Electrical Nightmare...

[Toneyb35]

My 87 GT convertible is driving me nuts. My exterior lights blew a fuse, I replaced the fuse then my lights went out again. The fuse isn't blown this time. My dash lights stopped working a couple months ago, i replaced the dimmer and repaired a wire behind the radio. They worked for a day or two then went out again. I have a lot of taped wires in my drivers kick panel. I assumed that my car had an alarm at one time. Now, I have no turn signals, tail lights, front marker lights and dash lights (instrument cluster). I own a test light and a multimeter and I am mechanically inclined. Can someone tell me how or where to start looking for the problem???

Thanks in advance

 

[Rick 91GT]

Well there is no real easy way to do this, gets yourself a wiring schematic and start ringing out the wiring. Id first look for the 12v source for the lighting, see if you have power with key off and key on, then go from there..... Sincw the fuse blew in that cirucit once, it may be a broken wire in the harness, its a good place to start since you had previous issues there.

Id also check all those taped wiring connections, Ive seen and delt with some pretty shady alarm installs and removals over the years, never a fun job to find an issue.

 

[Boosted92LX]

+1 on shady alarm installs. I hate car alarms! I lost power to the starter solenoid on a used truck that I bought once and unwrapped 3ft of what looked like the factory tape job on the harness, only to find one of those cheap splice in connectors for the starter kill in line, and it had severed the factory wire. Just over time worked it's way through the copper strands. Soldered it back together and never had another problem.

 

[Toneyb35]

I found the problem... The ground wire for the exterior lights broke off from the back of the fuse box... I also found bare wire exposed on the instrument cluster wires... So, I soldered and used liquid tape for the repairs... Since everything is working like it should I'm gonna use butt connecters for the badly connected wires in the drivers kick panel...
Thanks guys for your support...