Tail lights and cluster light wont come on?

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cali231

cali231

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I removed the dash cluster on my 73 dodge dart and now my tail lights and the lights that illuminate the cluster wont come on. The blinkers, headlights and brake lights work though. All the fuses look good and I cant find any loose or missing wires. I also replaced the bulbs and tried a different headlight switch but same problem. Any help appreciated.
 
Check for power in the fuse panel at the tail fuse, and for power and bad connections at the headlight switch connector.

The dash problem is surely related, "it's a trick"

In order for the dash lamps to work, the tail circuit must have power

Power goes through the dash dimmer control, OUT to the fuse box through the tan wire, and through the inst. fuse and out to the dash lamps on orange wiring.

So in order for the dash lamps to work, the tail circuit must be live, firstly.
 
I checked it out today and I'm not getting any power through the tan wire off the switch. If i jump it through the green wire which I believe is for the headlights I can get the two outside tail lights to come on but not the other two or the dash lights. I have an extra switch that I tried and I'm having the same problem with both. I'll take a look at the service manual, but if you any other ideas let me know. Thanks.
 
Don't worry about dash lights until you get the tail lights working. As I said, the dash lamps work off the tail circuit

The headlight switch gets power from TWO sources......one for headlights only

The second supplies power for tail, park, and the dash lamp circuit

Check the fuse for the tail circuit first.
 
I have to think you've pulled a wire off a unseen terminal. I would put the fuse box down and lift the back cover. There are a bunch of wires in there. Fewer on the buss bar side. Maybe one of those pulled off, Like a short one that goes almost directly from headlight switch to fuse box.
I no longer have a 73 here to look at so I'm only guessing
 
Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I'm not getting any power off fuse 7 which is tan and orange wires. If I jump the tan wire on the switch from the green wire which I think is the headlight power because its only live if the switch is out the #7 fuse blows but I can get two of the four tail lights to work and it stays live on the tan wire but not the orange wire through the fuse box. I don't see any wires missing. I'm thinking maybe I messed up something pulling the cluster out because it was a pain to get out. Could I have possibly messed up circuit board? Thanks for all the help.
 
FORGET fuse 7. FORGET the dash lights. That is what I'm trying to tell you. The dash fuse WILL NOT have power UNTIL the tail lights work, because that tan wire comes OFF (after, fed by) the dimmer which is powered off the tail circuit

I'll get some things posted here

Download the 73 service manual. The wiring diagrams changed for the A bodies that year and are much different than earlier. Go to page 8-152 which is the index of what is going on

Go to page 8-115. This is a list of what all the fuses supply. "Car line" "V and L" is for the A bodies

CAVITY 5 is the TAIL LAMPS and is the one you should be worrying about for now

Notice the listing for "CI" INSTRUMENT PANEL, page 8-167. These are pictorials of all the connectors under the instrument panel.

Wiring diagrams start page 8-154 On page 8-153 you can look up the headlight switch and see it is at location C10

FInd C10 which is page 8-156 Notice the switch says "CI-2" This is what the lamp switch connector will look like.

Look at the top of the switch where it says B2. This is "battery feed 2" (B1 is headlights)

See that L8-18P ? That is a no 18 Pink, which goes off to the fuse in cavity 5 the tail light fuse

The diagram for the lamp switch connector is CI-2 on page 8-167

The diagram for the fuse panel is CI-28, on page 8-169

The wire L8-18P (Pink) is tail / park / dash power "coming in" to the switch and should be hot all the time.
 

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I suppose you could have misaligned the round connector on the circuit board, bent pins or something to create a short. I think that housing is plastic so even if you had pushed a pin out the back it wouldn't create a dead short like the metal housings would.
 
Slow down and listen to 67dart273 and redfish.

Download the manual!

This is an easy problem and they won't steer you in the wrong direction.

You have lost one of the power feeds to the headlight switch or have a bad switch and or connections.
 
RedFish said:
I suppose you could have misaligned the round connector on the circuit board, bent pins or something to create a short. I think that housing is plastic so even if you had pushed a pin out the back it wouldn't create a dead short like the metal housings would.
Click to expand...

I don't think he has tail lights, Red, and has not power on the dash fuse. It should have power regardless of troubles at the circuit board.
 
Please forgive my ignorance. Okay now I have power running through all the wires and fuses except 7 keeps blowing so no power to orange wire. I got the two outside tail lights(blinkers and brakes) working but not the the two inside tail lights(just replaced bulbs and old ones were kinda rusted and tough to get out) or dash dash lights. Really appreciate the help guys this is my first time really working on a car and trying to figure it out as I go.
 
cali231 said:
Please forgive my ignorance. Okay now I have power running through all the wires and fuses except 7 keeps blowing so no power to orange wire. I got the two outside tail lights(blinkers and brakes) working but not the the two inside tail lights(just replaced bulbs and old ones were kinda rusted and tough to get out) or dash dash lights. Really appreciate the help guys this is my first time really working on a car and trying to figure it out as I go.
Click to expand...

What do you mean "inside and outside" tail? Isn't one of the reverse lamps?

OK, now that fuse 7 blows, you need to "one by one" check dimmer controlled dash lamps. This depends a little on options. Theres a lamp in the radio, heater bezel, shifter quadrant, and so on, in addition to the dash cluster. If you can get your hand "up there" you can remove the cluster connector for the PC board in the cluster, but be careful as they are delicate

This is one place where the "new improved" wiring diagrams make things a bit more difficult. Look on page 8-163, at the very bottom. You'll see a group of lamps there, fed by wire no E2-18O (no 18 Orange). This is the "end of the line" for the dash lamps, and you can see there some of it. Follow that orange wire back through the pages and you'll see it comes back to page 8-157, where it comes off your fuse cavity 7 You'll see it branches off there and feeds up to the cluster PC board That is connector CI-14

Replace the use with a test lamp, that is, pull the no7 fuse and clip a lamp socket across the fuse terminals with a dash lamp in the socket. This will protect the circuit against shorting, and you should be able to tell when you've found the shorting socket.

The wire coming into the left to the fuse below is your TAN wire, through the fuse, and out to all the lights on ORANGE
 

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I've really appreciated your help. Like I said please forgive my ignorance I just assumed that all the rear lights came on.
 
67Dart273 said:
I don't think he has tail lights, Red, and has not power on the dash fuse. It should have power regardless of troubles at the circuit board.
Click to expand...

The fuse blows so there has to be power going to it at switch on.
If this problem didn't exist before inst' panel R&R, that's a clue to the location, Or...
Maybe the problem did exist and was only discovered after that R&R.
For example
The little orange wire does go up the steering column to the shift indicators bulb. If the ignition switch had been replaced with aftermarket and that orange wire put in the wrong connector position, that would blow the fuse. Seen that before.
Other common faults in the orange wire circuit are the ash tray lamp ( pinched wire ), and the radio dial lamp ( aftermarket radio hook up with elec' tape ).
 
I just recently bought the car and it has an aftermarket shifter and radio installed so I guess I'll start there. If I remove the pins from the circuit the fuse still blows so I'm thinking it's not the cause. It's a pain to work on because I live in an apartment complex and we're not supposed to work on our cars here so I had to wrap it up early last night. I'm just glad I've got tail lights now, that was my major concern.
 
I realized earlier today that your instrument cluster would be metal although stamped tin rather than the cast pot metal is see most often. Seems we've determined the problem isn't in the inst' panel anyway.
I recall that model having a lamp in the climate controller also.
Good hunting
 
Found the short! It was behind the stereo, the orange wire was grounded. All is well now. Definitely got to know the electrical system a little better. Thanks for all the help.
 
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