Cody V Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 Hi, I have a 1969 521 pickup. I have been driving it around for a few days now and now my headlights and rear nightime lights have stopped working. I checked the fusebox and the fuse blows every time I start the truck. I followed the red wire that comes off the fuse and it seems to be ok. Can anyone help me figure out this problem? 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 Does it have the proper 15 amp (I believe) fuse? in the second over from the right side???? Are you running halogen lamps. They draw more power than the stock tungsten filament lamps. The following never hurts to do... Mark the fuse positions and the wires and remove them. Wash the fuse box with a tooth brush and detergent or degreaser. Dry and soak submerged overnight in a mixture of undiluted lemon juice and table salt solution. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Preferably replace all the fuses. Dirty fuse boxes are a common cause of random electrical problems, the 521 is one of the worst as the fuse box is exposed under the hood. 2 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 Old fuse boxes can crack too. Did the lights ever work for you? Quote Link to comment
MikeRL411 Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 On 2/11/2023 at 10:44 AM, datzenmike said: Does it have the proper 15 amp (I believe) fuse? in the second over from the right side???? Are you running halogen lamps. They draw more power than the stock tungsten filament lamps. The following never hurts to do... Mark the fuse positions and the wires and remove them. Wash the fuse box with a tooth brush and detergent or degreaser. Dry and soak submerged overnight in a mixture of undiluted lemon juice and table salt solution. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Preferably replace all the fuses. Dirty fuse boxes are a common cause of random electrical problems, the 521 is one of the worst as the fuse box is exposed under the hood. \Also, the space between the back of the fuse block and the sheet metal is very narrow. As long as you have the fuse block in your hand insert a piece of plastic [I used cut up milk carton] between the block and the sheet metal. Now stray conductive shards will not short out the connecting buss bars on the rear of the fuse block. One less hidden short to worry about. Not "factory" but functional. 2 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 On 2/11/2023 at 10:05 AM, Cody V said: Hi, I have a 1969 521 pickup. I have been driving it around for a few days now and now my headlights and rear nightime lights have stopped working. I checked the fusebox and the fuse blows every time I start the truck. I followed the red wire that comes off the fuse and it seems to be ok. Can anyone help me figure out this problem? The dash, front and rear parking and side clearance lights plus the license plat light are all on one fuse. The headlights are on a separate fuse. Neither of these two fuses need the ignition ON to work... so the only difference between off and on is 12.5 (battery) and 14.5 (charge). Look at voltage as a PUSH force. So a charging alternator will 'push' more current through the lights than when the ignition is off. The proper fuse should handle this. 1/ is the fuse size correct??? 15 amp. 2/ measure across the battery terminals when charging. Should be just above 14v. If the regulator has failed it may be over charging which is worse but fixable. 2 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted February 15, 2023 Report Share Posted February 15, 2023 dirty fuse connections will give a high resisitance short which gets hot and pops fuses 1 Quote Link to comment
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