[F Woodard]

Have 69 Firebird 350 w/400 auto Tran & A/c and needed to replace dash bulbs. Printed circut bd was bad so replaced it. Now have great dash lites but no Brake warning, oil, temp lite. Alt lite comes on and pulsates w/ rpm of engine! Checked all the bulbs and have new ign switch. Dash lites all work even the fiber optic to the ashtray. (was not hooked up at the factory but works now) The oil, Alt, & temp lites all worked normal before the circuit board change.

I am not a tech so am at wits end.. The reason for the E Brake warning lite failure was the speedo cable had over life of the car had dripped some fluid on the bulb socket for the brake lite that is located under the speedo cable conn. this seemed to ruin the circuit board over time and brake lite quit working about a year ago. Am sorta afraid to drive car with the alt lite pulsating!. Don.t want to take dash apart again to replace bulbs or start a fire! What should I look at to start correction of this prob.? Thanks for your help and suggestions. F Woodard

 

[Brown Bird]

Make sure all your grounds are hooked up properly
When I did my 69 I ended up adding extra grounds and hooked
them to the fire wall and still had to pull out once and recheck
the ground strap from the light switch

 

[Brown Bird]

Here's some wiring diagrams that might help

http://thefirstgensite.com/html/69wirindex.html

 

[F Woodard]

Thanks so much for your input and the Wiring diag's. That lite switch is a tough cookie.. Will check this and the other grounds too.. My radio works much better since I have a better ground on it. I thought it was the radio! Thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated.. Frank

 

[KeyKeeper]

Sounds like a ground issue. I just replaced all of my dash lights with uber bright LED bulbs and with a poor ground, my dome light, and right turn signal indicator were lighting up just a tad....my head light switch wasnt grounded good to the dash....go figure. Weird stuff happens with bad grounds, and especially with LED since they are diodes!

 

[Brown Bird]

One thing about the brake and oil light the circut is grounded
thru the switch when it closes with a low oil pressure and the same
with the brake switch low brake pressure or the emergency brake pressed
down easy test is to ground the wire that plugs in to the oil switch and the same
with the brake wire to ground

 

[F Woodard]

James you may have something here! When the ign. switch is turned to the on position the alt lite lights up. Push on the Em brake pedal and the alt light will go bright and dim. The oil and temp lite do not light at all. How about that!!! Now I need to figure out what to do! Thanks for your help in this matter!! My car is goofy!

Thanks, ole Frank

 

[F Woodard]

Update on prob Took car to mech today and after looking at it and testing the charging sys he says I have a faulty pc board. The alt lite was on and when he pushed the em brake it would fade and go out. After pounding on the dash some the lites went off. Said they were arcing together on the board. Am not a tech but it seems since the oil, alt, temp and brake warning lites all have another source of power that its in these sources. All other lites in the dash work fine.. Do not want to replace board unless that is the only answer..Any thoughts on this guys?

Thanks, Frank

 

[KeyKeeper]

Sounds like the printed ribbon board on the back of the cluster to me, like one of the thru bolts has grounded something out. I'd pull the cluster and take some pics of the original and new board and make sure that it is identical.

 

[KeyKeeper]

You need the 409 one, its printed completely different than the 410

 

[F Woodard]

Have that exact one installed. Its from Classic Industries. Also have a spare from Ames. They both appear to be identical to the orig and both say they replace 6295409.. Have another Elec tech who will check it out soon. This has to be something simple, but not cheap! Thanks for all your input and if I need to I can take her down again! I hope that since these problem lites all an extra circuit that it one of them.

All the best, Frank

 

[F Woodard]

Quick update.. Trip to tech and now have oil & Alt lights, still no Temp and Park warning light. Oil & Alt lite was fuse prob, Have a short in the heat and park brake lite. Used up my time on the first trip and will need to return to find the remaining prob. Tech works on appt basis and he wants to locate the short and thinks it may be around the fuse panel. Am pleased with the progress so far and he says the grounds seem ok. Tech has 3 rods he is working on now and I will need to wait my turn for next session. Will update when prob is solved..

Thanks for all your help and advice. Frank Woodard