Putting Dashboard back in, parking light fuse keeps blowing

[dpascual1986]

1. Disconnect all the dash harness connections.

2. Use the factory service manual (FSM) to help you match up the connectors. Hint: The wire colors should match on each side of the connectors.

I know you told me that wires should match on both sides but I have a lot of wires that do not match -they are too short to go anywhere else, they have matching connectors, and the rest of the harness does not have a similar connector with the proper color on it. Im confused... I will take pictures to illustrate.

[AZ-240z]

dpascual1986,

On my '70 model the ground for the tail lights appears to be where the green arrow points on the attached picture on the floor on a piece of metal that sticks up about an inch. On my 72 parts car all of the wiring, nuts and bolts have been stripped, I can't see an obvious separate place for the ground as on my '70 model. I notice on the '73 FSM electrical schematic the ground for the tail lights is shown near the fuel sending unit. I know there is no guarantee that that means the ground is near the tank sending unit but it might be a hint. The ground might be underneath the car on the sending unit.Ground location on my '70 model (hopefully this wasn't added by a PO)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]66053[/ATTACH]

Mike, what I have found on my 1/71 car is there is a grounding screw under the rear deck on the inside edge of the frame rail on the passenger side.

There is a sub-harness for the fuel sending unit which goes through a hole in the rear deck next to the right tail light. This sub-harness has a large

ground wire which is fastened to the ground screw under the rear deck floor as described. I have been told that this ground point grounds the entire

rear electrical harness.

The bad news is, you must drop the fuel tank down to access this sub-harness and the ground point described above.

Dan

Edited September 20, 2013 by AZ-240z

[ZCurves]

dpascual1986 - I have one of these tools. It does help a lot. I bought mine at Harbor Freight...

[Mikes Z car]

Dan,

The picture below I believe is a side view of the ground point. I took pictures of everything when I had the tank out.

Mike

This should be the ground point the tank usually hides.

[dpascual1986]

Dan,

The picture below I believe is a side view of the ground point. I took pictures of everything when I had the tank out.

Mike

This should be the ground point the tank usually hides.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]66063[/ATTACH]

thanks for the pics. Removing the tank is relatively easy, I will do it this weekend and update you guys.

Anyone have any comments about the short circuit finder? Seem like a good buy?

[Mikes Z car]

I love those short circuit finder type of things, I was hoping someone would chime in with an explanation for how it works. I guess it looks for minimum signal as that is where the short is? I have the other kind of device that traces wire, I don't know if it would be any good at finding a short but it is good at finding the other end of a wire.

[jfa.series1]

If your front turn signals aren't hooked up or otherwise aren't working the flashing will be slower, which could be your problem. The flasher is actually a thermal device and if there isn't enough current being drawn through it the flasher takes longer to heat up, slowing down the action as you see here.

For any of you that are tired of dealing with slow and aging turn signal flashers, consider upgrading to an electronic (non-thermal) unit similar to this one. For the purists - it is not OE, but it does make one heck of a difference in the signal flash rate. The same unit can also be used to replace the hazard flasher. These units do not have the small mounting tab that the OE aluminum can styles have on the top. A 1/2" square of Velcro on the top will solve the mounting issue. One of the best updates I ever made!

Novita/Turn Signal Flasher (EL12) | AutoZone.com

[SteveJ]

Pete Thomas also identified another electronic flasher unit in the "Sold on LEDs" thread.