I've been working on my son's 74 comet project and last night spent a few hours with my head under the dash cleaning up some of the wiring that has been messed with over the years. After a couple hours, I almost got physically sick, mainly from vertigo laying in that position. Whenever I get a cold, my equilibrium gets all messed up. I am hoping some kind soul in this forum can help me out in locating a wire that I can connect the tach and aftermarket gauges to tie into the headlight switch so the gauge lights come on with the switch. I know I can figure it out eventually, but am SOooooo not looking forward to it
Light blue & red(actually more of a medium blue & red), it's the color for all dash lights controlled by dimmer, same in every Ford product I've seen into the '90 and probably later...
I stuck my 6'-5" son under the dash last night to track down the wire. He's gotta learn sometime right? He tested a couple of blue w/red stripes and called no joy. I don't know if the two are related, but there are no dash lights at all. I pulled all the fuses and they all looked good. I figured there would have been a smoked one, but there wasn't so now I'm at a loss!! I'll be the first to admit my electrical skills are basic at best!
Rotate the dimmer control back and forth 15-20 times, contact that sets on rheostat is often corroded which kills dash lights.. If also does not have park, tail & marker lights, the headlight switch is probably bad...
Try cleaning the circuit board by rubbing it with a pickle. Yeah I know it sounds funny but the acid from the pickle will eat away the corrosion leaving the circuit tracks shinny as a new penny.
This contact cleaner is pricey but really works well. My old vintage Kenwood stereo lost the left channel and the right one was popping. When I called a couple repair shops the cheapest quote to open it up to diagnose was $75 plus parts and labor for any repairs. Spent $12 bucks, sprayed all the switches and circuit boards and all is good.
Yup, good stuff... I used Deoxit on the firewall bulkhead connecters when I reinstalled my wiring harness...
Above is the right fix, but an option is to just catch a wire downstream of the Black/Orange ignition power wire, but the Tach lights would be on anytime the car is running. No big deal. I believe a White/Pink or Brown/Orange wire should work right out of the fuse box (both are fused). Also, if you have the accessory stud in the fuse box, that should work but maybe not fused right for a 1974 (you could always add your own inline fuse). See attached link for details, it has been very helpful to me: http://www.maverickcomet.com/Wiring/Maverick.asp
Krazy - Your suggestion was spot on. Once the dash lights were lit up the first wire he checked was the right one. I really appreciate all of everyone's input
