Ground question

[Lt1_8U]

On my 70 nova I have the battery in the trunk with a cutoff switch. All my gauges and lights work but when I have the switch off and I touch the test light on a metal part of the car It lights up very dim. Is this normal? The light is very dim, the filament just turns orange, it doesn't produce light. I cleaned and checked all my grounds. I have a battery to chassis ground and a chasis to firewall ground. I even placed another battery to chasis ground. Again, this is with the switch in the off position and no power running threw the main line.

[Mezzy]

Sounds like you may have a short, or wiring that's touching wiring. You'll need to check the wiring going to the switch, since you still have power when its off. Look for any wire that's touching another peices of wire, that is up against a peice of metal. Maybe a bad tape job, could be the culprit. You'll have to do some searching. I had my power window/lock/dome light circuit intermittently cutting out and blowing fuses. Turned out to be a conection came loose. I found it by tracing all the wires from each component on that circuit. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Lt1_8U]

Thanks for the quick reply! Ill run through the wiring today, I have been blowing my fuse that's in the main battery line.

[Lt1_8U]

For the life of me I can't find it, I have gone through all the wires and redid all the connectors. Could a relay or something be bad? Also my gauge lights and front side marker lights don't work.

[townsend]

check that relay first, as well as all the grounds. also, check the column switch, the gauge grounds, the fuse panel, etc. did you buy a quality cut-off switch? had one one time brand new that would ground itself even in the off position with the safety key pulled out.

[Lt1_8U]

I found my problem, I checked my instrument fuse and I'm not getting power to it. I ran 12v to the fuse and my lights work. Culprit is the rheostat switch to the dimmer.

[townsend]

ah good troubleshooting.

[Lt1_8U]

Thanks! Thanks for the tips