some stoopid electrical proplems

[acousticrawk]

ok, so my 93 is having a gas guage problem. i think it is working when the truck is off cause it reeds what i believe to be the fuel level, but when the truck is on, it reads E no matter what. any ideas?

also, the headlight swith is bad, and its had a ghetto jump wire put in and now a new switch wont fix it. i think im going to go to independant switches, anyone have any suggestions on how to do this?

my dash lights dont work...ever... fuse is good. makes it very hard to drive at night...haha.

open to any suggestions!

thanks!

 

[envious8420]

dash light is tied in with the headlight switch.
might also pull the cluster checking for any wiring issues. ie burned/chaffed wires
check them where they pass through tight brackets and such areas. see if they are possibly shorting on the brackets

 

[RobbieD]

The gas guage sounds like it could be a short to ground or a bad float. On your dash lights, pardon my asking but you did twist the headlight knob full counterclockwise, and still no dash lights, right? What doesn't work about the new headlight switch? It's hard to diagnose these kinds of things without more specific details.

Honestly, it sounds like that truck has wiring issues that really need to be fixed before you can put it back working with stock parts or even with changing the lights over to other switches. Your best bet is to get a good wiring schematic and undo any crap wiring, and get everything cleaned up and back to being serviceable wiring. Take the time to sort it out, and good luck with it.

 

[acousticrawk]

yeah, sorry, the headlight switch that the guy gave me is the old on, and it works everything, but the interior guage cluster lights dont work. with the new switch in nothing works. he also didnt give me the nut that secures it into the upper left dash so it is just wedeged between the plastics.... its crap..he was a dumb hick. does anyone know anyone thats rerun them all into sepperate switches? i dont need a cluster dimemr, id just liek them full on always (of course with a seperate dome light switch). or does anyoen knwo where i can get a wiring diagram?

thanks!

 

[RobbieD]

Easiest and cheapest place to pick up a good wiring diagram is eBay. You're looking for the Ford Ranger 1993 Electrical and Vaccum Troubleshooting Manual (EVTM). It breaks the truck's electrics into subsystems- headlights, parking lights, interior lights, instruments, etc.

 

[acousticrawk]

sweet, thanks.

 

[ChrisR1S]

Gas gauge problem is most likely the float. Its an easy $5 fix. Its a common problem in rbv's..., well atleast around here, i personaly have helped fix 3 others not counting mine

 

[thedangerranger93]

as far as all your dash lights/switches not working....its too hard to do E-diag, but usually the first thing I look for with a bunch of electrical problems is a ground. Ground issues seem to come into play a LOT in Fords. But like envious said, they are tied together.