Electricals not working on my 66

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CarguyNye
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:08 am
TOA Membership Number: 1300
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado deluxe
1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible

Electricals not working on my 66

Postby CarguyNye » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:50 pm

Hi Everybody,
I am wondering if you can give some advice about why the electricals don't work on my recently purchased 66 Deluxe. I put in a new battery and the car starts up fine, but none of the lights work, nothing power works at all such as windows, radio, antenna. I am wondering if there is a master fuse for the electricals on these cars or could it just be that all of the fuses are bad? I haven't had time to pull any yet to see what is going on but if someone has any advice I would be most appreciative! I did take the window controls out to see how the connections were there but they did not look that bad and I did clean them to see if that would help.

Thank you,
Roger

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Otto Skorzeny
Posts: 1721
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
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Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Electricals not working on my 66

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:59 pm

If every single electrical accessory on the car is not functioning, the problem is probably not a slew of blown fuses.

Certainly you must check them but I'd start at the battery and work your way down the wiring harness. Look for a short or poor ground, cracked insulation/broken wire, etc. Look also at the ignition switch terminals for corrosion, bad connections, etc.

You'll need to just start testing voltage btween two points as you move out from the battery.

Did everything work and then suddenly stop working? Make sure you don't have the battery cables mixed up.

Do you have a 1966 Olds Chassis Manual? aka Factory Service Manual? If not, look for one on ebay for $20 to $30. Get the book, not the CD.

Here's a whole bunch of them: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... l&_sacat=0

CarguyNye
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:08 am
TOA Membership Number: 1300
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado deluxe
1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible

Re: Electricals not working on my 66

Postby CarguyNye » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:08 pm

Thank you for this good advice! When I first looked at the car and bought it, the battery was very weak and we had to charge it to start the car. None of the electricals worked then but I thought that it would probably be something fairly simple since nothing worked! I did get the manuals on CD but you are right, a book is much better. I will pick up one of those copies.

As far as battery cables go, I did hook them up as they were before when I put the new battery in but perhaps that is not an indication that they were correct in the first place. But would the car even start if they were somehow mixed up? Unfortunately I don't yet have the car at my home as the guy I bought it from is going to weld in new floor pans that I bought from the guy in Ohio. So I can't check it right now but I am hopefully going to go do some work next week on it and I will see what I can find in terms of the things you described. I know there is a vacuum hose that is disconnected that I need to discover where it should be connected. Would the chassis manual have good engine diagrams?

I will also check the CD's I got as well.

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Otto Skorzeny
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Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
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Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Electricals not working on my 66

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:16 am

Yes, the manual has wiring diagrams, vacuum hose routing diagrams, etc. The cables probably are hooked up right. It's hard not to do that but it pays not to take anything for granted when trying to diagnose problems.

Since the whole car is affected, it has to be somewhere in the main wiring harness before it starts branching out to all the different circuits. What do they all have in common? The battery, of course, is the main thing. keep testing the wires for continuity as you move out from the battery.

Does the horn work? I ask because it should work whether the key is in the ignition and switched on or not.

CarguyNye
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:08 am
TOA Membership Number: 1300
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado deluxe
1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible

Re: Electricals not working on my 66

Postby CarguyNye » Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:48 pm

Thank you again for your suggestions! The horn was not working when I was last there. I hope to get out to the car this week sometime and explore the wiring more fully. I printed out all of the applicable diagrams from my Chassis CD and have been studying them and will see what I can find starting from the battery as you recommended. Hopefully it will be something simple and does not involve a part that is unavailable!

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Otto Skorzeny
Posts: 1721
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Electricals not working on my 66

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:38 am

The reason I asked about the horn is that it works whether the key is turned on or turned off. Most of the other things have to have the key on to work.

I think that rules out the ignition switch as the culprit. It has to be something common to every electrical system on the car starting at the battery.


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