Hi All!

|UPDATED|5/23/2014 7:31:20 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

BTW - I did replace all of the interior fuses that I COULD FIND...all the fuses in the fuse panel right above the gad pedal, and the fuse behind the removable foot panel with the rear heat/AC control knob on it.  Still no dice with the non-working gauges.

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

The first pic is of the radio amplifier. The wires in question also appear to be part of the radio system.
The second pic is of the Emergency/Hazzard Flasher.


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Ah okay, thanks! So in other words, nothing to do with my gauges. The clipped wires do make sense now that I know what they are. There is an aftermarket radio and speakers in the vette. The installer must have bypassed those wires for some reason. Neat to know that is the factory amplifier!

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

The center dash wasn't deep enough to put in a "normal" GM/Delco radio....they had to separate it into two parts to make it small enough to fit. 

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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Jason,

Is your fuel gauge working?  The fuel, oil, and water gauge all get power from the same PINK wire that runs behind the dash.  (At least I think that's true for your car...  I'm not sure what year they went from a mechanical to electrical oil pressure gauge.)  The clock not working is typically Corvette.  It's rare that you find any of them still working.  But, the wire that powers your clock is also tied to your cigarette lighter (12v on continuously). 

The tach is cable driven on your car and not electronic.  Look for a heavy black cable running from the base of your distributor running inside the car.  If it's not there, or a previous owner has installed a modern HEI ignition that didn't have a cable drive, that explains the tach.  (A decent HEI dizzy is about $150, vice $500 for one with a cable drive.  A lot of these cars have the tachs disconnected for that reason.)

And speaking of the tach, does the "brake" light bulb work when you engage your ebrake?  That's also powered from the pink wire.

Do me a favor, and post a picture of your distributor.  Is is relatively small and round, with a separate coil?  Or larger, with only eight plug wires and no center coil wire?  I have a hunch...  If someone put a modern HEI dizzy in, they would have to have run a new, non-resistor wire to it which means they hacked into the harness somewhere.  That could explain all of your symptoms.


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"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner

First let me just say THANK YOU for the detailed reply! This instrument panel issue keeps me up at night :) Second, please don't think I'm ignoring your request for pics. I'm out of town currently for the holiday and away from the Vette. As soon as I get back in town I will get those pics up! Again, thank you!

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

not tooo familiar with the 73 model year, but 76 isn't too far off, there is a  ground wire that runs from one of the starter bolts to the dash, I know I have mistakenly hooked the ground to one of the hot wires on the starter(made sense to me at the time, who would put a ground wire down there??)  all my gauges went funky, and I think the wipers came on by themselves, but..  only took a few minutes to realize what I did wrong...  actually thinking that the wire was suppose to be on a bellhousing bolt and probably got forgotten in a transmission removal and was 'relocated' to one of the bolts for the starter... but, just a thought that you might have a ground issue....  cause there is no body ground for the dash... maybe take a  test light and make sure you are getting juice to the gauges and go from there.. :) 

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StingrayJim
NCM Lifetime Member #1936

Stingray's '76���������������������������� StingrayJr's '78���������������������������Lil Red '94

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Okay, finally able to get under the hood today to answer your questions.  I have also attached the pics you requested (and a few extra).

|UPDATED|5/30/2014 6:30:15 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

Picture no. 4 is your A/C fuse

Picture no. 5 is your idle stop soleniod.

Need to take a pic of the base verticle shaft of your distributor showing from the intake manifold up to the bottom of the big part of the dist.  That is where the tach drive is.


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its is hard to see how many wires are there but those ends should clip in to the back side of the consul parts for example on your cluster one could go to fuel gauge one to pressure gauge or perhaps a different part of counsul as in one to flasher one to park light etc   can you start at fuse box and follow backwards, the colors of wiring could also help ex park brake alarm is pink, lh  signal is light blue.  if you plan on doing a lot of work yourself the assembly manual is very helpful I got mine at faxon literature

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Thanks for the reply! I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt major work like electrical or if I'm going to farm it out. I did pickup a Chiltons manual and a Haynes manual to look at electric diagrams. It's like reading a foreign language. I can't tell up from down lol!

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

Thank you for identifying those items! Chiltons and Haynes did not mention them so I was like, "huh". I will try to get you the pic you requested today!

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

Okay, here is the only other black wire.  It's underneath the distributor.  Runs from that silver female piece (which seems wet for some reason) and into the cockpit.  What is that silver female piece and is this the tech cable?

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

I think that is the tach cable.  That silver piece should have a larger knurled nut on the end that screws into the base of the distributor.  Your stuff looks stock (or stock replacement, anyway), my theory of a swapped ignition and distributor doesn't hold up. 

Anyway, you can safely say that your tach issue is probably not related to the rest of the gauges.  If you're a contortionist, get your hand up behind the dash and make sure the cable is plugged into the tach.  The tach cable could be broken or the tach itself bad. 

The oil gauge appears to be mechanical also; I think I saw the oil pressure line in one of your pics and there is no electrical gauge shown on the '73 wiring diagram.  No idea why it isn't working.

So I think you have several different issues going on here...

The pink wire feeds the following:

- Door ajar light.  (Does it work?  Probably a silly question, I know!)
- Fuel gauge.  (If it's floating around some, I'd venture that it has power, and the sender or ground is not good.  But without power, it pegs low, I think.)
- Water temp.  (Does it work at all?)
- Parking brake light (Gets power from the ignition, and a ground whenever the park brake is pulled or the system has a low pressure.)

The clock is junk.  Not just yours, but all of them.  If the lighter isn't working, it's probably disconnected in the center console or just broken.  Does a phone charger work if you plug it in?

That power comes from the ignition switch via a fuse.  It's the fuse on the bottom right on my '74, a 10 amp.  With the ignition on, see if you have voltage on BOTH sides of the fuse.  Voltage on one side tells you the fuse is bad, voltage on neither side is an uh-oh in the wiring somewhere.  Voltage on both sides of the fuse means you're good to that point.

Taking out that center stack is not for the faint of heart.  You'll teach yourself swear words that'll make a Navy man blush.

Dad and I have swapped all of the center stack gauges in our cars for AutoMeter 2" units.  They actually work and are reliable!!  If you find the wiring intact behind the dash and don't mind taking the car non-stock, it's an easy swap (and easy to put back again if you choose to later). 





|UPDATED|6/1/2014 8:24:38 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner

To answer your questions:

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

Oops, one more question...any idea about that taped wire cluster in the 2nd pic?  Looks a little "bubba" 

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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

Nice looking "family" you got, Cindy!!  No mail from you.....yet !


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|UPDATED|6/2/2014 9:25:33 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


(click for Texas-sized view!)             NCRS

"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

Sorry... Center stack: yes, center panel with the gauges.  Not sure that's the official term! 

If the door ajar light works, and the fuel and temp gauges work, you've got ignition voltage to the gauge cluster.  Ignore checking the fuse, it's good.

I'd guess that the gauge issues are individual ones... Not one big, easy fix, unfortunately. 

The coolant gauge sensor is in the driver side cylinder head, a single green wire attached.  With the ignition on and the car hot (watch your hands!) unplug it, and see if the gauge pegs low.  Ground the wire to a piece of metal under the hood and it should peg high.  That temperature gauge is really just a voltmeter; the sending unit varies resistance with temperature and translates it to temperature.

Under the bottom of your fuel tank there are two wires: a tan one, and a black one.  With the ignition on, unplug the tan one and see what the gauge does (it should peg).  Then, ground it and look again (should be on empty).  The fuel gauge is (you guessed it) just a volt meter.

Oil pressure: you got me.  It's mechanical.  If it's hooked up, it should work.  Not much to go wrong. 

Tach: Here is a suggestion. 



Unplug it from the distributor.  You should see the end on the left of the picture.  Hook up a power drill to it and spin it (in reverse on speedos, I'm assuming the same for the tach).  See if it works.  If it does, it's the tach drive on the distributor (doubtful).  If it doesn't, it's between the cable and the instrument itself.

Brake light: could just be a bulb. 

Good luck with it all!  Trial and error, and getting your hands dirty.  Two joys of being a classic Corvette owner.




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"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner

If it is in fact connected on both ends, but still does not register on the gauge, there are only a few possibilities.
1. You have no oil pressure.....
2. The gauge is faulty..
or...and my mostest favorite one of all...
3. The plastic line has kinked, or melted/fused together under the dash...usually right where it passes thru the firewall, or shortly after that point. I've seen that more than once.....
Best way to confirm #3 is to install a temporary gauge right on the engine. If pressure there, then blow some air into the plastic line and check the gauge. If nothing, then disconnect AT the gauge and air it up. If the gauge works then, you know the cheesy plastic line if fubared.



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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"

FUBAR: Of all the military acronyms, my most favorite!  Other than BOHICA, of course...


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"Let them that don't want none have memories of not gettin' any."
- Brother Dave Gardner

Is removing the fuse links a common practice?

(quote with images removed-aapple)

|UPDATED|6/4/2014 10:03:41 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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"You know, we always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody: You're gonna like this guy, he's all right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us. You understand?"

 Yeah...it actually is, tho it's not recommended. Those fuse links are there for a reason....it keeps from burning the car to the ground if something shorts out that would normally just pop a fuse. Fuse links are installed in certain areas of the wiring to protect as much of the wiring as possible, which is why those are down by the starter....they protect pretty much the entire vehicle harness. There are other fuse links in other areas, such as behind the distributor(for the A/C system, and/or power windows, if equipped), but the ones there by the starter usually power the headlights, and interior stuff.....just depends on which circuit they are on.
You can get replacement fuse links at most parts houses, if you find that yours have been cut out. It's possible that bulge there is replacement fuse links....need to unravel the tape and see....just be sure to disconnect the battery first.


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
My Link


(click for Texas-sized view!)             NCRS

"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"