ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS

[STEN ANDERSON]

HI NCRS!

I AM AN OWNER OF A 1962 VETTE WITH ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS. MY PROBLEM IS THE DIR. SIGNAL SWITCH AND THE FUEL GAUGE. DEPENDING ON HOW THE DIR. SIGNAL LEVER IS STATIONED THERE IS SOMETIMES STOP LIGHTS SOME TIMES NOT WHEN PRESSING THE BRAKEPEDAL. ALSO THE FUEL GAUGE IS ACTIVATED BY THE BRAKE. I THINK THERE IS A FALTY iN THE DIR. SIGNAL SWITCH . PLEASE IS THERE ANY ONE THAT COULD FAX ME A WIRING DIAGRAM FOR A 1962 AND SPECIALLY OVER THE DIR. SIGN. SWITCH. SUMMER IS HERE AND VETTE STILL IN GARAGE TERRIBLE THOUGHT.

PLEASE FAX ME ON +46 581 844 62

MANY THANKS STEN ANDERSON CORVETTE 1962 OWNER IN SWEDEN.

[Bill Braun #33186]

Re: ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS

Sten,

If you haven't already bought a service manual for your car, I heartily suggest you do so. All wiring diagrams - and a lot of other valuable info - are in these service manuals as well as troubleshooting tips.

Bill

[Jeff C.]

Re: ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS

Sten,

I had a similar problem with a 1967 Camaro that I was restoring. When I turned on the head lights the gas gage went to empty and other stange happenings with instruments and lights. It turn out to be a problem with the instrument panel ground.

Good luck!

Jeff

[Bill Clupper]

Re: ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS

Sten, I emailed you the wiring diagram, but I suspect you have one or more common problems with these cars, pull the steering wheel and check the mechanism that cancels the turnsignal switch. Often these become sticky and won't fully return the swithc to the "Neutral" position, causing the brake lights to go inop. YOu may also have a problem with the fuel tank ground or the IP ground regarding the gauge. Good luck! The scan I sent you is out of the ST-12 Corvette service guide. These are handy to have and are available inexpensively through the NCRS office.

[Jack H.]

No FAX!

This is the National Discussion Board, and I refuse to pay for an international FAX. You opened the thread, so it's your responsibility to make the local call, log back though your ISP and perform the due diligence to check the responses....

Your symptoms remind me of a 'funny' situation I've seen more than once.... It goes this way.

Car went through many owner hands. Few knew what they were doing, seldom read books, and simply enjoyed the car until this/that failed. Then, they used whatever home remedy was at hand to get the car running again....

One area over looked is the steering column itself. There are mounting screws here/there and the factory originally specified fasteners by P/N. But, down the owner chain of fix this/that, it became 'cram a screw, any screw' in here or there during repair....

A common by-product of this hit/miss workmanship is the turn signal/horn wiring harness runs down the inside of the steering column. If it's not routed as the factory intended, it can scrape on sharp edges here/there and do all kinds of 'queer' things that come/go depending on orientation.

Same goes for any/all screws/nuts/bolts that affix the column and/or cosmetic column items. If the original is lost and a substitute is used that's too long, has a tapered vs. flat end on it, you can pierce the internal wiring harness and this too can come/go depending on how tight the fastener is torqued and/or if you hit a bump recently....

Things like this can be ridiculous to troubleshoot because they can be of an intermittent nature. So, knowing that your horn and turn signals route in a common wiring braid that's INSIDE your steering column gives you a clue.

There are a couple of ways to fault isolate. One is to take the wiring diagram another sent you and ohm out each wire path end to end. UGH! A lot of work....

The other way is to make a sub-set of educated guesstimates as to where the problem is and check by disconnecting here/there to see if you can 'control' the symptoms of the problem. For those circuits in the column itself, you can disconnect the the upper steering column harness at it's lower end and probe/exercise each of the circuits independent of the upper harness that might be damaged. You can also pull the steering wheel, the turn signal canceller switch assembly and CAREFULLY pull the harness all the way out of the steering shaft to see if you can visually detect damage point(s). Good luck! PS, why not come to London in September and 'play' with us?