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power at firewall none beyond

773 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Ivy66GT 
#1 ·
Hello to all,

History: had dim instrument cluster, replaced bulbs and headlight switch (which if you could see the old one it was a good move). Everything checked out fine after the operation. Brighter light but not eye popping as they say. Everything still worked. At some point after running the engine checking the headlight and brake lights and heater fan and shutting it down it must have suffered a stroke of some sort. The plug I unplug at the firewall and have in my hand has 6 male and 2 female connectors. I have 13.25 volts at the 2 female connectors and nothing at the 6 male connectors. Turning the key does nothing. One curious thing I noticed previously was that there were no headlights on the high beam. The red light shows on the cluster but nothing on the road. Low beams fine. This has been the case since I bought the thing. Everywhere I have been searching seems to only describe solutions or paths of investigation that stop at the firewall.


Thank You, Bobby
 
#3 ·
Turns out there are two connectors thru the firewall and I only saw the one about 4 inches right of the left hood hinges. The one directly under the left hood hinge had come completely unplugged. Have no idea how but now all is well after plugging it back in, plus ever since I have owned this car (maybe 30 days) it never had bright headlights. Now it does.



So sorry for all the drama. Thanks for your input RedStang. If you're living down there in the Kiamichi's I'm jealous.
 
#4 ·
Nice that it worked out.

At your local big box home improvement stores look in the electrical department for electrical contact cleaner. Its an aerosol can that is a cleaner and protective coating for contacts. I like to have a can handy when reassembling connectors. It cleans and drives out moisture, makes them easier to reassemble, and will make those connectors trouble free for years.
 
#6 ·
Anything with a volatile solvent will displace water. WD40 leaves a oily residue and that's not what you want here. The light petroleum solvents also attack rubber and you don't want that either.

Electrical contact cleaner is cheap, readily available, won't clog sitting on a shelf unused, and last most DIYers several years. Use the right tool for the job.
 
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#8 ·
I agree that most of the horror stories about WD-40 are exaggerations. Out of desperation I have used WD-40 to solve electrical contact problems where official contact cleaners failed repeatedly. To my surprise it worked miraculously well and 10 years later the problem has not recurred. The box I was ready to throw away as useless works as good as it did 35 years ago when new. I also have an ongoing test of WD-40 evaporating in an open cup on top of our file cabinet. In the first 6 months 85% of the liquid mass evaporated and 3 full years later there is no hint of any sticky residue; just a light oil left behind. The liquid itself is not conductive so there is no problem with it causing short circuits when sprayed onto or inside anything. It may not always solve your problem but I have never had WD-40 cause any additional problems of its own.
 
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