Ground problem in dash

[benc]

I just purchased a 1979 international project truck. It is a S-1900 with a DT-466. I am the third person this has been a project truck for. The first guy removed the hood, using side-cutters to cut the wires, and didn't label the wiring in any way. The second guy put a new (used) engine in it and put it back together. He wasn't able to figure out all the wiring for the hood though. Apparently the dashboard grounds through the wiring that was cut and not labeled and now it has no dash electric, including gauges, brake lights, marker lights, and probably some other stuff. The cigarette lighter plug does work.

I was just wondering if anybody else has run into this and has any suggestions or quicker fixes that a rewire or re-ID of all the wires in the dash.

Much appreciated,

Ben

 

[Captain Morgan]

Wow what a moron! Try a the ignition switch.and the fuse panel, make sure you have power coming in and out. The most trouble is usually the key switch. Several things ground through it if i remember correctly! I have a later model service manual and will look through the wiring diagrams and see what I can come up with while you try to see if that first suggestion helps.

 

[Haulinhazmat]

My 87 IHC wireing is not color coded it is numbered. I switched hoods and the new hood had cut wireing. I used a continuity tester. Took a while but it worked.

 

[benc]

Well I finally got the truck home. Copper air lines really suck, but that is another story.

After several hours of tinkering, testing, and studying electrical schematics I think I have traced the problem to a bad splice/plug behind the dash between the main power supply stud and the fuse block, dash board, and wherever else it goes. I was able to get my lights working by running a jumper between the main power supply stud and the back of the fuse block on the lights circuit. Now all I have to do is take the dash out and un-bundle all those wires to find the right plug.

Thanks for your suggestions,
Ben

 

[benc]

Problem found and fixed

Just in case anyone is interested. After pulling the dash completely apart I found the problem, and the cause of the problem. The problem was that the main accessory terminal on the back of the ignition switch was melted off, the headlight switch was bad, and the connector on the headlight switch was melted. My truck has a pickup style headlight switch (pull out one click for marker lights, 2 for headlights) and in order to make it function like a big truck there is a marker light interupt switch. After 30 years of vibration and such one of the terminals on the interupt switch broke off and shorted out behind the dash. The fuse either didn't take care of it or someone hardwired the fuse panel and the overload on the circuit caused the melted terminals. Lucky that that truck didn't catch fire. Anyway, on to other problems to be named later. Hope that this is able to help someone in the future.

Ben

 

[nevrenufhp]

Thanks for the report back!