Cluster light fuse keeps blowing

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C2ndLTpigeon

C2ndLTpigeon

Mopar or no Car!
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I have a 1973 Valiant, recently my gauge cluster light fuse keeps blowing. Not sure why this started, the only thing electrical I have changed recently was the ignition switch and turn signal switch.

The Lights will blow a few min of driving some times or this last time went five days of 15+ min of night driving and finally blew out tonight. Any ideas what may cause this?

I have already changed the headlamp switch and cluster voltage regulator no change.
I also have 3 aftermarket gauges that get their lighting off the illumination wire off the headlight switch and they are bit affected when the fuse blows.

Thanks
 
Those aftermarket gauges are always suspect, check the lighting wires to them.. Also an aftermarket radio if so equipped is a likely problem source... The randomness points to a wire chaffed and grounding out.... A shorted component would likely pop the fuse every time the dash lights are lit.... When the dash lights are off the fuse isn't gonna pop, but taking fifteen minutes to pop means it's not a hard short...
 
That fuse feeds a lot of stuff, anything pretty much with an orange wire---column or console shift quadrant, radio, heater, ashtray, cluster and maybe a couple other things. I for sure would start with ANYTHING you have modified, and your aftermarket gauges
 
can't remember if the colum has illumination in it for the gear shift, but maybe there's a wire that got pinched when you changed the ignition or turn switches
 
Some aftermarket ignition switches have a black wire in the switch connector where the factory put the orange wire from shift indicator Simple solution is cut the orange wire from both white connectors and put together with male/female terminals. Leave the extra black wire where it is.
If you look here, you'll see the OEM switch with 5 wires and aftermarket with 6 wires. 1973 valiant ignition switch - Google Search
 
In my thinking a better way is branch off circuit E1 18 T with inline fuse 3 amp or less, leave stock circuit alone
circuit E1 18 T.jpeg
 
E1 18 T is after dimmer control and goes to hot side of lamp fuse. Tap that circuit and leave stock stuff alone. This will help narrow down where over load is.
 
If you tap off the tan coming off the dimmer, there is NO fuse protection other than the tail light fuse which feeds that circuit. I see no reason to do that. You are not "leaving the stock circuit alone" if you are tapping off anything in the car LOL

Tap off the orange(s) in the fuse panel which are AFTER the INST fuse. That way any tap off is protected just like the stock circuit. You can put a small fuse in the tap if you must, 1/2A or 1A or so.


This should be a fairly simple problem. Find enverything the orange feeds from the fuse panel and check every socket and bulb. Look for damaged wiring. As I said earlier, START WITH what has been modified, AKA the aftermarket gauges
 
Gauges have been hooked up for over a year with no problems the way they are, like I mentioned this only started after changing the ignition switch and multifunction switch in the column. I think this may be an issue mentioned above about the after market ignition switch having different wires than the factory.
I cut the gear illumination wire out as I did not need this anymore using a floor shifter and plan on shaving that off the column. I am going to look at the wires to the ignition switch and will post a picture of the 2 connectors.
 
I had the same thing happen years back on my 68 & it was a side marker lamp. Fuse would blow when I hit a bump. Does yours happen when you hit a bump or close the door or some other mechanical shock?
 
C2ndLTpigeon said:
Here us the connector. Black wire looks to be going to the 2 orange. And nothing on the outer black wires.
View attachment 1715823756
Click to expand...
Yep, you can see it right there. Every wire is color to color , one connector to the other, except orange is going to a black. Look at it, pink to pink, and next port is orange to black.
This switch to cars harness connector had extra ports so they used them for the shift indicator lamp, ignition switch lighting, key buzzer, whatever, instead of adding a separate connector for the different builds.
You have 2 orange wires in the cars harness connector. One of them to feed the shift indicator. The other is a branch to something else (which only saved them wire length) and connectors.
Aftermarket wants to provide only a "one size fits all switch". If you're not color blind you can finger out.
I honestly dont know if that added black wire was a hot branch out to a reverse lamp in a different model, or a ground for something, but either/or, it will blow the illumination fuse in our a-body. We've already seen this about a dozen times. Orange goes to orange or it don't go to anything. Take the 2 orange wires away from the black wire, one more fuse, happy moparing.
 
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