R. Everett
Active Member
I just wanted to pass along how I troubleshoot my electrical issues, what I found and the fix. This took me a while that’s why the post is so long, hope it helps someone.
Before I started the wiring I took my front seat out and the steering wheel off for easier access, gave me plenty of room.
I was having electrical issues with my 73 Road Runner, my brake lights would work some times and not others and the same with the 4 ways, plus the fuse box would get hot. So I was trouble shooting the wires in the back thinking it was a bad connector grounding out slightly. All the wires looked good but my bulb sockets were very rusty so I tried an LED bulb in the socket and when I put it in it must have grounded in the socket and melted my 4 way switch and it wouldn’t push back in (replaced 4 way switch and 4 way flasher relay and put in modern light sockets in the rear tail lights). So now I know I have bigger problems. Next step was to pull all the fuses from the fuse box and put one fuse in at a time to see if the fuse box heats up with a heat gun. Found that the running lights the 4 ways the fuse box would heat up so I disconnected the connector in the trunk and isolated the front of the car and the fuse box stayed cool, so know I know the short is in the back. So I rigged up a 12 volt source with a 5 amp fuse and tested the rear lights and found the Right blinker wire was grounding out. Fixed the wiring 9 couple of issues) and the 4 ways and brake lights worked as advertised.
I kept on putting in one fuse at a time and found that when the running lights were on the fuse box would heat up. So I disconnected the rear connector that goes to the taillights again in the trunk and the front running light connector on the fire wall, turned on the running lights and still the fuse box got hot. So now I know the problem is in the dash board lights causing the fuse box to heat up. I followed all the wires and fixed minor issues along the way and when I got to the glove box light the switch seemed loose, so I disconnected the glove box light and sure enough it fixed the issue with the fuse box heating up. So I took the glove box light out and left it out.
Before I started the wiring I took my front seat out and the steering wheel off for easier access, gave me plenty of room.
I was having electrical issues with my 73 Road Runner, my brake lights would work some times and not others and the same with the 4 ways, plus the fuse box would get hot. So I was trouble shooting the wires in the back thinking it was a bad connector grounding out slightly. All the wires looked good but my bulb sockets were very rusty so I tried an LED bulb in the socket and when I put it in it must have grounded in the socket and melted my 4 way switch and it wouldn’t push back in (replaced 4 way switch and 4 way flasher relay and put in modern light sockets in the rear tail lights). So now I know I have bigger problems. Next step was to pull all the fuses from the fuse box and put one fuse in at a time to see if the fuse box heats up with a heat gun. Found that the running lights the 4 ways the fuse box would heat up so I disconnected the connector in the trunk and isolated the front of the car and the fuse box stayed cool, so know I know the short is in the back. So I rigged up a 12 volt source with a 5 amp fuse and tested the rear lights and found the Right blinker wire was grounding out. Fixed the wiring 9 couple of issues) and the 4 ways and brake lights worked as advertised.
I kept on putting in one fuse at a time and found that when the running lights were on the fuse box would heat up. So I disconnected the rear connector that goes to the taillights again in the trunk and the front running light connector on the fire wall, turned on the running lights and still the fuse box got hot. So now I know the problem is in the dash board lights causing the fuse box to heat up. I followed all the wires and fixed minor issues along the way and when I got to the glove box light the switch seemed loose, so I disconnected the glove box light and sure enough it fixed the issue with the fuse box heating up. So I took the glove box light out and left it out.
