I am changing my turn signal cam and noticed that it arced when I popped the old cam up with the screw driver. I started looking for the fuse panel after wiring the turn signals back in and they were not working. To my amazement Icould not find the fuse panel to check to see if I had a blown fuse. I found the panel deep under the steering column it looks as though it is bolted in place, quite an event to check a simple fuse. Any feedback on this dilema would be most appreciated. Thanks,TonyJ 71 Maverick
Basically somebody was smoking dope when they decided where to put the fuse panel. The bolt holds the fuse panel to the connector coming in from the engine bay through the firewall. They had that fixed by the later years, though I don't know exactly when they finally moved it to the front of the dash. I was going to convert mine to the later style, but I have decided to use an aftermarket harness and fuse panel with blade fuses instead.
Yup not in an easy location. Best practice is to disconnect the battery when performing any electrical work.
I concur with you!! Grabber 5.0 You are absolutely right their was no thought at all when putting in the fuse panel. I will assume that when I take that bolt out the panel will be free? Let me know and thanks for the response. TonyJ
Ouch that Hurt!! Maverick 1970, Sometimes the simple things in life bite you right in the rear!! I should have known better. Tonyj
Yes unscrewing the bolt (it is held in by a c-clip) will unlock the panel from the firewall side of the wiring harness, but it won't go very far due to the under dash wiring. I would not do that just to check the fuse unless I just couldn't get up there to get to the fuse - but then if you can get to the bolt you can get to the fuse.
Grabber 5.0 You probably say to yourself, I can spot the rookies from a mouse click away. I will try my best to leave everything intact and identify the fuse to see if it is bad. Hopefully that will solve my problem. Thanks for the information, Tonyj
not the best idea on placement...my dome light would go in and out intermittently and when i would go to check the fuse it would be working...after checking all the wire connections i finally figured it out that there was a leak from the cowl(go figure ) that was dripping water on the fuse panel and it rusted out the bottom clip of the fuse holder...now short of replacing the fuse block I'm not sure if i should use a fuse tap and splice in a blade fuse to the wiring or not. Any suggestions?? sorry didn't mean to hijack thought it was semi relevant to your post. Robb
They must of had better dope in the early 60's. On my Falcon the fusebox is plugged into the headlight switch. Gotta stand on your head to remove the switch to replace any of the 5 fuses.
Robb, not knowing how original you want to stay... you could add a couple these under the dash (or hood) to make life fun again. One is hot all the time...one is switched.
I had thought about something like that...I've got one in the trunk for the amp. I just wasnt to thrilled with having to break apart the bulkheead and trace and splice all of it. although I could mount it in a place with a little easier acccess not really sure yet. but thanks for the advice. Robb
the best thing to do is use a test light to check the fuse if doing any more than replacing a fuse it is best to disconnect the battery dont take the chance of a fire under the dash it is very costly to repair and it is a female dog...
I'm gonna relocate mine. As you state, the fuse panel splits apart and the 'bulkhead' part can remain in the firewall. I bought a spare dash harness for cheap and will use the wires to extend the fuse panel/blinkers to a more user-friendly location as well as replacing the fuseblock with something similar to what's shown in a previous post. Russ
