Tail light stay on

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This is a 67 fuse box so some slight differences in wiring arrangement I cleaned up and was adding a fuse for optional tachometer.
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Barbs retaining the fuse holder
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I'm going to suggest getting an open barrel crimper, some new or good used fuse clips, and an in-line splice terminal for repairs. Partially unwrap the one side of the harness and splice in a new section. Allow a little room for slack (strain relief) but not too much to cause kinking. Or maybe someone will cut you a section from a used harness with other damage. You'll still need to splice it in.
 
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Mattax said:
68 Taillights are different than my current 67.
However, the upside down Christmas tree symbol is ground. So each lamp is grounded to the body directly. No wire.
View attachment 1716183307

While grounding can be an issue, the problem at hand is on the feed side.

Let's go over the findings:
Power in L17 and and L7 with the switch off. But only the rear lights are on.
Do parking lights work with switch on?
Do the rear lights turn on with the connector (or just the one terminal) removed from the headlight connector?

Dome light fuse is missing one and has one damaged wire.
Dome light doesn't work.

Personally I might do a little more testing for hot, for example in the front parking circuit and in the dome light circuit.
This would be to try to determine which circuit and location areas could be a cross wire short.
edit: The steps in the above post are very clear and I suggest you follow them

At some point you will need to address the fuse box. Disconnect the battery and seperate or partially seperate the fusebox from the harness.
The terminals on the feed side slip off. If you have to do the circuits out (other side) will require removing the fuses and releasing the fuse holder clips.

Look at the power feed to the box (Red with tracer) for pinching or contact to the L17 and also the other wires.
Click to expand...
Got a bulb and noticed the dome light wires where not connected in the trunk. Dome light works
 
OK. Approach to diagnose stays the same.

requoting 67Dart273:

1....Disconnect headlight switch. If the power stays on, then it is not coming from the light switch

2....With the problem "showing," access the kick panel rear harness connector. Look up the wire colors, and probe all pins of the connector. With brake lights off, and key off, there should be only 1 or 2 pins active. The tail lights (because of the problem) and the dome light circuit.
Pull the fuse for the dome light circuit, that should kill the tail lights IF it somehow crossing wires in the harness.
If so, verify by pulling both bulbs, separating the kick panel harness, and then check continuity. The tail light wire should NOT show continuity to any other wire in the harness, or to ground.
If it does, the problem has to be right there in the rear harness

3..If 1 or 2 brings no answers, there is not much left. The path from the kick panel connector, at the tail light circuit, up to the headlight switch, is a short length of wire. There should be nothing else on that. If it is still getting power, trace the harness from the kick panel to the light switch.

Only thing to add is that we can see the fusebox circuit wires are missing and damaged. So clean and take apart far enough to figure which ones are damaged.
 
Being as the car and most of it's components are 50+ years old, there is no telling how many hands have been on it or, what all of those hands have done and/or changed. In my opinion, if the fuse block looks to far gone you may want to see if another can be found or yours cleaned up to the point everything is serviceable. The other option would be to use an aftermarket fuse block and harnesses.
 
Mattax said:
OK. Approach to diagnose stays the same.

requoting 67Dart273:

1....Disconnect headlight switch. If the power stays on, then it is not coming from the light switch

2....With the problem "showing," access the kick panel rear harness connector. Look up the wire colors, and probe all pins of the connector. With brake lights off, and key off, there should be only 1 or 2 pins active. The tail lights (because of the problem) and the dome light circuit.
Pull the fuse for the dome light circuit, that should kill the tail lights IF it somehow crossing wires in the harness.
If so, verify by pulling both bulbs, separating the kick panel harness, and then check continuity. The tail light wire should NOT show continuity to any other wire in the harness, or to ground.
If it does, the problem has to be right there in the rear harness

3..If 1 or 2 brings no answers, there is not much left. The path from the kick panel connector, at the tail light circuit, up to the headlight switch, is a short length of wire. There should be nothing else on that. If it is still getting power, trace the harness from the kick panel to the light switch.

Only thing to add is that we can see the fusebox circuit wires are missing and damaged. So clean and take apart far enough to figure which ones are damaged.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna dig back in tomorrow and track what you are saying. The lights (tail lights, side markers and licence light) stay on with the headlight switch disconnected. Key on or off they just wanna keep on shining, lol. You have been a wealth of information and I thank you for that
 
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