Hi guys. I just joined. We have a 1986 Firebird project car here that we need a little help on. The previous owner "converted" it to a carbureted engine and hacked up the engine wiring harness pretty bad. He doesn't seem to have touched the interior harness, however, and the actual light harness from the bulkhead connector on through the engine compartment seems untouched. The car gets power in all the right places except for the lights, which do very wonky things.

No lights at all work until you step on the brake pedal, regardless of switch position. When the pedal is depressed, the dash lights flash on, some markers and even the turn signal lights to light up. Turning the right turn signal on while the brake is pressed causes the left blinker to blink. Turning the left turn signal on causes the right and left blinkers to faintly blink. Flashers seem to only blink on the left side of the car. The flip up headlights do not come up at all. Again, nothing works until you are stepping on the brake pedal.

Where should I be looking to try and solve this problem? I've seen strange things like this happen when something is badly grounded and backfeeding through a poorly wired harness....but like I said, the under-dash harness seems untouched, as does the light portion of the engine bay harness.

I'd appreciate any suggestions!

-Dylan

 

I do believe there are some dash and interior grounds located in the engine bay. Might check on those.

 

Sounds like the dash harness was tweaked as well