Well, it started off as a nice day cruising when I was pulling into my apartment complex and my car died. Well, the positive on the battery touched the chassis and melted the terminal connectors. I replaced the connectors and check the alt/bat and all is well. Except, now my taillights, marker lights, gauge lights and everything else that is connected to the first connection on the headlight switch is dead. If I pull the switch to the first notch, it blows the taillight fuse and only that one. However, if I pull it to the second notch my headlights come on fine - including hi-beams. My guages still work, but not the lighting. Also, my dome lights, reading lights, etc still work. Possibly a short somewhere? Or is it possible the switch is bad or is shorting out? Could a short just all the sudden appear in a wire? From what I could tell, the wires under the dash look fine. I read about some people blowing the taillight fuse because of a brown wire near the stereo. Well, I found it (it does look black) and it was unconnected, so I capped it, but no still no luck.

I am considering replacing all the guages in the dash and rewiring them. Some don't work at all, and the tach is approx. 1000 RPMs higher than actual and the speedometer needle acts loose. This was a 305 TPI converted to Carb and the wiring is a cluster f*** under the dash. I would like to remove the Whistler alarm system and rewire the area so it's cleaner and more simple. Would this be worth the time? And would I just be opening a door for many more problems?
Thanks for any help.

 

Apparently, the problem is between the battery and the headlight switch. I'm considering running a new wire the from the battery and splicing it into the power wire connected to the fuse box. That way, I'll be able to bypass the old power wiring. Does anyone think this will work?

 

my 91 z28 is having the exact same issue. I hit a bump and the dash, a/c, and shifter panel lights work. the tail lights, side marker lights, and ambers don't work when pulled to the second mark and blows the same fuse as yours, the tail light fuse. i honestly dunno what to do from here so let me know if your idea works

 

I did not run a seperate wire, but I did fix it. In my case, the person before my really jacked with the wires, well behind the rear panel (the one you have to remove to unscrew the taillights) there was a connector with some loose wires. I cut the connector off and taped the wires up, then I didn't have a problem. I noticed that if you remove the rear, driver side panel in the trunk, you'll see a bunch of wires taped up that run towards taillights from the front, then connects to a "rope" of wires that run directly to each taillight. What I would do is disconnect these wires at their plugs - it's just simply pulling the big white plastic ends apart - no funky stuff. This will disconnect and isolate all the taillights only. Then see if the fuse blows. If not, then you know it's the taillights. Check for any loose wires maybe going to the trunk release, bulbs, etc. Good luck and hope that helps.

 

ok i tried that and it still blew the fuse. Would unscrewing the light bulb of the tailights do the same as disconnecting the wire? the wires were glued in by the previous owner and are impossible to detach it seems

 

Then your taillights and trunk are probably ok. Yes, by unscrewing the bulbs, it will break the electrical current to the wires. I would buy a large amount of fuses and start pulling out each bulb, including your side marker lights and turn signals(ambers), etc. If that doesn't help, then it could be the switch. However, since you say you hit a bump, apparently something got jarred - which could very well be a bulb or loose wires. Unfortunately, this is going to be a process of elimination. I did notice one thing - your turn signal lights (ambers) should come on when you pull the switch to the first notch. Then when it hits the second notch your taillights, headlights, and side markers should kick on You said the ambers don't work on the second notch - do they work on the first? If not, that may be where the problem is.
One other thing to check is a brown wire in the stereo harness area. Have you put in an aftermarket stereo? If so, there's a brown wire that alot of people confuse with a black (ground) wire. They'll connect their cd player to this wire mistaking it for a ground when it actually is a dead wire until you pull the headlight switch to the second notch, then it makes it live therefore shorting out the light circuit.