Please pardon my insertion, I am a new HAMBer. I recently purchased a 63 Nova, four door sedan, three on the tree, 194 L6. I'm loosing my mind over a recurring problem since I bought her. She keeps blowing the fuse that connects the interior light/dashlight/brakelight combo. Hell, it may even be connected to the backup lights. Anyway, I've gone thru about ten 20amp fuses and i'm just worn. What I thought it was was a shorted out taillamp housing, which was replaced (both actually) and that seemed to cure it for a day or so. Then, I noticed she would blow the fuse when the backup lights came on, so i disconnected those and that seemed to work until, last night i got in the car and the interior lights didn't come on (that's how i know the fuse is blown right away). So i replaced the fuse, then sat in the drive way crying in my milk while running thru some different scenarios of lights on and off trying to find the combo that was killing the fuse. While i was sitting there, engine off, the drivers side headlamp blew out...which was replaced the day after i bought the car, but not the right side. I can't figure this one out. Seems there is some wiring in the actual column that may be bad...or someone told me theres a strip of wiring that runs under the damn carpet?? If anyone can shed light on this topic I would be forever in yer debt. Thanks for a great webpage.
I feel for you. Thats really frustrating when a short moves around like that. You're actually following a good elimination process by unhooking each circuit to see if it happens again. Instead of hooking it back up immediately, leave it unhooked for a while to see if the symptom occurs. Could be a million things. I had one similar to this and found that years ago one of the wires (inside) a harness bundle shorted temporarily melting the insulation. Every once in a while it would rub against an adjacent wire shorting it. If this car has not been rewired. Right away I would strongly suggest a new wiring harness. Time to learn!
My 64 Chevelle had the same problem. The connector harness under the carpet was corroded and shorted out in one spot. It's a flat strip that runs under the carpet on the drivers side from the fuse panel area to the trunk. Should be similar in the nova. Get a cheap ohm meter to help check it, but a visiual inspection will probably show a worn or kinked spot that is probably the culprit. overspray
my 54 chevy had a metal "y" connector in the wire to the brake lights that ran along the trunk floor and if you were braking on a bumpy round it would pop the fuse, took a while to find it, w****d it in tape and it was fixed. Why they made a metal connector is beyond me.
If the car has a cigarette lighter, and it's in that circuit, disconnect it. That was an intermittent problem that drove me nuts. The element shorted out. Never could tell when the fuse would blow.
Son was having a similar problem. drove us crazy until i looked in the cig lighter and saw a Penny! DOH!
You could be having a wrong bulb event. I went thru this recently, having the wrong bulb wreaked havoc till my son and I ran it down. It takes just a min. to pull them all, make sure base match's the socket and power ***'s.
check for a trailer light hook up most are crude and will short out also check your tag light it is on the same circuit as the dash and courtesy lights. hope this helps rED
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