License plate and dash lights on with key on, but lheadlight switch in the off position Options

[HalfMoon]

I started my car tonight and noticed despite the headlight switch being fully in the off position, my dash lights are on and my license plate light is .
Odd. Never saw that before. Headlight switch I imagine....
Thoughts?
David
Addedum-and saw what I thought was a wisp of smoke come from under my dash at the windshield....perhaps my imagination?

[HalfMoon]

Interesting afternoon out in the garage with Little Bastard.

Tom, you were right! I soldiered all the wires back together (except the rd/wht wire to the wiper), put a fuse in, powered the circuit up, and yes indeed it held! So, spade 53a having a zero ohm reading was blowing the fuse. I then soldiered the red/wht wire for the wiper back onto the spade for fuse slot 8, attached it to fuse block 8, detached the lead at the wiper for 53a, and predictably the fuse held.
But here’s where it starts getting weird…
With 53a unhooked, now my wipers (low speed) are working but only when the stalk switch on the steering wheel is in the off position. The other three positions don’t work (with the exception of shutting off the wipers. I might add the auto park function isn’t working either).

Originally a few weeks ago when my wiper system went south I assumed it also had something to do with the dash lights and license plate lights being on when the key was in the on position with the light switch in the off position, but I now feel the issues are separate.
The lights issue may be related to some mods I did quite some time ago to address the PO having put in an aftermarket tach. See this thread http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...218076&st=0 most notably posts 21 and 22. Could very well be I missed something and that’s what is responsible for the dash lights and license plate lights coming on inappropriately. The far greater issue has become the wipers, so the lights issue battle for another day.

The wiper issue I think is quite separate. So, as I was saying, a few weeks ago when I starting addressing these problems witch I thought might be related, one of the things I did was replace the stalk wiper switch with a 924 switch (as I also wanted to power an electric wash pump I’ve installed) and it’s possible the current switching issue has something to do with that
(see this thread http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/9...tric_washer.htm and this thread http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...117014&st=0 most notably post 22 and 24).
I’m not at all convinced using a 924 switch is simply plug and play as it appears as if the wires may be routed differently at the switch than 914’s according to my switching symptoms. Pretty sure the wires at the wiper are correct but I may wrong. PO might have done some stuff and I’m color blind so I’ll take a picture and enclose it below.
Compounding the issue, last year I put a used wiper motor in addressing never having had a high side function and may have very well put in an earlier motor which I understand can quirk up things. See this thread http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...c=72503&hl=
That said, when I did swap out last year I had a low side wiper for quite some time (with a stock switch) but lost all functionality just recently the new 924 switch obviously not remedying the problem.

To be sure spade 53a at the installed wiper is causing fault and blowing the fuses. I didn’t test any of the other terminals hotwired on either the currently installed wiper or the spare, so I don’t even know witch spades powers the high side or the low side of those motors (which would be interesting to make further tests on).
53a showing zero ohm is definitely not gonna work so the motor has to come out for sure.
Do you happen to know which spades control which function Tom? That would be valuable for testing the spare and additional testing of the current installed motor. I may ,upon removal of the current motor, take a crack at opening it and seeing if it can be repaired (surely true if my spare and the previously noted test results show the spare as bad)

About as clear as mud, huh?
Having fun now aren’t we?
D