Hi all,
Last summer the high and low beams as well as my tail lights and side marker lights stopped working on my 1984 Z28. The problem occurred while I was driving; however, the road was smooth meaning things shouldn't have moved out of place. I immediately checked the fuse and it was blown, but as soon as I replaced it, it blew out again. I put another fuse in, making sure it was the correct fuse, but it blew out for a third time as soon as I put it in. Ever since then, the lights outside my car don't work and I can't drive it in the dark.

Anyone know what the issue may be? There seems to be a short somewhere, but I don't have any idea where it may be occurring.



1984 Camaro Z28. Waiting in the garage until it gets fixed.

1984 Camaro Z28. Waiting in the garage until it gets fixed.

1984 Camaro Z28. Interior in GREAT condition

 

I'll let some of the smarter guys comment on your lights, I just want to say nice car!

 

You've actually got a couple of problems, the first being the short that's taking out the fuse. Now, while we're on the subject of fuses, the headlights are not protected by a fuse, they are protected by a fusible link and a self resetting circuit breaker built into the headlight switch. The taillights and front running lights are protected by a 20 amp fuse which is also fed it's power from that same fusible link. I will enclose you headlight wiring diagram (disregard the firebird headlight door stuff ) and looking at it you'll see the different sections of the headlight switch and how they are powered by that fusible link.

What I think happened is that after your short in the taillight/running light circuit took out a few fuses it finally also took out the fusible link. Now, repairing the link won't help you yet because the short has to be found first. Has any work been done to the car recently, a new radio installed perhaps? Any area where the wiring has been disturbed would be the first place to look . Another area to check is in the lockable storage compartment in the trunk on the left side, the wiring for the taillights runs through there and I've seen it happen that when the little cardboard compartment deteriorates people will store all kinds of stuff in there , tools and such that may crush and short out the harness.

If you can't find it visually you may have to resort to more in depth troubleshooting, disconnecting lighting circuits one by one while using a meter or test light to find which circuit the short is in (taillights or front running lights)

 

Thank you for such a detailed reply!!

A new stereo was installed in 2018, which required a new harness to be adapted to the original wires. This however is not the first aftermarket stereo to go into the car as it had the Alpine stereo upgrade around 1993. I recently switched the 2018 stereo to a newer one; however, wires weren't touched this time as the 2018 harness fit right into the new one. Funny you mention the stereo, because this problem happened shortly after the installation of my most recent stereo. I did here the occasional pop here and there in the speakers though...

This car sat from 2000 to 2016, and mice droppings were found here an there which have since been removed, but they may have chewed on a few wires. I'll look into the headlight switch and wiring mentioned above, and hopefully I can sort it out without getting a pro to tackle it for $$$$$$$$.

 

Jesus, that is clean car. Are you the original owner?
On your issue, when the lights went out, was it all at the same time? Or did you turn them on and bam? Or did you hit your brakes and they then go out?

 

Thank you, It is a two owner car! Purchased from a woman in 1987 who rarely drove it because she said it was too fast for her! It has roughly 37,000 miles on it, SUPER CLEAN! Now On with the problem…

The problem actually seemed to first start after the alternator belt flew off, causing the car to die quickly after. I bought a new belt, but not sure where the old one went off to. I highly doubt that the belt whipped somewhere and ripped a wire, but I’m not eliminating it from a possible cause. Definitely something to look into. It made a bit of a bang sound, and I knew something happened. Then all I noticed was that the lights shut off, and I was basically driving in the dark.

 

It's difficult to describe troubleshooting steps for wiring issues. A FSM is just about a necessity, both for tracing circuits and also to show location of harness connectors.

A good clue to your problem is in your mention of the alternator belt coming off.

A close, detailed visual inspection should be the first place to start. If that doesn't turn up anything obvious, the next step is to connect a test light across the fuse connections of the circuit in question, and then go to each harness connection in that circuit one at a time, disconnecting them to see if the light goes out. The idea here is to isolate the short to just one section of the harness, making it easier to find the specific problem. Keep in mind that there may be more than one problem in the circuit.

Common problems in old cars' wiring include physical damage (rodents), insulation cracks/brittleness due to age and weather exposure, chafing where wiring comes in contact with body panels, rust/corrosion in light sockets, blue crusties in harness connectors, etc.