Lighting issue
05-02-2012, 03:34 AM
#2
I could guess, but you'd be better off purchasing a factory service manual from Year One and a 12 volt tester. The manual has wiring diagrams. My guess is that a previous owner did something creative to "fix" another problem.
05-02-2012, 08:28 AM
#3
I agree, buy a shop manual. You can get either paper reprints or "on CD" from several places, and ebay
One check you can make quickly would check for a short in the rear harness
I'm not very familiar with E bodies, but normally, the rear harness comes up forward, under the sill plate, and has a connector up in the left kick panel or maybe even above as it comes up over the top, which connects to the dash
One hot wire in this harness is the dome light. So if the harness has a short between the tail circuit and the dome circuit, the tail lamps would light
So try pulling some fuses and see what kills power to what.
You also could try removing the kick panel and separating the connector. Obviously, this will kill the TAIL lamps, but if this action also kills the DASH lights, then you know that harness has a problem
Other than that, check out the light switch.
You can get pretty basic wiring diagrams here
(A quick look, though, shows this to be incomplete at the light switch)
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ChallengerA.JPG
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ChallengerB.JPG
which came from here
http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31
One thing you need to keep in mind is that Mopar light switches have TWO separate power sources
ONLY the headlights power is supplied UNfused power from the "in harness splice" in the ammeter circuit directly to the headlight switch, which has a built in breaker
The tail/ park and dash light power is supplied FROM the tail fuse
BUT the OUTPUT of the dimmer control going TO the dash lights first goes through a fuse ONLY for the panel lights. On diagram "A" I posted, this is the top right fuse, the tan is power coming FROM the dash dimmer, and orange goes OUT to all the dimmer controlled instrument lamps.
One check you can make quickly would check for a short in the rear harness
I'm not very familiar with E bodies, but normally, the rear harness comes up forward, under the sill plate, and has a connector up in the left kick panel or maybe even above as it comes up over the top, which connects to the dash
One hot wire in this harness is the dome light. So if the harness has a short between the tail circuit and the dome circuit, the tail lamps would light
So try pulling some fuses and see what kills power to what.
You also could try removing the kick panel and separating the connector. Obviously, this will kill the TAIL lamps, but if this action also kills the DASH lights, then you know that harness has a problem
Other than that, check out the light switch.
You can get pretty basic wiring diagrams here
(A quick look, though, shows this to be incomplete at the light switch)
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ChallengerA.JPG
http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1973/73ChallengerB.JPG
which came from here
http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31
One thing you need to keep in mind is that Mopar light switches have TWO separate power sources
ONLY the headlights power is supplied UNfused power from the "in harness splice" in the ammeter circuit directly to the headlight switch, which has a built in breaker
The tail/ park and dash light power is supplied FROM the tail fuse
BUT the OUTPUT of the dimmer control going TO the dash lights first goes through a fuse ONLY for the panel lights. On diagram "A" I posted, this is the top right fuse, the tan is power coming FROM the dash dimmer, and orange goes OUT to all the dimmer controlled instrument lamps.
05-03-2012, 07:18 PM
#7
I bought my factory service manual from Year One. Amazon has them new in stock, as well as some vendors on eBay.
Last edited by Mr.4spd; 05-03-2012 at 07:30 PM. Reason: Because I can.
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