jhuff

OK so I am finally at the home stretch of interior reassembly and when I turn the key on to check some lights the fuse pops. I investigate a little and it turns out the power for the gauge circuit (the pink wires) is shorted to ground. I unplugged everything I could think of and its still shorted (about 6 ohms). Any Ideas how to find it? This really pisses me off. Everything was working not too long ago.

...Roger...

What year ?

Duke94

Not sure about your 75', but on my 71' there is a trim panel under the steering column that is held on with one screw. If the screw you use is to long, it will screw right into the column harness and short a wire to ground. A number of us on the Forum have made this mistake. Not sure if the it's your problem, but an easy thing to check.

Gary

...Roger...

Guess I should have looked before asking. 75...do you still have the seat belt interlock system ? Your pink wire is for the temp,oil,fuel gauge and the door ajar and parking brake light

jhuff

I dont know anything about the seat belt interlock. I have some wires coming out of the seat belt but they arent hooked up either. I was not aware of the door ajar deal. Might be worth investigating. Also, the trim is not installed as the entire dash is apart right now.

leskinner

I had the same problem on my 75. Does your tach work ? Mine didn't so I replaced the circuit board behind the tach. Shorting problem went away and all the gages work now.
Apparently, that board was shorted.
Larry

jhuff

The Tach isnt plugged in and the short is still there. It couldnt be the tach

c3_guy

I had an intermitant short in my 76. It was a few years ago but I believe it was in the gauge circuit. It turned out that mice had eaten the insulation off of a couple wires in the console and one of them was shorting to ground. I think they were the wires for the seatbelt indicator light but I dont remember and my wiring diagram isn't handy. Good luck.

jdp6000

Did you unplug the center gauge cluster as well? The short is there sometimes. Especially if the copper has shifted where the plug goes in. It could also be in the center gauge cluster board...take a look at it.

Other place i have heard of this happening is on the rear of the fuse panel.

Also the areas Dwncchs suggested.

Jim

C3 4ME

I too have had a dead short on my dash light circuit. In my case it turned out to be 2 of the copper pieces on the printed circuit board were touching. The ends had come loose. I glued them back into place with a couple of dabs of glue and no problems since then.

jhuff

Problem solved. Instead of going crazy trying to find the short I just ran a new circuit and abandoned the old one. Wiring behind the dash looks good now