few under dash wire problem / questions ?

[sweetk30]

body was donated from a 1987 c/r-10 v8/700r4 truck full loaded silverado .

wipers with OR with out delay box dont park at the bottom unless i turn them off there .

dash cluster out was testing for brake light switch problem . fixed it and then i went and held the brake lights on and pushed the 4 way switch and the plug for the gauge cluster started smoking NOT touching any metal . undid 4 way switch asap . ? ? ?

brake lights rear some times no left brake . bulb like new removed and tested 100% .

i am thinking turn signal/4way switch is junk . time for new . = brake light intermittent on/off left side and 4 way problem .

also no power windows or locks on both door switches . have not dug in yet .

what do you guys think ? i hate wiring diagnostics .

[hatzie]

If the plastic turnsignal wire protector in the column was moved the switch wire pigtail can rub on the guts of the column. However a smoking cluster plug leads me to think the turn indicator wires in the cluster pigtail may need attention. When wires start to overheat the problem children are instantly obvious.
If the switch pigtail is damaged and you can keep the original switches by repairing the pigtail it would be a good idea. The Chinese AC Delco replacements will not be the same level of quality as the US made Delco or Delphi pieces.

No park is usually the parking cam or switch inside the wiper motor.
The wiper motor has two plugs. Park has two connections and RUN has three. Both Park and RUN have a gray LO speed wire. The Black/Blue Park wire is grounded by the wiper switch when it's set to off. The Park switch inside the motor feeds that ground through to the LO wire til the park cam opens the park switch at the bottom of the wiper arm sweep.
Once upon a time you could buy the parking switch and the parking cam from GM. Now you get to buy a re-built or used 1985-1991 squarebody wiper motor.

If the delay function is not working you can probably replace the electrolytic capacitors on the circuit board, slobber some heatsink paste on the FETs and re-assemble it... I lean toward the electrically non-conductive white Zinc oxide rather than the very electrically conductive CPU pastes like arctic silver etc. I've revived three or four of the 78-82 modules this way.

The 1987 wiring diagrams are a PITA to read. Probably Mr Goodwrench thought so too and loudly voiced his negative response to the difficult readability because it's a one year only mess.
If the 1988 or 1989 diagrams match the wiring you're working on they're much easier to read.

[sweetk30]

just changed he turn signal switch . all works except the 4 way . that when stuff get weird . when i pushed the button nothing but weird noise . quickly pulled the release knob . then the fasten seat belt light come on ? ? and went out . i also have the cluster pluged in this tame . was not able to watch the wires back there tho with it up in place . i also swapped the flasher in the fuse box section only for a known good one . i forget is there another one for the 4way ?


i forget is there a specific ground for the rear tail lights to the frame or is it just threw the box its self ? i wounder if i should add in a new ground from the main tail light ground spot to the frame spot were i have the trailer plug ground at so its all the same solid spots . and the frame to battery is a #2 gauge ground from engine to frame to battery . made them my self with star washers between them for a good bite .

[hatzie]

The tail lamp grounds are behind the lamp housings directly to a tang sticking out of the sheet metal around the lamp housing.
I usually run at least one good solid ground strap to the bed from the frame... In rust country, Especially salt central... Central New York State... ( I grew up in Columbus & New Berlin. Elmira ain't that far from there. This time of year all cars were white. ) you want to tie all the body panels to the frame with ground straps to avoid any extra corrosion.

I usually extend the factory tail lamp ground wire all the way down to the frame rails on both sides.

[sweetk30]

ya i know the ground is back in there already thanks .

and yes Helmira is just down the road from me . and the salty road season is just starting up here . born/raised/lived/worked in it for 40years now .

i think i will toss in a new tail light harness ground tomorrow and go from there .

[sweetk30]

does both the wiper AND the turn wiring harness need to be in the protector sleeve ? i forgot its been so long since i had to do one .

[sweetk30]

i tell ya even to this day the stupid little stuff still gets me .

i did some more digging around and found the 4 way flasher . i swapped him from the 4 way flasher off the other truck that was known good . . . . and BAM ! they work no problems. i guess its time to cut open the bad one and see why .

that stupid simple stuff every time. 30 bucks for new switch and 1hr time for a simple used flasher fixing the problem priceless

since you layed out the wiper system plug system for me simple and easy to understand i pulled the cover . removed the park sensor witch unit . verified it worked with ohm meter on beep test . then i reinstalled all of it and plugged the plug in/out prob 20-30 times and hooked the trucks battery up and tested fine no delay box . i then installed the delay box and thats working also .

BIG THANKS for the info and simple easy way to understand it for a guy who is not the best at diagnosis of wiring problems .

[hatzie]

There's a sleeve on the turns. I don't remember whether the wiper and cruise control wiring is in that sleeve or not.