no power to anything in cab

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curse

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79 c10. I have no power to the headlight switch, wiper switch, blower motor. I have zero exterior lights. The only thing my truck will do is start and run. I've been searching the forum and googling without much luck. Is there a fusible link for all these? If so where is it located, at that junction block on firewall?
 

Doppleganger

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As dumb as this sounds, have you checked the fuses? More than a couple times I had similar instances where I thought it was a major short only to find out that yes, 8+ bulbs were burned out, 4+ fuses blown, etc. I say this only because in the event they are, perhaps there was a leak or something to short/blow more than one. Grounds are another thing.
 

HotRodPC

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Probably the fusible link on the firewall. it'll be inline of a red 10gu wire and the fusible link looks like half of a tootsie roll. Run a jumper around that half of a tootsie roll and see what you get. You can chance it and cut out the tootsie roll and splice it, or put a slow blow fuse socket in there to keep the safety of the fusible link.
 

curse

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Yes I checked the fuses and they look good. I pulled each one out and looked at them. I will see if I can find the tootsie roll, my wiring harness has been chopped up so bad I'm tempted to replace it, when I have time I'll hit the junkyards.
 

Scott91370

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Test a few of the connections at the fuse block as well (both sides if you pull the fuse) to see if there is power there.
 

curse

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I tested at the fuse block (inside) and am getting power to several but not all fuses. I'm having trouble reading what the fuses go to since the letters are worn. I am getting continuity over the tootsie roll fusible link and the wire from the tootsie roll fusible link is getting power at fuse block (underhood). Previous owner hacked up the wiring so bad I might have to replace the wiring harness in the long run. I literally have a wire tied into a knot around a brake line and the radio fuse blew due to a bare wire routed through the firewall. I have removed that wire and any others that look like they may be an issue.
 

curse

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I've been looking at the factory service manual and it's not the kind of diagrams i'm used to. What are the black circles next to 32BLK?
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curse

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And what exactly is this....a block somewhere?
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curse

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If I understood the 1979 diagrams I could figure my issue out.
 

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And what exactly is this....a block somewhere?
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That's just a symbol for a plug. Somewhere there's a socket that is it's opposite.
 

Bextreme04

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I've been looking at the factory service manual and it's not the kind of diagrams i'm used to. What are the black circles next to 32BLK?
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The circles in the red circle are terminal ends. That diagram is showing you that those wires connect to the small terminal on the starter solenoid. It is common for the issue you are having to be a blown fusible link coming from the starter terminal. There are two of them and each one powers part of the fuse block. Since half your block has power and the other doesn't, you likely have a single blown fusible link. I would bet it is the top one, since you said you tested the fusible link off the junction block and you had power and the link wasn't blown there. The other one bypasses the junction block and goes straight into the fuse box through the firewall passthrough connector, which is the other plug you were asking about.
 

curse

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Cool, thanks everyone. I'll check the other links.
 

Raider L

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@curse, This is not as bad as it looks! It's stories.

I understand electrical schematics. After working on aircraft for years, it comes with the territory. And as far as I have looked at mine, a '74, it's part of the fuse block diagram either on the engine side or the cab side. On the schematic fuse block diagrams there are two sides, the engine bay side where all the wiring from the engine, lights, etc. go down to the fuse block that are all numbered, then the side that is on the other side of the firewall under the dash.

Unfortunately do not think these two are the photo opposite of each other because they are not in most cases! Where number 128, a size #20 wire (this wire is made up by me as an example) comes from the engine side of the fuse block goes through the firewall into the other side of the fuse block into the cab, comes out in the little square hole for 56, #18 size wire?? This should have been #128, #20 size wire that goes to whatever inside the cab. The only way to follow this wire coming from the engine side of the firewall is to unbolt the fuse block from the cab side of the firewall and pull it away to see where that wire ended up when they factory pushed it through, and what little square hole in the fuse block it went into, and then where it went inside the cab.

I found out after looking closely at my fuse block inside the cab that my cab side fuse block was UPSIDE DOWN!!! when the factory threaded the wires through! So where the field wire coming from the alternator comes into the cab into the fuse block was in the little square hole for the damn backup lights! That is if you were looking at the schematic and was assuming it was supposed to be in the correct little square hole in the fuse block that should have gone up to the little Red light that lights up on the dash the moment you start the engine, then turns off. That little light tells you your alternator is working right. But don't go and try to find where that wire is coming from the alternator into the cab, because you won't find it. Unless that is, you take the whole harness coming out of the fuse block, apart and dig around for it.

Of course you can use a power finder, or whatever it's called that has a wire with a clip on one end you hook to a good ground, and the other wire goes to a pointed screw driver looking tool with a light inside the handle. It lights up if you have power in a wire so you can test for good grounds? I can't remember what it's called, but that's my discription of it. Or a Amp/ohm meter tester you use for testing good circuits, shorts, power, ohms, whatever. We just call it an "ohm meter". You could do a continuity test on all the wires down in the fuse block but don't trust the numbers on the wires that the schematic shows it should be. If the wire shows dead it doesn't mean you're on the correct wire.
What I ended up doing was buying a spool of wire from a parts store and made up a set of clips I can put on wires, and clip onto the other end of the wire and it's like, 20 ft. long so I can test anywhere on the truck I need to test. Forget lights, testers, or meters. I just hook things up directly and if it works, it's good, if the light comes on it's good.
 

curse

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Thanks for all the thoughts and info. I wouldn't have guessed the fusible links that go to the starter solenoid would power the fuse block. Apparently the 2 fusible links that go to the solenoid are supposed to be twisted together and taped together because who needs any lights? I jumped the wires and my lights came on.

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Dan Brown

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Sounds like you found the problem, but what a lot of people don't realize is that the head and tail lights are controlled by an automatic reset circuit breaker in the switch itself. The reason being is that if you have a short or something else that trips the circuit breaker and turns your lights off, the auto reset breaker will reset, then probably trip again. This gives you time to at least get stopped while having lights to see where you can stop, as the lights continue to go on and off.
 

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