Just wanting to find out if someone here can tell me where the junction point of the orange wires is physically located that I have circled in blue. Hoping that it may save me a lot of labor searching for it.

Thanks for any assistance.

Ted

 

Ted, it is behind the dash in the dash harness by the tach all wrapped up. Let me see if I can find a picture.

 

This is my old oem harness laying above my new LL harness (the weird white plastic connector on the oem harness is due to my aftermarket dash, the LL harness is untouched). That junction is just to the right of the right clip that clips into the back of the dash.

 

Thanks Mark. That helps a lot. Now I just have to get my back limbered up some.

Ted

 

It’s electrically the same point as the orange wire on the brake light switch, physically it’s above it in the bundle

 

Thanks for your input. Yes, I'm aware that the brake light wire is connected to that group of orange wires. The problem is that I have an intermittent electrical problem (likely a short) that keeps blowing the bottom fuse in the fuse block. That fuse, as far as I can determine, protects all of the courtesy/convenience lights, the clock and the brake lights. When this problem began a few months ago, I temporarily wired an ammeter across that fuse holder to see if by chance I was experiencing an over current condition. With every thing on that circuit operating including the brake lights, for about 15 minutes, the current never went above 7.5 amps. When I say that the problem is intermittent, sometimes it can take two or three weeks before the fuse fails. Yesterday I drove the car over 100 miles before the fuse failed. This makes it pretty difficult to troubleshoot, so my intent is to start isolating one thing at a time on this circuit until I can determine which device is the culprit. I have inspected all of the wiring that I can see for the brake light circuit and my next step is to remove the glove box to inspect some of the courtesy light wiring. Then probably remove the kick panels to check the wiring behind them. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
Thanks
Ted

 

and the glove box light. I really don’t see how you can have a short at the junction, but that’s up to you. What amperage fuse do you have in that bottom slot now? Something taking that long to blow, it may just be building up heat and the connection between the fuse and the fuse holder in the fuse box due to corrosion. The fuse may be melting instead of blowing.

 

Ya, I just consider the glove box light one of the courtesy lights. I'm not suspecting a short at the junction, I was hoping that it was a type of junction that would allow me to separate the wires for the different devices, but it doesn't appear that would be very easy to do. The fuse was originally a 20 amp which was in there when I got the car. But I noticed that the fuse block indicates that it should be 15 amp which is what I replaced the 20 amp with when it failed. I did the best I could for cleaning the fuse holder and it appears to be in decent condition. It's difficult to clean the fuse holders as well as I'd like without actually removing the fuse block, which I definitely don't want to do if I don't have to.
Thanks again for your input.
Ted

 

I had some light corrosion on the lugs in the fuse box, so I took a brass wire brush for cleaning a .223 caliber rifle and chucked it in a drill to clean the lugs. I then sparingly coated them with electrical grease to help protect them. Just an idea.

 

 

Put the 20a back in:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...el-labels.html

 

That's exactly what I used to clean the fuse holders and then sprayed with contact cleaner.
Thanks for your input.
Ted

 

My '66 has the fuse block like the one pictured in your link. Bottom fuse is clearly marked 15A. I don't have a problem with putting a 20A fuse in, but the fact is, it still blows the fuse.
I will see if I can do any additional cleaning of the fuse holders. They definitely hold the fuse tightly.
Thanks for posting that link.
Ted

 

I would start by removing the curtesy bulbs and see if it still blows. If not, check the bulbs to ensure they are the correct bulbs and then reinstall one at a time until you identify the culprit.

 

Based on your statements, I submit that you don't have an overcurrent situation but rather an intermittent short. 100 miles of driving before it blew would not indicate anything else. The most likely intermittent items are the glove box light and the brake light switch, particularly if you still have the noise suppression capacitor on it. I would do as suggested. Eliminate one item at a time. Remove the glove box lamp. Drive until it blows (if it does). Disconnect the clock connector, do the same. Remove all three (that includes the one in the dome light (if you are working on a coupe, and the rear of the soft top storage area if a convertible). Then drive some more. Most convertible owners don't even know about the one in the storage area. You can also disconnect the orange wire to the brake light switch and try that. That will cover the possibilities except for a shorted wire and that is very unlikely.
Since the voltage passes through two contacts in the courtesy light sockets and is then grounded by the door jamb switches, they are eliminated because the only thing that would happen if one shorted was the courtesy would come on without opening the door.
If you have an original clock they are well known to hang up on the rewind cycle intermittently. I would try the two easiest things first, disconnect the glove box light and the clock. You should not have to work on any wiring to fix this except possibly around the brake light switch. The pedal arm is grounded so if you have any loose wire or noise suppression capacitor touching it, maybe your moving it with your foot or when the pedal moves.

 

I had a 68 Camaro which uses the same dome light/courtesy light setup. An aftermarket dome light (plastic with "chrome" spray on it) shorted and smoked when driving because the "chrome" coating was conductive and the coating was so close to the contacts for the bulb that when I hit a bump it would blow the fuse because the short was on the power side of the wire (orange) and not the courtesy light switch side (white wire). Remember that all those items on the orange wire circuit always have full battery voltage key on or key off.

 

Factoid and 65GGvert,

Thank you both for your input. My suspicion is that I have a bare wire somewhere that intermittently touches ground while driving which of course produces an instantaneous short circuit.

"Since the voltage passes through two contacts in the courtesy light sockets and is then grounded by the door jamb switches, they are eliminated because the only thing that would happen if one shorted was the courtesy would come on without opening the door."

This is something I was overlooking. I will definitely proceed in this direction.

Thanks very much for the input.

Ted

 

There have been numerous posts about the glove box light housing, especially aftermarket replacements. There is no connection to eliminate it that I know of, but you might move it around and see if maybe it is shorting to the metal frame. Just a thought.

 

I will check it out.
Thanks
Ted

 

Just thought I should do a follow-up about this problem I've been having for about the past 18 months. As I've stated above, this short has been very intermittent which has made it very difficult to troubleshoot. Well, the fuse had not failed for at least three months (I drive the car probably an average of 300 miles a month) but finally this past Saturday after driving the car for a couple of hours I noticed that the fuse had blown. (my indicator is the clock not working). So as soon as I had a good opportunity I pulled into a parking lot and replaced the fuse. I drove the car about 200 feet to a stop light and noticed that the fuse had blown again. This was the first time that I was confident that the problem was in the brake light wiring. When I got home I started the troubleshooting process and finally found the shorted wire for the left tail light in the rear wiring harness just behind the left rear wheel close to where the harness goes through the fiberglass bulkhead under the rear window. I had to pull the harness into the car in order to make a repair. It was certainly not an enjoyable experience, but everything seems to be working now. I'm attaching a photo of the damaged wiring.
Thanks to everyone for their input.
Ted