Today I found my week long wierd electrical problem. When-ever my high beams were on my lights / radio / ect were shutting off but not when the low beams were on. It turned out to be the high beam light indicator is free floating arround and grounding out. Does anyone know where this goes? I can't place where it should attach. It's on a 68 Camaro. -Thanks!

in between the speedo and (tach or fuel gauge) there is a small hole and a red light should be in the hole, the indicator connects to this...
G'luck

It's on top of the instrument cluster. There is a metal strap that goes from the back of the instrument cluster up to the housing. You should see the socket for it. You will definitly have to drop the instrument carrier to get to this. Best bet is to remove the two small steering wheel covers. Drop the steering wheel down. Put a towel or some tape over the top of the steering wheel. remove the screws for the carrier and pull it forward. The socket will be staring right at you. Have fun! While you are at it scuff up the strap that the top center screw on the housing goes through. That sucker is the cause of a lot of weird grounding problems.

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Cars:
68 RS/SS BB ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/camaro.htm)
63 Nova II ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/nova.htm)
Club:
Camaro Club of Kansas City (http://camaroclubkc.com)

Well, I found where it should go, but it's missing the "red" plastic. It's just a hole, the bracket is there though. I also noticed my center piece has a crack in it, so I'm going to replace it. I also noticed my cigarette lighter is not hooked up nor does it have a fuse in the fuse box. When I try to put one, it blows. This is also the fuse for the dome light. I'm suspecting that whatever wire that needs to hook up to the back of the cigarette lighter is shorting out somewhere. Does anyone know the color of the wire that hooks up to the cigarette lighter? Or where I can find a detail book on the eletrical wiring diagram for the 68 Camaro? I'm sure I'll get my use out of one http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif

I believe that the cig lighter wire is orange. I can check it this tonight. I have the wiring diagrams.

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Cars:
68 RS/SS BB ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/camaro.htm)
63 Nova II ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/nova.htm)
Club:
Camaro Club of Kansas City (http://camaroclubkc.com)

I'll look for a loose orange wire. Where did you get the wiring diagram? I can see I have need of one http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif Thanks again!

Well, the wiring diagram does not show it. The factory assembly manual shows a picture of the connector though. It kinda looks like a baseball cap with the back half cut off. The connector connects to the back of the lighter at a 90 degree angle. Hope that helps.

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Cars:
68 RS/SS BB ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/camaro.htm)
63 Nova II ragtop (http://home.swbell.net/paxtonr/nova.htm)
Club:
Camaro Club of Kansas City (http://camaroclubkc.com)

NPD and Rick's both have the diagrams, they are the best invested $5 or $6 bucks in the resto works in my 68. Even more helpfull than the so called Chasis service manuals or the Fisher one. Order it today and you will get every penny out of it in the first troubleshooting you made. Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll be working on it today.

I haven't heard of NPD, what's there site?

Thanks much!

Well after extending the wiring for the high beam indicator, it all fits together nicely.

However, my last electrical problem is still bugging me. I'm so close. My dome light and cigarette lighter are on the same fuse. When ever I put a fuse in, it blows with a big nasty spark.

I thought I had it fixed. When I had the orange wire going to the "fuel" gauge pulled off, everything was working great with the exception of the cigarette lighter (since no wires are going to it). When I hooked back up the center bezzel with the orange wire to the fuel gauge, it blew my fuse again.

I pllued the fuse and left the fuel gauge hooked up, since I pefer to have it instead of the dome light (for now). If anyone knows where I should begin looking, please let me know. I couldn't find the (orange?) wire for the cigarette lighter, but I'm supecting it may be part of the equation.

Many thanks!

www.NPDLINK.com (http://www.NPDLINK.com)

I had a similar problem. It ended uo being a bad cigarette lighter unit. Replaced it and everything worked fine. Pete

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67 red camaro convertible, 78 silver anniversary vette, 1976 kz900, 1985 Z28 camaro, 1971 chevelle. Too many toys now My four car garage is no longer big enough.

Hmmm.... still can't find the problem. I have the service manual now. Hopefully next weekend I'll have better luck with the wiring diagram in the service manual. I don't believe it's the cigarette lighter assembly, since it's not hooked up. It could be the wires that should go to it (since I can't find them). It only blows when I put the orange wire for the fuel gauge. If I leave it out, it works. Any other ideas guys?

Any orange courtesy light wire could be shorted.The dome light is a likely suspect.I've seen several cars with screws run thru the wire that runs thru the A piller to the dome light.Actually,it seems on a 1st gen the wire comes from the sail panel area?The wire is hot all the time.The door pin switch gives the light a ground.

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68 z28 ,68 rs 327 ,73 454 vette, 2 goofy kids

It can't be the done light, since if I unplug the orange wire to the fuel gauge, it doesn't blow the fuse and the dome light works. Hmmm. I found (I think) my orange wire for the cigarette lighter. It's not connected but it wasn't shorting either http://www.camaros.net/forum/frown.gif I was hoping that it was that. I haven't hooked it back up to the cigarette lighter since the unit doesn't look good (I'll be replacing it later). I pull the fuse box and look every where for a short. I'm not finding anything. I measure the voltage from the left side of the fuse clip for the dome light and it reads at 11.64 volts. Sounds normal to me. Any ideas? I'll do some more tracking tomorrow. Thanks for the comments and help so far.

Well guys,

I did some more tracking and I'm still lost. It may as well fix itself since I'm not going to give up. Well I keep telling it that but it's too hard headed to listen to me http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif

Well, I pulled the fused box and all looks good there. I then pulled the dome light and all looks good there too. I then traced the orange and white wires from the dome light back to the trunk. I found a connector in the trunk for the two wires. I then pulled the connector and tried another fuse... as you could guess... it blew. The guys at the auto shop think I'm some kind of nut buying all these fuses.
Anyhow, I put a 9 volt battery on the dome light and it works. I then went to the trunk and put the battery there and the light still works. I'm now convinced that the harness from the trunk to the dome light is good. I took a multi meter and measured the resistance between the connector (going to the dome light) and I get a open line. I then measured the resistance on the other end of the connector (going to the fuse box I presume) and I get a .14 load. Is this normal? There isn't a fuse in the box so shouldn't I get an open line?
Ahhhh... tomorrows another day. Any help would be great! Thanks.

[This message has been edited by ohayden (edited 04-04-2001).]

rig up a light or buzzer on the tangs that hold the suspect fuse. one on each side. one side is shorted (going to ground) so the light or buzzer will be activated. keep unplugging things untill the light / buzzer shuts off. I bought a tester like this (buzzer) from my snap on guy, the thing is foolproof and works like a charm on things like this...