82 c10 No park ,turn ,inside lights and no start in P

Just picked up a 82 C10 Silverado has Auto with tilt.

My issue are I have Hi and lo beam head lights and rear parking ,brake,reverse and tag lights,but no park light on front or fenders.Also no gauge lights or dome or turn signal or hazards.I checked all fuses and removed bulbs all wires at the socket are good and bulbs light up when connected with battery.I figured if rear parking lights are working the front should also ?

Other issue is truck will start in N but not in P also back up lights come in when in P or N. Could this be caused by the neutral safety switch need adjustment ?

I just bought the truck a week ago after the owner decide to sell after being side swiped by a semi and step son had his way with it.So haven't had much time to deep dive into issue ,but wanted to have an idea for what I'm looking for or into.

Also can the gauge needles be replaced or just get new ones? Plan to do LS swap one day but for now need old gauges working.Only working one right now is the fuel speedo (is plugged in behind cluster) doesn't move and others have broken needles.

The front park lamps are powered by a brown wire that comes out of the bulkhead connector, same connector body as the headlights. Hopefully that wire had power under hood, that means the issue is between the connector body and park lamps. Since none of the lights work, if you have power at the connector, start looking near the drivers headlight, that’s where the wire is spliced to split off power to the park lamp, side marker, and then over to the passenger side.

How hacked up is the wiring under the dash? Nothing is more frustrating trying to “repair” other people’s wire nut and cheap electrical tape repairs. Good luck.

Ugh, I hate gremlins. I have a similar issue with my beater though I haven't fixed it yet. It has tilt but nothing will work if the wheel is up, only when straight. Then the turns will work and it will start. If you flip the wheel up after everything still works and the truck stays running. Something is funky in the column.

Follow what Matt said to get the parks working and take a look at your transmission linkage. It may not be adjusted correctly to get the shifter all the way into the Park position.

Thanks for the tips ,I will check those wires tonight if I have time.Under the dash didnt look to bad one connector hanging ,and a small black wire coming out of the firewall at the base of the column unhooked. Also 3 wires coming out over the top of rhe ac controls.

I seen a brn/wht wire on the firewall and same wire coming away from driver side headlight.I took my probe and checked inside the fender marker light socket no power,but tail lights and tag are on.

Is this the correct wire to check ?

That’s the wire your looking for. The brown/white wire (are you sure it’s not tan?) if probably for the braking earring light. It runs down to the brake distribution valve, and on the inside of the truck, on the back of the fuse block it splits off to the parking brake pedal switch. If you can take a more detailed picture of the bulkhead connector, or find the pinout on the wiring diagram, that would help narrow down with wire your looking for

I will try and get a better picture of the bulk head in the a.m before work.

Ok tried to get better pictures of the bulk head and I pulled the wire loom off all wires looks ok no broken wires or chaffing. Also that wire is tan but has white tracer.

I work nights or 3rd shift so I'm tinkering on this during my 10 min breaks,so bare with me trying to figure this out.

Quick question what is that the speedo is going into ,truck doesnt have cruise control ?

Papa John said:

Quick question what is that the speedo is going into ,truck doesnt have cruise control ?

Click to expand...

Oh yes it does.

Papa John said:

Just picked up a 82 C10 Silverado has Auto with tilt.

My issue are I have no park light on front or fenders.Also no gauge lights or dome or turn signal or hazards.I checked all fuses and removed bulbs all wires at the socket are good and bulbs light up when connected with battery.I figured if rear parking lights are working the front should also ?

Other issue is truck will start in N but not in P also back up lights come in when in P or N. Could this be caused by the neutral safety switch need adjustment ?

Click to expand...

1. My issue are I have no park light on front or fenders. I figured if rear parking lights are working the front should also? Yes correct, they are both fed by the same lead from the headlight switch.

On the cab side of the bulkhead connector, the lead to the rear lighting is spliced to the one for the front lighting. It is then jumpered over to the rear lighting section of the bulkhead connector where it passes through the firewall. Its like this:



The bulkhead connector is made up of 3 sections. The one you are concerned with is the middle one:






In addition to the BRN 9 (the one you want to check) that supplies the parking/marker lights the other leads are:

11 High beams - LT GRN

12 Low beams - TAN

14 Left directional - LT BLU

15 Right directional - DK BLU

29 Horns - DK GRN

33 Brake warning light - TAN/WHT

Also no gauge lights or dome or turn signal or hazards.

Not enough information to really offer any help. You'll have to get your meter out and do a little probing around.


1. On the gauge lights, with the parking lights on, turn the H/L rheostat all the way up and check for voltage available at the INST LPS fuse. Are all the lamps okay?

2. On the hazards and directionals, start at the flashers. The hazard flasher should see battery voltage all the time. Pull the flasher and look for 12 V at the horizontal socket. The power to the directional flasher is ignition switched. Put the key in RUN, pull the flasher and check the vertical slot. If you have power to the flashers you might try a new one. They are interchangeable so just get one for test purposes. This might be a directional switch issue.

3. Dome light - check for voltage to the bulb. Power comes in on the orange wire and it is hot at all times. The lamp is turned on by grounding the white lead. The white lead can be grounded either through the door jamb switches or by twisting the H/L rheostat all the way to the end.

Other issue is truck will start in N but not in P also back up lights come in when in P or N. Could this be caused by the neutral safety switch need adjustment?

The NSS/ BU lights switch sounds like a good place to start. Put the gear shift in R, and while you index the switch housing around the steering column, have an assistant watch the B/U lights and yell when they come on. The switch can move a bit CW & CCW for adjustment. It makes a clicking noise as it is rotated and can be moved with your hand.

replace wiring always ,unless its simple , aka simple for you .