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Painless wiring harness problems

Bmatt75

New Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
29
Loc.
Lillington, NC
75 w/ 302 & c4, 3g alternator upgrade. Finally have pretty much everything finished up to test my new painless wiring harness. After connecting battery cables I don’t have any power to the gauge cluster; turn signals, gear indicator lights / hazards, horn. The Headlights/ tail lights work but that’s about it. I don’t have the rebuilt transmission and transfer case reinstalled yet but everything else is complete mechanically / electrically. I have added few extra grounds per the advice from reading other threads. I really don’t know where to start diagnosing the problem. Gauge cluster was just refurbished by classy gauges. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thx
 

Attac

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
865
Make sure you are reading power to the fuse panel with a meter.
Check mega fuse.
Make sure body has ground strap to the frame.
Call painless. Their tech support is second to none
Pm Eric from painless on here
 

Green_Bastard

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
257
I did this recently without any issues. Sounds like something with the wiring between the fuse box/solenoid/alternate or the wiring to the ignition switch. See if you get power to the switched side of the fuse box when the ignition switch is on. If not, double check the wiring in those areas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,275
Interesting issue. The fact that the headlights and tail lights work "should" mean that the Black w/yellow wire and Maxi-Fuse are still functioning. The fact that just about nothing else works is intriguing.
The horn and hazard flashers and dash lights are powered all the time, although for the dash panel lamps you do need to make sure that the headlight switch is not only on, but the rheostat is turned all the way up until just before it clicks.
But the turn signals are on the switched side of the fuse panel, so not on the same side of the panel.

First though, have you pulled all fuses and visually inspected them? I like to use an ohm-meter to check them as well, but visual is 95% effective typically.

Interested in what Eric thinks about it.
Maybe an under-dash ground wire missing? Maybe the dash not grounded well? You could create temporary jumper wires between the dash and the battery (or any known-good ground) to see if that makes any difference.

Good luck.

Paul
 
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Bmatt75

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Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
29
Loc.
Lillington, NC
Thx for the replies! I forgot to mention the radio works as well. The dash grounds are connected to factory ground bolt on bottom edge of dash. I ran extra grounds wire from there to the firewall, firewall to wheel well. The body was take Off and rotisserie so I ground all fresh paint to bare metal under the ground terminals.
Paul. I did check every fuse n the glove box and they r good. I will try the temp ground wire like u described and see if that works.
Maybe I did something wrong when I installed the 3g alternator wiring. I followed the instructions for this n the painless manual but I didn’t hook up the black/ yellow (the one that used to go through ammeter) wire to anything (starter relay or battery) under the hood.
 
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Bmatt75

New Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
29
Loc.
Lillington, NC
This is the painless diagram and a pic of what I did. The green/red wire is hooked up correctly. But the “constant 12 volt” wire (yellow wire on my alternator pigtail) is connected to the alternator under the 2ga charging wire, not connected to the black/yellow #915 wire as shown n diagram. All the other 3g diagrams I have seen show things being hooked up the way I have them now, not with the yellow wire connected to 915 wire like the painless diagram. Could this b my problem.
 

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eric0o1

Sr. Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
592
Headlights/tail lights tell us you have battery power going to the fuse block on the constant battery side, so lets find out if you've got power to the other side of the fuse block.

Do you have anything on the switched ignition side of the fuse block getting power/working? Look at page 17 of the manual, these would be any of the circuits on the left side of the fuse block in that diagram, Top row of fuses if looking at the fuse block in the glove box.

If you don't have power to that side of the fuse block, either the Black/Green #933 isn't connected to the lug on the fuse block, isn't connected to the ignition switch, you don't have power going to the ignition switch, or you have a faulty ignition switch.

Does the starter crank when you turn the key? That would tell us if you have power going to the ignition switch.

If you do have power on that side of the fuse block, then you have a lot of individual circuit issues, it'll take a little back and forth but I'm sure we can get it straightened out.

I think you do have one issue: Your turn signal switch

The horn is battery powered and we know you have power to that side of the fuse block. If the horn isn't working, is the relay plugged in? It is often removed to mount the relay base and people forget to plug it back in. However, you also say the hazards aren't working, which is also battery powered, check to make sure the hazard flasher is plugged in. If both the horn relay and flasher are installed then your problem is with the turn signal switch since that is the only thing these two share other than battery power. Double check your connector pin out with the diagram on page 45 of the manual.
 
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DirtDonk

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Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,275
...But the “constant 12 volt” wire (yellow wire on my alternator pigtail) is connected to the alternator under the 2ga charging wire, not connected to the black/yellow #915 wire as shown n diagram.
All the other 3g diagrams I have seen show things being hooked up the way I have them now, not with the yellow wire connected to 915 wire like the painless diagram. Could this b my problem.

They're both "correct" to a point. The way Painless shows it is how Ford and the other manufacturers do it, to get the sensing wire closer to the battery than to the alternator.
The way you have yours, and the way that probably 94.5% of other installations are connected, is strictly to simplify the wiring. They both read battery power, but the assumption is that you get a more accurate and consistent reading the closer to the battery you get.
But yours will work fine.

And besides, even if your alternator was not connected properly it would have ZERO effect on how your fuse panel gets power to one side and not the other.
Eric has you on the right track. Since the switched power items are not working, you need to make sure that the power connections are correct on the back of the ignition switch.
If you followed the directions there, and did NOT use the center post of the ignition switch as a ground, your fuse panel should get power. I'm guessing you did not ground the switch, or you'd have had a bunch of blown fuses most likely.

You should check for power at the ignition switch first. And how that power goes back out.
Even though the switch is likely brand new, even the ones in the Painless kit could be defective right out of the box. It's happening all the time now, with different electrical parts made overseas.

I think I've only heard of one other Painless switch needing replacing, and now there are two Centech switches I remember being bad. But that's compared to NONE for the past few years, so the general quality of the supplied switches has been pretty darn good.
Still, we can't ignore the possibility.

Paul
 
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Bmatt75

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Aug 13, 2017
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Loc.
Lillington, NC
Thx guys. Work / life is crazy this week. Hopefully I’ll have some time to try your suggestions tomorrow or this weekend. I’ll post what I find out.
 
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Bmatt75

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Aug 13, 2017
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Lillington, NC
Have a little time to test a few things tonight. Seems like everything is working on the constant 12v side of the fuse block except for the horn. Aftermarket steering wheel/ horn button so maybe I don’t have something hooked up correctly. I put my meter on the 933 black/ green wire at ignition switch and fuse block. Both had over 12.5v. So there seems to be power to the switch and fuse block. Would that mean the ignition switch is bad.
 

eric0o1

Sr. Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
592
if you have power on the #933 Black/Green, then your ignition switch is working. Can you test one of the switched 12v circuits to make sure you have power on one of those? we know you have switched power going to the fuse block, but do you have power going to the coil, wipers, choke, etc.?
 

garberz

Bronco Influencer
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
6,856
Loc.
Conejo Valley, Ca.
if you have power on the #933 Black/Green, then your ignition switch is working. Can you test one of the switched 12v circuits to make sure you have power on one of those? we know you have switched power going to the fuse block, but do you have power going to the coil, wipers, choke, etc.?

My hat’s off to you Eric. We are very fortunate to have a vendor rep keeping an eye on what issues one of our members may have. Always nice to see this kind of support and info.

Mark
 
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