E-Bodies.org Cuda Challenger Forum

Thank Cody. Glad to be part of it again. Always been a Mopar guy. Mostly e-body.

Wiring is all factory original.
The car was in very rough shape so I never tested much of the electrical. Bulb was missing from the dome and never tried the wipers. It went under cover as soon as I got it.
Colors to the Dome switch - please see pics
The Dome light does not go on using the Dimmer Switch in any scenario. Only when I open the door. The wiper motor does not go on unless the dimmer switch is plugged in and rotated fully counterclockwise to the dome light on position.

...The wiper motor does not go on unless the dimmer switch is plugged in and rotated fully counterclockwise to the dome light on position.
...with the ignition on.

You will need to reverse two wires on the two connectors going to the wiper switch. It is currently wired for a variable speed setup. Make sure the battery is disconnected while doing this. Swap the brown w/ white stripe and the red wire. A slot jewelers screwdriver fitted into the front of each connector to press down on the barb that keeps the wire from coming out of the back (wire side) of the sockets. Once the two wires have been removed, use your screwdriver to lift the now pressed down barb so it will lock again. The brown w/ white strip is now into the two position socket and the red is now into the four position socket. Reconnect the battery, turn the ignition on and see what happens.

The dash dimmer switch is a two circuit device. One circuit if for reducing the voltage feeding the dash lights and the second circuit is to enable a ground closure to to turn the dome light on. 12 volts battery power is always present at the dome light. It is either when either of the door switch open or the dash dimmer switch is turned fully counter clockwise after the click.

Jim

Jim,

Thanks. I'm going to head out and give it a try.

Fred

NG. Reversing the Red and Brown w/White Strip just reversed the high and low speed position.
Nothing else changed.

What I didn't notice before and is happening regardless if the wires are reversed is that when the door switch is open with the dome light on, the wiper motor runs in both positions with the dimmer switch clicked all the way counterclockwise. When I close the door dome goes out and motor stops.
Is the dome circuit tied in with the wiper? Wires crossed somewhere else?

Ok, when you said the high and low speeds changed, is the current wiring operating correctly? Park, Slow, Fast, where previously you had Park, Fast, Slow?

With other areas to possibly needing looked into, let's first make sure you have a good ground between the switch panel and the dash frame. If you are currently testing without the switch panel screwed down with all four mounting screws, the switch panel can be grounded by simply connecting an alligator clip type test wire. One clip on the metal switch frame and the other side to a clean bare metal area on the dash frame. A clean screw head, bolt, etc.

Let me know what is happening with the switch panel grounding and the current wiper speed movement. One at a time... ;)

Jim

 :veryexcited: :veryexcited: :veryexcited:
Jim,

When you get tired you miss the simplest things. I feel like an idiot. It was the ground. The wiper motor speed control works at Park, Slow, Fast at the original plug wiring before we reversed them.
The Dome light works with the door open and with the Dimmer Switch at full clockwise position.

This all started when I had to remove the headlight switch. The contacts were not making good connection so I took the switch apart and cleaned them up. That was when I tested the wiper motor...with the panel removed from ground.

A big thank you for your help. :bigthumb:

I do have 1 other question while I have you:

There is a spliced wire off the fused link from the started solenoid and connected to a black wire which apparently is running through a drilled hole in the main firewall harness connected with a wire nut under the dash to another harness...real craftsmanship. See PICs. I think the red wire may have broken off from the bottom center plug because I found a very small piece of a male connector inside the plug. Can only assume. The 2nd pic has 2 arrows. 1 arrow shows the black wire and the 2nd arrow is pointing to an open port on the lower plug where it may have gone. Don't have a clue then where the red wire under the dash would connect to. Any thoughts?

Fred

Hey Fred,
I noticed that you are also on East Coast time from your avatar info. I started at 6:00 am and yes, there is an ability to have too much Mopar fun in one day.  :smile:

I would be glad to help you with a little bit easier way of troubleshooting these issues. If you could click on my website below, it will show my email address. Could you let me know when we could look into a time where you can be with the car, phone and meter for testing?

Will check this thread tomorrow morning and see how you made out so far. It's time for me to go choke down some food and catch some ZZZ's.

Jim

...clarification: Under the hood, the blue wire with fusable link connected to the red wire and spliced to the black. That goes through the firewall and connected with the wire nut to the red wire under the dash.

Jim,

I fully understand. My timetable is very similar to yours. Enjoy your night and catch up with you tomorrow.

Thanks again,

Fred

Fusible link to red wire...  To bulkhead fuse.  Looks like someone bypassed the bulkhead fuse.  Were they trying to fix the bad ground?

Click photos to enlarge

I was driving in the States the other day and saw a road sign I thought was odd....It said "headlights must be on when using wipers" maybe in your case it means you need to have the dome light on when using wipers ?  :dunno:




:haha: :haha: Just kidding....funny how a ground can really mess with things... :drinkingbud:

it is very common to have the connection through the bulkhead corrode & get hot from resistance & melt the plug , typical problem so they bypassed the bulkhead & ran the wire inside to power the car
Welcome to the site from Panama Fred  :wave:

Welcome aboard, Fred. Dahhh on me. Missed that one.  :bricks:

Good, we are making some progress. Seeing the fusible link wiring from your picture usually indicates a late Friday afternoon factory build.  ;)

Talk with you soon,

Jim

Cody, anlauto, Chryco Psycho, Jim:

Thanks all for the comments and support. You have all contributed and answered all of my questions.

Cody, your most recent pics confirm the position of the red wire coming from the fusable link. That's where I thought it should go after finding that little bit of the brass male connector.

anlauto, I can laugh with you now that the problem is resolved. It is actually pretty funny.

Chryco Psycho, your comments about the corrosion and getting hot make sense. The connection to the wire must have failed but the plastic housing and bulkhead are fine. I never pulled a bulkhead apart but I'm going to see if I can get the connection back to the way it was and remove that black wire running through the firewall.

Is there a specific way the bulkhead should be opened up?

Jim, thanks for the welcoming. Yes, it seems someone had to get the car running with a wire nut :looney:

Attached are a couple of previous restorations I did and owned in the past. I was partial to white. Wish I still had them.

Best regards,

Fred