Here's the deal. I was driving at night and I turned on my headlights and noticed they were not bright enough. So I hit the switch on the floor thinking it was a high beam switch. Then I smelled something burning. I pulled over and noticed the smell was heavy by the headlight switch. The next day I removed the headlight switch. The switch itself was fine. However I traced the wiring harness at the back of the switch and found two wires fused together. Does this mean I need to buy a whole brand new wiring harness for the whole electrical system or can I do something else? I need help. My car is not moving because I have no idea of what to do!! Any solutions? 1971 Mercury GT View Public Profile Send a private message to 1971 Mercury GT Send email to 1971 Mercury GT Find More Posts by 1971 Mercury GT Add 1971 Mercury GT to Your Contacts
Your car suffered a short circuit.Most likely due to a rusty high beam switch(the switch on the floor)Remove it and fix the wireing at that switch(its most likely corroded)Then you will have to trace the melted wires back to their source and replace them as well.I would recommend you put a new headlight switch in it at this point as well(your existing one is now officially questionable)and needs to be replaced.check all connections/wires to the lights as well, look for frayed wires/corroded sockets/connections.finally check your grounds for the lights and the fusees as well as the fuse box looking for corrosion at the fuse contacts.these are typical problems with our cars and all is not lost but it will entail some careful hunting and repair.Good luck.
They were fused together at the connection. A brown wire and a bare copper wire were fused at the connection. I traced it as far as I could. SO Can I replace this part of the harness? Thanks again. I will replace the switch.
If you find a good harness you can replace it.Otherwise you will have to replace the individual cooked wires.You may have gotten lucky and just need to replace the Switch plug and about 6 to 8 inches of the harness if the only damage is at the plug/switch.there should be NO "bare" copper wires there,insulation may have dried out and fallen off or cooked off.But,you still need ot find the short that caused it.may just be the old wireing at the headlight switch or high beam switch.Good luck.
Is there a chart or diagram that specifically shows how to wire and properly place items in the dash like the headlights, dashlight, fuel gauge, etc.
not that I am aware of ,other than the factory chassis/electrical shop manual for a maverick.There may be some sort of wireing diagram available though.The question has been posted a few times.Do a search on the forum,you may find a link to a site with diagrams,I am not sure though.If you do replace the harness,the portion with the headlight wireing is part of the main chassis harness.It is removable from the car as a whole starting at the fuse box.Its it recommended that you pull the dash out of the car to get the whole thing out.If you have AC definitely remove the dash.This portion of the harness runs to the back of the car.There is only one plug on the fire wall that needs to be disconnected that I know of (never pulled one on an AC car)I dont think your going to need to go that far though.If you do get an aftermarket harness.Get one from Painless or a supplier of that sort.I think your just going to end up dealing with the harness plug at the headlight switch and the wireing to the high beam switch though.Its simpler than replacing the whole thing(cheaper too)if you do it your self.Good luck,hope it ends up being a simple fix for you.
Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it. I will replace the high beam switch and the headlight switch. I think I'll trace the wire as far as I can go and see if I can replace those wires some how. I'll let you know my progress. At this point the dash is off because I have a new one coming in. I also disconected the radio, cigarette lighter, instrument panel and the AC unit. SO it's like I am rebuilding the whole thing. Well that's what it turned out to be. Again thanks for the advice. I just want to have my sweat and blood in this car. I love it. Pics will be available soon. Any more advice I'll be glad to take it. After all this is a learning process.
