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  1. #1
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Default interior lights on 84 Convertible

    This past week I have been working on my interior in my 84 LX convertible. I bought a box of Killmat to try sound proofing better. I removed the interior down to the floor pans. I installed the killmat.

    Being a perfectionist I have delayed putting everything back in to get all the quirks worked out. I repainted the door panels, console, dashboard, etc. I worked on my power windows positioning, replaced floor pan plugs.

    I have a power brick type amp that sits behind the console. When i was putting my carpet back in I had to slip the carpet under the amp and its mass of wires. In doing so I accidentally pulled the RCA cables out of the head unit forcing me to pull the head unit to fix the connections. I did that yesterday. First thing this morning when I started to work on the car I noticed the interior lights dont come on when I open the doors. The trunk light also is dead. The map lights in the rear view do come on when switched, but they are supposed to.

    I think I jossled something when i pulled the head unit out and put it back in. Apart from simply looking under the dash with a flashlight for a butt connector separated, is there any obvious to look for in regard to my interior and trunk lights?

    I dont want to finish installing the driver seat and dashboard cover until I correct this.

    Apart from that, I'll let everybody know how the killmat works out. I had just enough in 1 box to do the floor pans from the firewall to the backrest wall between the backseat and trunk. I think I may need to buy another box to do my trunk area too because most exhaust drone comes in through the trunk.

  2. #2
    FEP Senior Member Tigger's Avatar
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    Maybe check the fuses before you go too far into digging. Sometime to joggle something and it grounds out for a second.
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  3. #3
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tigger View Post
    Maybe check the fuses before you go too far into digging. Sometime to joggle something and it grounds out for a second.
    Yeah I figured. I took a quick look under the dash to see if anything was askew. Nothing was obvious so i looked at the fuse-box and sure enough a blown fuse. Problem is now it blows fuses as soon as I pop them in. So there's a short somewhere and I'm not good at tracing shorts.

  4. #4
    FEP Senior Member Tigger's Avatar
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    Since your interior is torn apart I would start at the door jam switched and trace the wires back to where they go. I would do the same to the trunk light but I assume you did not mess with much in there. Also, what else is on that circuit?
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  5. #5
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tigger View Post
    Since your interior is torn apart I would start at the door jam switched and trace the wires back to where they go. I would do the same to the trunk light but I assume you did not mess with much in there. Also, what else is on that circuit?
    Actually the interior is 95% back in. I noticed the lack of inside lights yesterday morning after the backseat, console and passenger seats were already back in.

    I have a diagram of the fuse box for an 84 and according to that it says fuse 8 controls the interior lights and the fuel door release, which I discovered when i ran to fill up today. I was on fumes and needed gas. What a pain I had to pull out part of my trunk lining to get at the pull string release for the fuel door.

    I left out the kick panels and rocker panels on both sides in case my mechanic needs access to the wiring. Im letting him do this. he's good at electrical,

    On a side note, Im not at all impressed with killmat. I dont see one iota of difference sound wise. I guess to be sure I'd have to line the trunk and spare tire well with Killmat to see for sure if the car can be sound deadened. That and Im gonna undercoat the car sometime soon so I may look for a product that also is supposed to sound deaden. Besides, i just found out my cats (stock originals) are both pulverized. They sound like they are filled with marbles. I'm gonna have to upgrade my cats so maybe that will make a difference with drone.

  6. #6

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    I currently have the entire interior out of my ‘84 convertible — including the dash. If you need any pics of the dash harness, happy to send a few. I re-wrapped the harness while it was out to help prevent grounding issues like you’re experiencing.

    If I had to guess, the suspect area is probably around your radio/dash brackets in the center. It easy to disturb the harness in that area when messing with/wrassling out that radio.

    Just did the same as you except with dynamat exetreme. Hopefully it dampens things a little bit.

    Good luck.


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    86 LX Coupe

  7. #7
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by graphicdesigner80 View Post
    I currently have the entire interior out of my ‘84 convertible — including the dash. If you need any pics of the dash harness, happy to send a few. I re-wrapped the harness while it was out to help prevent grounding issues like you’re experiencing.

    If I had to guess, the suspect area is probably around your radio/dash brackets in the center. It easy to disturb the harness in that area when messing with/wrassling out that radio.

    Just did the same as you except with dynamat exetreme. Hopefully it dampens things a little bit.

    Good luck.


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    Cool thanks, if you have any clear pic of the harness that show the lights lines. Everything going to fuse 8 is dead and fuse 8 blows as soon as I put a new fuse in. Going to my mechanic tomorrow to let him have a crack at it. Since I just redid the whole interior, including shampooing the carpet and re painting everything with SEM paint, Maybe I should remove the center console and bring a clean tarp to throw over the carpet and seats if he needs to get into it.

    I ordered some more killmat to do the trunk area too.

    On a positive note, I found the rattling sound was a loose heat shield on the driver side front cat. Took it off, no more noise, and costly exhaust upgrade avoided. I just didn't need that right now.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by fgross2006 View Post
    Cool thanks, if you have any clear pic of the harness that show the lights lines. Everything going to fuse 8 is dead and fuse 8 blows as soon as I put a new fuse in. Going to my mechanic tomorrow to let him have a crack at it. Since I just redid the whole interior, including shampooing the carpet and re painting everything with SEM paint, Maybe I should remove the center console and bring a clean tarp to throw over the carpet and seats if he needs to get into it.

    I ordered some more killmat to do the trunk area too.

    On a positive note, I found the rattling sound was a loose heat shield on the driver side front cat. Took it off, no more noise, and costly exhaust upgrade avoided. I just didn't need that right now.
    Haven't had a chance to take any pics, but did just think of something that would be easy to check first.

    Since you mentioned pulling your interior and re-dying everything; I'd take a close look at the wiring going up to the rearview mirror. Could possibly have been pinched when you put the trim pieces on and cause a short like you're describing. Either that or it could have rubbed/chaffed and moving it around could have exposed it to the windshield frame or metal cover causing a short. Just a few screws to access and take a quick look.

    Good luck. Hopefully you don't have to pay someone to figure this out.
    84.5 GT Convertible Build Thread
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  9. #9
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by graphicdesigner80 View Post
    Haven't had a chance to take any pics, but did just think of something that would be easy to check first.

    Since you mentioned pulling your interior and re-dying everything; I'd take a close look at the wiring going up to the rearview mirror. Could possibly have been pinched when you put the trim pieces on and cause a short like you're describing. Either that or it could have rubbed/chaffed and moving it around could have exposed it to the windshield frame or metal cover causing a short. Just a few screws to access and take a quick look.

    Good luck. Hopefully you don't have to pay someone to figure this out.

    i already dropped it at my mechanic to figure it out. And the trim to remove to get to the lighted rear view is a nightmare. the A pillar and the sun visor frame were brutal to get the holes to line up correct. I swore I'd never remove them again when I finally got them lined up correct.

  10. #10
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by graphicdesigner80 View Post
    Haven't had a chance to take any pics, but did just think of something that would be easy to check first.

    Since you mentioned pulling your interior and re-dying everything; I'd take a close look at the wiring going up to the rearview mirror. Could possibly have been pinched when you put the trim pieces on and cause a short like you're describing. Either that or it could have rubbed/chaffed and moving it around could have exposed it to the windshield frame or metal cover causing a short. Just a few screws to access and take a quick look.

    Good luck. Hopefully you don't have to pay someone to figure this out.
    Looks like you were correct. It was the wires going up the A pillar for the lighted rear view. I had a terrible time getting the 2 screw holes to line up to remount the sun-visor bracket. For some reason the driver side is tough to get. The passenger side was a piece of cake. I spent about 90 minutes messing with it before I finally got both screws to catch. i swore I'd never take the windshield framing down ever again. That pledge didnt last long. Apparently I snagged one of the wires making the 2 screws into place. I have to get motivated to do this again. This time I have to take a small wire clip and get it to hold the wires away from the screw holes. then the saga of trying to get the sunvisor bracket back on yet again. And since my interior is painted with SEM I will have to repaint the windshield frame inside the car because it will no doubt get scratched up trying to put it back in.

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by fgross2006 View Post
    Looks like you were correct. It was the wires going up the A pillar for the lighted rear view. I had a terrible time getting the 2 screw holes to line up to remount the sun-visor bracket. For some reason the driver side is tough to get. The passenger side was a piece of cake. I spent about 90 minutes messing with it before I finally got both screws to catch. i swore I'd never take the windshield framing down ever again. That pledge didnt last long. Apparently I snagged one of the wires making the 2 screws into place. I have to get motivated to do this again. This time I have to take a small wire clip and get it to hold the wires away from the screw holes. then the saga of trying to get the sunvisor bracket back on yet again. And since my interior is painted with SEM I will have to repaint the windshield frame inside the car because it will no doubt get scratched up trying to put it back in.
    Glad you got it figured out. Electrical is such a pain when it doesn’t cooperate.

    I’ll be doing the same thing as you at some point. My car was missing the visors when I got it. Got two decent ones in canyon red out of an ‘86 vert. They’re pretty heavy with that bracket and all. I’m sure it’ll be a ‘finesse’ type situation. Ha

    Good luck getting them back together. Post some pics of that fresh dye job when you’re happy with it.
    84.5 GT Convertible Build Thread
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  12. #12
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by graphicdesigner80 View Post
    Glad you got it figured out. Electrical is such a pain when it doesn’t cooperate.

    I’ll be doing the same thing as you at some point. My car was missing the visors when I got it. Got two decent ones in canyon red out of an ‘86 vert. They’re pretty heavy with that bracket and all. I’m sure it’ll be a ‘finesse’ type situation. Ha

    Good luck getting them back together. Post some pics of that fresh dye job when you’re happy with it.
    The whole interior is finished with being SEM painted. Its just the A pillar molding and the sunvisor bracket that will have to be done again once I mess with it.

  13. #13
    FEP Power Member fgross2006's Avatar
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    Just a follow up on this. Here's the culprit. A pinched wire in the windshield upper frame.

    repaired with a heat shrink butt connector, wrapped all 3 wires together tight with electrical tape, gently placed the wrapped wires out of the way of screws and brackets.

    it looks like to upper windshield bracket pinched the yellow wire causing this headache. I was sure I'd find a wire gouged by a screw, but whatever. its fixed.

    BTW, those wires are for the lighted rear view, which my 84 vert did not come with but I installed using the rear view from a later model vert. It's been in for around 4 years now. First time I ever had a issue with the wiring.

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    Last edited by fgross2006; 08-03-2020 at 07:08 PM.

  14. #14

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    did you go with lighted sun visors also

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