Dash and turn signal issues

[Andre68]

I have 68 dart. It was sitting in a guys yard for 15 years just rotting. So now that the car is painted and put together, i try to test drive it and I noticed that only one of the green turn signal on the dash lights up, and nothing on the dash works. The tach that I have mounted on the steering wheel lights up. The brake lights work, headlights, high beams, cabin light.

So no turn signals, dash gauges haven't moved but, alternator gauge kinda moves a little, and only the left turn signal lights up green.


I have steering wheel column out of a 73 duster I believe? If that helps. It has a key ignition mounted into it.

I know electrical is a bit of a pain but if someone can point me in the right direction that would be awesome

 

[67Dart273]

What you have there is an abortion. Without knowing "what was done" that is, what harnesses were used, and whether it EVER worked with that late model column, all you can do is dig in and try and fix it

What do you have for shop manuals? Download free ones here and an MyMopar:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970088617

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31

You might look at the 68/ 69 manuals and the 72 manual. You'll have to look at the column wiring for the 72 and see if you can make sense between those diagrams and the 68/9 "rest of the car."

Basically all column switches work the same...........

You have power going to the signal flasher and that feeds TO the column

You have switched brake light power going TO the column

In the case of the 70 and later colums, the emergency flasher switch became part of the signal switch in the column. So power goes to the separate emergency flasher and then TO the column

Make certain the emergency flasher switch is off

Brake light power goes to BOTH rear lamps with the signal switch in center position.

Turn signal flasher power is routed to left or right rear depending on lever position.

If you have a meter and test lamp, and get some clip leads (Radio Shack) we might be able to step you through some tests.

You can access part of "it" as the wiring comes out of the column, and the rear harness connector to the tail harness in the left kick panel.

The dash lamps may be a separate problem. I would be pulling the cluster to inspect and fix the cluster problems. You might be in for an interesting ride.

I have no idea why I'm awake at 2 O'clock in the freekin morning!!

 

[Andre68]

Well I do have the 68 service manual, I guess I just need to sit there and stare at it haha

 

[67Dart273]

Well ask away, we can guide you along. If you think the harness is factory to 68, and has simply had the later column interfaced into it, things should not be too bad to figure out.

Here's some of the stuff you might be up against in the cluster, ALL of which is pretty much repairable, you simply have to get it out and go to it

Harness connector pins on the circuit board: These come loose or break. They can generally be repaired. On my 67, I opted to solder wire pigtails to the pc board traces, and replaced the original connectors with Molex style which I bought at Radio Shack

The socket for the gauge IVR (instrument voltage regulator) is made of brass contact fingers. On mine, not making contact with the board traces, had to solder jumpers across

Build or buy a new IVR. RTE engineering sells them, solid state, and there are others.

The gauge connector nuts may be loose / corroded. Replace with real nuts and tighten / loosen / tighten to scrub the connection clean

The gauge units may or may not be accurate

The instrument lamp sockets may have weak contact fingers, be corroded, burned out bulbs, and corroded / dirty PC board where they twist in. Clean, bend contacts, replace sockets and bulbs as needed.

This is NOT hard to do. Post back as you go. We can offer advice and point you to previous threads. There's a lot of informative guys on here.

 

[Andre68]

Awesome sounds good, ill post some pics tomorrow!

 

[Andre68]

I know it's been a while since I've posted on this issue, but I've finally had some time to make this little video.

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FD_fD4SQsT0[/ame]

Ignore the horrible dash pad cover lol the original was horrible! So I just put a vinyl cover over it, which I'm going to be glueing on, I have like 10 grand into this build, I kinda don't want to spend anymore (68 dart sedan) it's not a gts haha plus I figure for a daily driver, a home crafted vinyl cover will do for now!

Sometimes when I say dash I'm referring to the instrument panel, simple mistake haha

 

[Andre68]

The steering column had 2 wiring harnesses. One attached into a bulkhead the went to the fuse box. The other? I don't know? I figure i would post a pic! I take it this May be the issue why the turn signals don't work?

 

[70dustah]

After watching the video, I noticed you said it wasn't screwed in and illuminated while wiggling it up and down. Does the dart cluster assy receive a ground through the mounting screws like the ralley cluster? I would install the screws and see what works then.

 

[67Dart273]

I may have some hard news for you, and it goes right up to the top of this post

You say you have a 73 column? The ignition switch is ON the column? Is it being used? Where is the switch that operates the car? 68 would have been in the dash to the right of the column. 73 would be on the column like "more modern cars"

That connector you are holding is for a column ignition switch.

As I said before, you have an abortion. You are going to have to get documentation, drop the column so you can remove the dash, and get in there and check and rework and repair the wiring.

The SECOND problem you may be facing is general wear and tear..........problems in the bulkhead connector, the headlight switch (unrelated) and it's connector, and the ignition switch (unrelated) and it's mating connector. What I mean by that is that you may have OTHER unrelated problems in the harness not related to having "mixed and matched" parts and pieces.

Let's say, example, that the dash mounted ignition is what "operates" the car? You take that out and examine it, and it appears NOT to be "hacked up" and spliced into the harness. This would indicate to me that you PROBABLY have a "mostly" 68 harness and that someone did the MINIMUM work to "throw" a 73 column in there to get it installed, and all you need to do is properly interface the 73 column wiring with the 68 harness.

Your video does not show us much. What I need to see is "what they did" at the column wiring. On a late model column (ignition on the column) there will be TWO wiring pigtails / connectors coming out of the column. One for turn, the other for the ignition switch

Again, that photo is for an ignition switch connector. Is that the under dash harness end or the column end?

 

[Andre68]

Yes I use the ignition switch on the dash. That one is not hacked and works perfect.

I agree that I believe someone just did the minimal work to get the 73 column in there.

I will the instrument panel in, but it was bolted in previously and did not work.

I will get more photos!

 

[67Dart273]

OK you might be able to fix this without pulling the dash, at least the specific problem related to the signals. Read my previous posts above and dowload a 68 / 69 shop manual. This will give you the signal harness hook up for the "car end" of the harness where it hooks to the column.

Then post a good clean photo of the signal connector (unless it's been spliced) coming out of the late column. This will be in the same area of the connector you posted above

The trick will be mating the two together.

Essentially, these all work pretty much the same. Main difference, other than

wire color changes

connector changes

is that when Ma went to the later columns, the hazard flasher switch was moved from the dash (toggle switch) to the column, a little button down lower right that you pull out / push in

But what goes into and comes out of the column is the same, except for 4 way (hazard)

You have going into the column from the car:

Stop light switch power

Power coming from the signal flasher

Coming OUT of the column

Left/ Right turn signals going to the front lamps, and branching off, feeding up to the dash indicators

Left / Right turn signals, which also act as stop lamps

It might be that "whoever" has cut off the column connector and but--spliced the two "halves" together, or even got CS and just twisted and taped 'em........which might be why they don' work.

 

[Andre68]

That was a good call with tightening the instrument panel down. I believe it did ground it because now the lights will stay on. Again, only one half but, that's still something.

 

[Andre68]

Ready for the mess? Here's a picture of the wiring harness that goes to the fuse box.

 

[Andre68]

Here's a picture of the bulkhead to fuse box

 

[Andre68]

Here's a picture of this like little metal solenoid thing, I don't know where it goes so it just kinda floats around.

Yes I will print out my 68 dart wiring duagrams

 

[67Dart273]

This is your turn signal connector

You can probe that connector with a multimeter and / or a test light

Look at below, "turn signal flasher" wire D2-18R goes to "2" of the connector, RED. This should show power with key in either accessory or run

1.............Two wires, Dark GreeN These branch off and go three places...........out through the bulkhead to the left side front signal lamp...........up to the left panel indicator lamp..........and to the original 68 4X switch
This should flash with key in accessory and sig switch to LEFT turn or with hazard switch on

2.............Flasher power coming in Should show power with key in accessory or run

3............Tan................Goes to right front signal lamp, to the right side panel indicator, and to the original hazard switch This should flash with key in accessory and sig switch to right or hazard switch on

4...........BlacK........Goes to horn button. The horn button grounds this when pushed. This should show power anytime the horn button is not pushed

5..........Orange.........This is power to the column shift indicator lamp, should have power when dash lamps are on

6...........Dark GreeN.........Goes to same color wire in connector in left kick panel which feeds to rear harness to rear signal / brake lamp, left side. Should flash with key in accessory and sig switch to left or hazard switch on

7...........White..........This is power coming in from stop light switch. This should show power anytime with brake pedal depressed

8...........BRown..........Goes to same color wire in connector in left kick panel which feeds to rear harness and to rear signal / brake lamp right side. Should flash with key in accessory and sig. switch to right or with hazard switch on

9, 10..........No connection

 

[70dustah]

Metal solenoid thing is your flasher

 

[67Dart273]

This thing, You are going to have to see where at least one end goes, physically follow it. It might be? a connector was eliminated.

 

[67Dart273]

Metal solenoid thing is your flasher

Yes but which one?

Turn signal flasher wires should be black and red

Hazard flasher wires should be pink and red

 

[Andre68]

Well I went ahead and and did my best to clean up the wiring harness from the steering column bulkhead to the fusebox bulkhead, doing the best I can to try and follow the wires and refer back to the diagrams but... im kinda stuck now

So im posting pictures of the fusebox.

 

[Andre68]

heres some picture of the wiring associated with the fuse box.

one picture shows the wires that enter the fuse box and then come out the other side. They enter the fuse box from the bulkhead that connects to the steering column, also from the bulkhead from the engine bay. They come out the otherside and get divided to some box right by the instrument panel (attached photo) and then to a small row on the top of the instrument panel, then to the side by the kickpanel.

 

[Andre68]

I also uploaded a photo of the bulkhead from the fusebox to column harness

 

[Andre68]

heres some more photos.

After cleaning up the column harness, the only left over wire was a pink one from the column? posted a photo, didnt know if it was okay to be left out, or where it goes to, im thinking it might be a 73 thing.

The wires on the solenoid thing has 2 pink and 1 red? emergency flasher? why 2 pink?

 

[Andre68]

I traced the orange wire and its split from the column harness to, the tach they installed, then to the fuse box.

 

[67Dart273]

Orange is always dash dimmer controlled dash lamp feeds. In other words the lighting for the cluster, the shifter on automatics, radio dial, heater bezel, etc.

What I was wanting you to trace, mostly, was where at least end of that ugly splice you posted earlier goes

Read the posts again. "The solenoid thing" is one of two flashers, one for hazard, (4 way) one for turn signal

See post no19 above

When troubleshooting, you can swap them around