No wipers, Running lights or dash lights...

[sweatybetty]

 

[MY1PATH]

2 hours ago, SteveJ said:

Thank you. That helps. Yes, the parking light circuit was/is overloaded. The connector overheated. It may not be making good contact at that pin anymore. Mine was worse.

Check your side marker sockets and right side turn signal light sockets. One or more could have corrosion between the housing and the center pin where the positive is. That gives another path for current to flow. Take some photos of the side markers (with the bulb pulled) and the right side turn signals. You may have corrosion in the right front turn signal. That would account for the turn signal indicator lighting up in your previous experiment, that is if you didn't already discover an 1156 bulb in that socket.

All lamp housings are unplugged (I've stated this in almost every one of my replies). I will get you pictures tomorrow.

[beermanpete]

I suspect your interaction with the turn signal indicator in the tachometer is from an open ground in the meter as there is no other common circuit node, especially since you have disconnected/removed the marker lamps.

How have you verified your fuses? Visual inspection is not fool proof. Measure them with an ohmmeter or, better still, measure the voltage to ground on both sides while the load is applied (lights on). If the fuse or its clips are bad the voltage will drop across  the fuse, i.e., 12 volts on the battery side and 0 volts on the load side.

To test the connections along the way use a similar method: Turn on the circuit (after you reinstall the lamps) and measure the voltage along the circuit path. Start at the fuse (or the battery if the fuse does not have 12 volts on the battery side) and look for the point at which the voltage drops more than a tenth of a volt (0.1V) or so. You should find a point at which the voltage suddenly drops to 0. Even a tenth of a volt drop is a lot considering the load current is only a few amperes. However, the lamps will light with a volt or two drop so don't get hung up on a minor drop for now. Clean them up if it is easy, otherwise come back to them later after you find and fix the "real" problem.

[MY1PATH]

Pulled every fuse out and tested it independent of the fuse holder. Then I checked each end of the fuse holder at the fuse clip and the joint at the back of the holder. 
With no lights or fixtures connected and switch in the off position Green blue wire (power to switch) shows battery voltage with some voltage drop as measured from the solder joint on the switch itself. So power is certainly getting there.
When the switch is turned on (again no lights connected) Green Blue wire goes to 0v. So I guess it suddenly drops to zero when the switch is turned on, so I'm thinking like like what Steve said "too many parallel paths for current flow"?

Dash lights and running lights used to be plenty bright before they failed. I would there was a time that they ran better than the headlights did... Until I removed the PO's botched attempt at DRL...

 

Edited August 31, 2016 by MY1PATH

[beermanpete]

You need to find the point where the voltage falls to 0. If the circuit and all its connections were good and there was an overload that could take the voltage at the switch to 0 the fuse would blow. If there is a crossed circuit that circuit should be coming on and you would know which circuit it is. Since you have not indicated that something unexpected comes on when you turn on the lights it seems more likely there is a high resistance connection somewhere that is dropping the voltage. Another thing that might help, turn on the light switch and feel the wiring for hot spots. A high resistance will get hot and you might be able to feel the heat while it is on.

[MY1PATH]

Unexpected, I have, kinda.
When I supplied Green White with power from the headlight wire (heavy gauge almost no voltage drop) the Right arrow comes on this was before all the light fixtures were unplugged.

I will have try the hot wire thing one early morning at everything is always very hot here in the desert.

Edited August 31, 2016 by MY1PATH

[beermanpete]

If the green/blue wire goes to 0V when you turn on the light switch there is a bad connection upstream. If there is still voltage at the fuse when this happens there is a bad connection in between those two points.

[MY1PATH]

10 hours ago, beermanpete said:

If the green/blue wire goes to 0V when you turn on the light switch there is a bad connection upstream. If there is still voltage at the fuse when this happens there is a bad connection in between those two points.

Looks like exactly what happened.
Been a busy few days so I haven't been online but I think I found it. I will post some pictures after I get everything cleaned up.

[Zed Head]

Channeling my inner English teacher - two possibilities were described, and you said "looks like exactly what happened".  Literally, that means both things happened since you did not differentiate between the two.  Did both things happen?

What's a DRL?

[MY1PATH]

6 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Channeling my inner English teacher - two possibilities were described, and you said "looks like exactly what happened".  Literally, that means both things happened since you did not differentiate between the two.  Did both things happen?

What's a DRL?

Both happened. I found a bad connection, The BLUE connector near the fuse box was pretty melted and the Green Blue wire in that connector was making poor connection. It supplied power upstream under no load but dropped to 0v upstream when the switch was closed.

The initial cause of this overheating appears to be a collection of things to include, too many exposed bullet connectors tucked under the carpet, some of them finding ground, one of which had found its way to another connector that is spliced with the hazzard light harness (hence the right arrow) AND get this, the wire frame from a disintegrated AC duct was making contact with the dash skeleton while one end had found its way into a free floating bullet connector which I think used to go to a glove box light...

Getting it all cleaned up and put back together. Looks Like I just might make it in time for Z-topia this Sunday.

DRL = Daytime Running Light.

[Zed Head]

Nasty.  And this all was happening while you owned and drove it?  They used to work, and were slowly failing?  The old PO trap.  Scary.  Makes me want to go do some preventive examination on my car.

[beermanpete]

Progress! Excellent! Let us know how it works once you finish correcting the problem you found.