetteVet]

Originally Posted by 67stepchic

Automatic. And I have a wire jumping the safety switch (two purple wires)...

check the firewall plug for purple wire continuity or perhaps run a new wire temporarily to the S terminal on the starter from the key switch or the NSS

check the blue wire on the dimmer switch for power with the light switch on.
If it's there then check the green and tan wires for 12 volts as you change from dim to bright.

check for power on the orange wires on the fuse panel, one of them goes to the headlight switch and powers the rheostat for the dash lights which sends power back to the fuse panel through a green wire to the pnl lts fuse.

Make sure the headlight switch is grounded or the dome light won't work .

[67stepchic]

I have continuity everywhere I can tell... will have to try the jumper wire thing tomorrow....

I get power to all three wires at the dimmer switch, but there is no 12v reading no matter what I do to the dimmer or headlight switch...

power is to orange wire... since dash is out I have nothing hooked up running back to the fuse box :
[IMG][/IMG]
That is what my panel looks like right now.. HEI wire is run to the IGN on fuse panel... The wire next to it runs to nowhere aside from a spliced up piece of loose wire...the wire in the PNL slot is one of two connectors on the same wire... one of which I think has the heater bulb on it..

[IMG][/IMG]
Any idea what this is?? the green wire run out through firewall and then floats around... I also have a random small(16g maybe) red wire that was spliced of the headlight that just floats under there.. It tests as a hot wire and looks like it was hooked up to this thing... but not sure what it is

this is nuts! The wiring harness inside the cab looks relatively new too...not sure what is missing.

[Sklptrljay]

Okay, just throwing this out there because sometimes it's the simplest thing.

Could that device be a kill switch? Did you remove anything like that when you painted?

[67stepchic]

I thought maybe the same thing but there's no switch to kill with . I never pulled anything or unscrewed anything. Would've had to have been something simply bumped if anything...

[67stepchic]

Additionally... this is the ignition switch:
[IMG][/IMG]

[VetteVet]

Here are a couple of diagrams to show how the truck is wired. The main power wire comes through the firewall plug into the cab and joins the ignition switch the headlight switch the fuse panel and the horn relay. follow the red and pink wires since they are the power wires and the brown wire from the accessory on the key switch goes to the fuse panel to power the turn signals. The orange wire powers the stop light switch the dome light and the tail lights. It seems you are not getting power to the headlight switch or power from it. Why is the black tape on the red wire in the ignition switch picture?

Engine bay:



Cab 1



Cab 2



Cab 3





Tailights and dome light with fuel tank sender wires.

[67stepchic]

The purple and pink wires look like they were both at one point spliced into by the PO. I think that was how they chose to power the aftermarket radio they have put in.... Also pretty sure it was the cause of the two dash fires I had in the first month of owning the truck...

Thanks for the diagrams and info. I also pulled the manual from Painless wiring. the wiring harness inside the cab looks pretty darn new, but it was hacked into in places and I'm trying to sort out what went wrong recently. She was running just fine a few days ago...

[67stepchic]

It gets tough to follow these diagrams for me (electrical is not my specialty for sure) because I have no junction block, an internally regulated alternator and an HEI ignition

[67stepchic]

well... problem solved I guess.

Found a random yellow wire that was hiding behind the battery and apparently needed to connect to the positive terminal(how it came loose I really don't know). It run over and alongside the radiator. I guess that was what needed to close the circuit yay for hacked wiring

[WIDESIDE72]

Judging by the threaded portion on the object, I wonder if the unknown device in post 10 is a toggle switch that has the handle broken off. I came across something similar once. With the handle gone it just looked like a junction block, but it was a switch they put in the power wire to the coil. It was almost as if they broke the handle off on purpose as a theft prevention. If you stuck a pocket knife in it, the switch would operate. Redneck ingenuity?
Posted via Mobile Device

[67stepchic]

Could very well be

Well I fixed the starting problem... not quite everything though. Headlights still wont work. The brights do, but not the regular headlights or the dome light