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What a great site! My son and I are proud new owners of a 81 Vette and will be wrenching on it together. This site has been a god sent already and was hoping you all could help with something that is hard to find in manuals. We have this connector hanging under the dash near the pedals. We just fixed the headlight switch with the help from previous threads. We are also trying to fix the instrument lights that do not light up. All fuses are good and wondering if this hanging connector has something to do with it however it does not reach to the headlight switch. Thanks in advance for your wisdom.
That wire should plug in to your fuse box and it is a what I call piggy back plug so it can have another wire connected to it ,just look at the shape of the plug and match to the one on your fuse block
welcome to the forum i also am new here, i purchased a 81 last spring and have a lot of issues but will address them 1 at a time. i found out the hard way to get at the fuse pannel easier is to pull out the vent tube under the dash pannel above your knees
I would follow this wire to see where it goes or at least turn key on and see if it has positive or negative voltage on it before plugging into fuse box. Do you have a wiring diagram? If not ask for one on forum
Dully, welcome to the Corvette Forum, you've come to the right place. I think soon you will find it one of the most useful tools in your toolbox!
Contact Emerson Gallup (papawana)here and ask him to send you a wiring diagram. He's provided them to scores of Forum members since 2008.
Good luck... GUSTO
Thank you everyone for the quick reply and I have some areas to explore. I am not very familiar with forums so bear with me on my reply logistics. For instance, is it good or bad to be putting "@" in the reply? Not sure if that gives you annoying messages or actually helps with my replies.
@sug I will see what fits with the battery connected. To @henrikse point, it will be good to know if it has juice so will check that.
@Edward Ackley Sounds like we are in the same boat. Mine is in decent shape but definitely needs some TLC. I did realize removing the HVAC tube helps. We also loosened the dash and partially pulled out the cluster for better access on the headlight switch. I did not drop the steering column and have been doing all my work from below.
@HeadsU.P. I will see if I can find the brake pedal switch. Not sure about both of your questions, I will look.
@GUSTO14 Thanks. I sent Emerson a PM. I have gathered several diagrams by poking around but not sure if I have the right ones. They are difficult to read...nice and neat on paper relative to what is in the car. I am also trying to sift through all the different manuals available to figure out which ones to buy. I have read from this forum that the two bibles are the AIM (Assembly Instruction Manual) and CSM (Corvette/Chasis Service Manual). There are a lot of different vendors (NCRS, eBay, Corvette Central, Corvette Mods, etc) selling them and trying to determine if they are different or better. Ideally would like to get a printed one and download as an option but I have yet to find a vendor which offers this.
Turn the headlamp **** all the way clockwise. Many aren't old enough to remember that you dim the dash lights by twisting the headlamp **** counter-clockwise. This was the standard way for all US makes for decades.
The dash lights have their own fuse (3 amp I believe) at the very top of the fuse box--it's a pain to even see and worse to remove Check that next.
I'm fairly certain that connector is the power for the Computer Command Control (CCC) module. Irregardless is has NOTHING to do with the dash lights.
This early computer control system and particularly the associated computer-controlled carburetor is quite problematic and is frequently removed. I can nearly guarantee that your original carburetor and distributor have been replaced as otherwise the engine would run like utter crap with the CCC module disconnected.
Awesome, we found the home. Thank you 81BlackVette for grabbing the picture. SwampeastMike, you are correct...not original equipment. Given that, I am thinking of not plugging in the connector. There is no power to the connector which makes sense since it should be plugged into the fuse box.
To answer HeadsUP, I do have cruise control but don’t know if it works as the car is apart. Yes, the brake lights work.
For the dash lights, no luck finding this 3am fuse. I think I have read all the threads and will double check before starting a new thread. I think that is the forum etiquette.
SwampeastMike: I thought you were on to something since when I got the car, there was a 5A fuse in the upper left location and the diagram I was looking at said it should be 7.5A. Also on the diagram I am looking at, it says the spot your diagram shows for the Inst LPS should be empty. I rushed home to see if that worked but there a couple of things:
-in the diagram you provided, it shows the electric fan in the spot 4 from the top on the left. My electric fan fuse is clearly labeled as the 6 from the top and shown in the 1st pic. Not sure if the electrical diagram you shared is the right one.
-your diagram shows the defog in the right location where the other diagram I was using does not
-3rd and probably most relevant is it looks like the spot you pointed out only has one prong in the fuse location for the potential INST LPS. You can see this in the second pic.
Not sure if it is relevant but my car was the 6000 car out of the new KY plant. Maybe things changed???
Electric Fan fuse Fuse spot for the potential INST LPS fuse only shows one pin
Also know that the instrument panel lights actually get their power from the tail lamp fuse. If it's not installed or blown the IP lights won't work. The additional (smaller) fuse for the IP lamps is there to protect the rheostat from burnout in the event of a short circuit or overload.
5A is good...this must be the “3A” you were referring to in a previous thread.
Ah, good to know. I will look at the tail lamp fuse and functionality of those. I just place an order for new, high quality Bussmann fuses...no joke I spent an hour researching this last night. Ended up getting them from Allied Electrical. The ones at Autozone are terrible where they do not have exposed contacts to test the circuit and have to pull them and test with a multimeter.
Couple of other things I am wondering about.
-Does the headlight switch need to have a ground contact ring? I saw in another post about a 1969 needing to have this.
-After looking at the 1981 wiring diagram, I think the INST LPS fuse is in fact the top left one and not the one below. Here is a picture.
My new buddies and especially my new on-line friend SwampeastMike, we have fixed the instrument panel lights! It was the connection at the tail light fuse. There is an intermittent connection as that fuse spot looks damaged from heat. Previous owner admitted the tail lights going in and out was an issue from time to time. Looks like the next project is to update the fuse box. Has anyone done this with one that is easier to access? Like one that is on an arm or something.
Below are pics of the celebration pictures of the lighted dash...thank you all for your help on resolving these two issues.
If you are interested, you can see in my previous picture post where the spot is fried on the right leg at the 15A location shown that was suppose to be a 20A. I have since put in the correct fuse. That is the tail lamp fuse spot.
If you are interested, you can see in my previous picture post where the spot is fried on the right leg at the 15A location shown that was suppose to be a 20A. I have since put in the correct fuse. That is the tail lamp fuse spot.
Yes, that connection has definitely seen lots of blown fuses and perhaps some "creative" ways to deal with the problem without actually fixing it
Anything can be done but moving the fuse box is a BIG undertaking. The fuse box is permanently attached to the cabin wiring harness and there's not enough slack in the wiring to move it any direction. Moreover it's also permanently attached to a large connector through the firewall for the front lamp and engine harnesses. Neither of those harnesses have any slack either. Of course loose/dirty connections alone can cause overheating.
Given the age of our cars and the fact that only a few of the exterior lamp connectors have any sort of weather resistance, some serious cleaning is in order. Such can produce some amazing results with "crappy" original style headlamps now producing good light, a :"pathetic and noisy" HVAC fan now blowing strong and quiet, "phantom" electrical issues disappearing, etc.
First CLEAN YOUR CHASSIS GROUNDS!!! The worst is often for the real lamp harness. It's near the radio antenna. Clean the ring connector, the bolt and the mounting hole with a wire wheel/wire brush. Even if the bolt looks "shot" use a wire wheel and you will probably be surprised at how it comes out looking like new. The only part of the mounting hole that's where you need a small, very stiff round wire brush.
Another chassis ground highly subject to corrosion is for the front lamp harness. It's at the bottom left (driver) side of the radiator support bracket. Such is a HIDEOUS pain to access in '78-'79 because the vacuum reservoir is actually a structural member across the entire front and it blocks access to the bolt head. Your '81 has the so-called "coffee can" vacuum reservoir so it may be relatively easy to access. Another ground connection for the front lamp harness is at the top of the front nose between the headlamp vacuum relays. The third ground connection for the front lamp harness is on the alternator at a stud on the engine side.
Clean all of the exterior lamp sockets! A brass brush is best as a steel brush can hurt the plastic.
Clean all of those high-power connectors/connections on the passenger side of the engine compartment! Carb/choke cleaner is a good contact cleaner for the hard-to-access female connections. Remove and clean the crap out of the blower resistor gang that's installed into (on top of and easy to see/access) the HVAC plenum!
Have fun. Get the electrical system up to par and you won't worry about getting to that hideously located fuse box!
Connector needs a home
Check that next.
