P/O horrible wiring mess HELP PLEASE....

[69gmcshorty]

I have these pics and i was wondering if anyone is familiar with this wiring harness. it doesnt look like the stock fuse block like i have seen on other posts, and in some areas it has about ten extra feet of wires wound together. where can i start or what can i do to make sense of this mess. sorry horrible cell phone pics with light..

any help is appriciated

[Hart_Rod]

It looks like a painless or EZ wire aftermarket kit. It should have most of the wires labeled if it was purchased in the last 4-5 years. Other than the extra wire, what's the problem?

[69gmcshorty]

i like cleanliness and order and i hate electrical work. i stray as far away from it as possible. assuming that its all wiring and mis-grounds, my fuel gauge, speddo, turn signals on the front, backup lights, dome light all dont work. there are enough splices in the wiring that the p/o should have a masters degree on doing it by now.

[mclairmo]

Obtain an instruction booklet from Painless Wiring or EZ Wire and confirm that everything is installed correctly. You may also need a factory wiring diagram to help. While you are at it, have some zip ties handy and start cleaning it all up to make it look nice.

[msgross]

how much do you want to spend? For $800 you could purchase all the wiring harness' for your truck with all the correct original plugs...

If that's not an option the I suggest that you start with your dash wiring and work backwards.
1. Speedo is only a cable, $10 at autozone.
2. Backup lights will depend on the type of tranny you have
3. Fuel gauge could be a bad ground or broken sending unit or the wire
4. I would start at the light bulbs for the front turn signals and use a test light to find where the electricity stops. Could be another ground issue if your rears are working.
5. Dome light, same method.. test lights help a lot.

[msgross]

moving to electrical section for the real experts, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn last night!

[cdowns]

except for the indicator light the speedo is not electrical // its run by a mechanical cable and gear drive
as far as the lights the way i'd do it is start at one socket say for the left front turn signal does the parking lightwork? if so then id take out the bulb check bulb and recepticle to make sure they are both 2filament items then with signal turned on check to see if one has intermittant voltage if not i'd b tracing the wires back to where they come from if it does have intermitant voltage id put bulb in and run a test ground rirht from the housing to the frame
slow but sure if you just try fixing one thing at a time following wires back to origin and reading whats on the wires and very very important getting everything grounded// it's not that hard theres only a + and a- and having both electric will flow

[69gmcshorty]

thanks guys for the responses. i will start one wire at a time. i guess its just all overwhelming to see everything bunched together.
Thanks again..