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Electrical problem

BrandonB

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
292
First off, I havnt posted on here in WAY to long guys, I missed this site!

Hey guys Ive got a real problem on my hands. My 68 mustang is grounding out whenever I turn my steering wheel. You can see the sparks down inside the steering column like something is grounding out Ive jiggled the wires that go up to the steering wheel and none of those do it, its the actual steering shaft its self thats sparking. What could be the problem here aside from the obvious. I looked under the dash and couldnt see any bare wires touching the column and its not hot when I touch it with my hand its the inside of the column thats hot. It makes my horn go off sometimes and it shorts out my dash, interior, headlights and tailights.

Please help me here Im lost when it comes to electrical!

Thanks, Brandon
 

PFSlim

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,546
Location
Weatherby Lake, MO
Brandon

I am no expert but I would look closely at the wiring harness that runs along steering column, then up under the steering wheel. Something like your horn on the steering wheel side is not grounded right, that is my opinion. I can not imagine it being a problem anywhere other than that.

I did not have to pull my steering wheel off during our restoration. Therefore, maybe someone else can chime in about the grounding under the steering wheel pad.

Paul
 
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BrandonB

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
292
PFSlim said:
Brandon

I am no expert but I would look closely at the wiring harness that runs along steering column, then up under the steering wheel. Something like your horn on the steering wheel side is not grounded right, that is my opinion. I can not imagine it being a problem anywhere other than that.

I did not have to pull my steering wheel off during our restoration. Therefore, maybe someone else can chime in about the grounding under the steering wheel pad.

Paul

Yeah I'll crawl under there and check it out again I just cant find a grounded out wire for the life of me.

Hows your CS coming along by the way, sorry Ive been away for a long time and all!
 
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BrandonB

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
292
Update: So I posted over on www.mustangsandmore.com also for extra help. One guy said that they had the same problem and cut the thick yellow wire on their column, Well I ran outside to go see what he was talking about and mine had erroded apart from where ever it was originally connected to and was sitting loose against my column and that was what was causing the shortage. So Paul since your working on yours where did that Yellow wire connect to? and what does it do?


P.S. We still need to meet up!
 

rvrtrash

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
3,649
The yellow wire is the power source for your horns. Since it is on the input side of the horn ring/switch, you may have multiple problems. The horn would only go off with a broken input wire if the horn switch was stuck "on" and the two broken ends occasionally touch or the wire FROM the switch is also broken and the two occasionally make a circuit by touching together. Look close for other broken, frayed or bare wires in the same vicinity. You might have to just replace the whole turn signal harness and they're $100.00 or so for a repo. As for source, the yellow wire is fed from the back of your headlight switch, which is why your lights are going out when the yellow wire grounds out. Hope I've helped. Maintaining my reputation wouldn't be bad either.:grin:
Steve
 

PFSlim

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,546
Location
Weatherby Lake, MO
BrandonB said:
Yeah I'll crawl under there and check it out again I just cant find a grounded out wire for the life of me.

Hows your CS coming along by the way, sorry Ive been away for a long time and all!

Brandon

You can see the finished photos in the gallery on the left, or the gallery on the top, or go to the ACCKC (club hemmings) website. We have pictures posted there as well. Lastly, we are Dec on the 2006 Cal Spec calendar. All are under Paul & Brian Stevenson.

Good to have you back. We need to get ours, Brian Beatty and you together in South KC sometime.

Paul
 

gt bandit

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
460
Location
Perth , Western Australia
rvrtrash said:
The yellow wire is the power source for your horns. Since it is on the input side of the horn ring/switch, you may have multiple problems. The horn would only go off with a broken input wire if the horn switch was stuck "on" and the two broken ends occasionally touch or the wire FROM the switch is also broken and the two occasionally make a circuit by touching together. Look close for other broken, frayed or bare wires in the same vicinity. You might have to just replace the whole turn signal harness and they're $100.00 or so for a repo. As for source, the yellow wire is fed from the back of your headlight switch, which is why your lights are going out when the yellow wire grounds out. Hope I've helped. Maintaining my reputation wouldn't be bad either.:grin:
Steve
ever considered writing a book on troubleshooting electrical for the CS?
 

Mustanglvr

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2004
Messages
3,258
Brandon, I was wondering where you`ve been keeping yourself. I was`nt sure you were coming back. Its nice to hear from you.
 

rvrtrash

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
3,649
gt bandit said:
ever considered writing a book on troubleshooting electrical for the CS?

Nope, just happy to help out here when I can. Gotta put my degree to use
somehow.:rolleyes:

Steve
 
P

PNewitt

Guest
Yeah, well, Steve, I'll be callin' on ya for stuff in the book.
There's a heavy price for expertise! No sir! No good deed goes unpunished.

Seriously--I look forward to your assistance. Thanks for helping out those in need! There coulda been a fire.

BTW--I saw that this site called "RonFrancis.com" has some neat retrofit type of electrical stuff for Muscle cars. Any thoughts about that stuff?

thanks again,
Paul.
 

rvrtrash

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
3,649
PNewitt said:
Yeah, well, Steve, I'll be callin' on ya for stuff in the book.
There's a heavy price for expertise! No sir! No good deed goes unpunished.

Seriously--I look forward to your assistance. Thanks for helping out those in need! There coulda been a fire.

BTW--I saw that this site called "RonFrancis.com" has some neat retrofit type of electrical stuff for Muscle cars. Any thoughts about that stuff?

thanks again,
Paul.

I guess it's time to come clean. I've been doing wiring work for over 20 years, including the prototype wiring for 2 different automated forklifts in a previous job, but all I'm doing here is looking at the wiring diagram, interpreting it and including some troubleshooting pointers. I'm happy to help one and all but I don't know if I'd consider myself an expert. Ask away if you want though, and I'll do my best for you.
I hadn't heard of RonFrancis before, but then I build or repair all my own wiring. From just a quick glance, it looks like decent stuff but aimed more at the street rod crowd. I'll have to look closer and see what he has in the way of connectors. I'd love to find someone that made copies of original connectors for classics.
Steve
 
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