Paul Graham ("C46")

Sorry guys, I need a shoulder to cry on. Wait, there's beer out there to cry into. Anyway, spent a long day doing end of year books and having the computer worked on. Seems everything I touched today turned to **** or went up in smoke. To take a break, I decided to go wrench on the 5KQT and try to run down some nitnoy problems as we wait for big parts to arrive. I should have just drunk the beer and gone back to the office. Did I mention I'm on alert to go to Baghdad, my wife is leaving me, and I got custody of the Audi? So at least there is an upside. Anyway, I'm trying to find the source of my "no dash lights" condition. I track down the controller behind the glove box (thinking I'm the cool troubleshooter...ah, hubris) and pull the wiring harness. I note two green wires hanging loose with bare copper ends and two wires cut off at the clip. I trace those two wires back to their splice with the wires that match the cut off spurs on the clip. I firmly connect the offending wires, plug it all back in, reattach the battery and "Voila!", still no dash lights and when I turn on the headlights, the glove box light comes on. And once again, the heater blower doesn't work (it did yesterday, for hours, I swear it did) Not satisfied to switch the wires, I decide that maybe the light switch it self is bad. In the middle of a woodworking project (read near a pile of wood chips, I disassemble the steering column assembly to include drilling out the 5 brass rivets. Very carefully, I pry the switch assembly open. Boing! At least three, maybe four little parts jump out and hide in the pile of wood chips. I don't even know what the darned things were or look like. So I guess I can clean my shop looking for something that seems out of place or off to find a wreck with an intact steering column. ****. Thanks for letting me rant. Now where's that beer?

Tom Faust

"Hubris"? - think Icarus

tonyj

Have you checked your trunk hinge wiring for breaks. Can affect dash lights.

Paul Graham ("C46")

I checked that first. I did have four of five bulbs burned out and thought I had the problem solved last night. The heater fan was even working. But still no lights. What happens is they flicker on for a moment when the lights are turned on, then go dark. The radio lights work, but nothing else does. Been a real puzzler. Is there possibly a second, hidden fuze block somewhere on this beast (my F350 has a main one and one hidden under the dash)?

5000CDQturbo

you have to have bad days to know what a good day is.

tonyj

May be the dimmer pot is flakey

SteveJ_in_TX

When I went to a friend's Coast Guard retirement ceremony a number of years ago, I got up early and headed back to Atlanta from Miami at 3 am on a Sunday morning. About an hour out of town, where there is _nothing_ on the Florida turnpike, I dialed it up to 100 mph with short bursts to 120 mph. Solid as a rock, made a 12 hour trip in 9 and a half hrs.

Paul Graham ("C46")

That occurred to me after I "disassembled" the light switch.

Paul Graham ("C46")

Absolutely. When it all works, the car is a rocket on rails, no matter how twisty the road is. The maintenance is like solving a complex puzzle (the first time you do it, anyway) and the reward is rowing her up through the gears at full boost, getting out on an empty road and letting her run.

The challenge is on first time fixes and ordering spares to cover breaking the first attempt. This list, and all of you, has /have been indispensible to keeping that old car on the road. Thanks.

TonyOldSchool

This beers for you Charlie and all of us who stubbornly keep her going!!