so earlier today i made a stupid mistake and my poitive battery terminal contacted my right trunk hinge mechanism, shorted out and stalled car.

initially i had no power to anything, after jiggling the cable i had power again and went home. whilst changing bulbs in front turn signals i start checking other lights discovering that my running ligths dont come on at the headligth half on position.

tail ligths work still, stop ligths do not.
backup up lights havent worked yet. running and sidemarkers also do not work, turn signals do...any ideas out there what is the common link between all?

Check the ground wires. They can do all kinds of wierd stuff.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

joe: any advice, i.e., more specific what curcuit and where located...under dash tail panel engine wiring, so far i have been all over, my dash is apart fuse panell is hangin, really just wingin it. also the haynes diagrams really suck they are

the brake, back up, and side i think are all connected. check the wires where they go into the backup switch on the tranny, they can come loose and ground out and do weird things. also there is a ground up in the front by the headlight

check to see if your brakelight switch became disconnected. BTDT

Check the gounding points...Two behind the front headlights, Main battery, underneath and slightly in front of the relay board, on top of the engine, Transmission strap, etc...

Also sounds like a blown fuse or two...That kind of amperage will melt something, somewhere...

30+ year old car, could have melted weak joints behind connectors somewhere...

I know the Haynes manual is hard to decipher, but it's the best wiring diagram you got, so start by wringing out wiring circuits to the places where there is no electricity...Eliminate things you know are good...Circuits, fuses, connections...

Oh yea, disconnect the battery first...

2-OH!

Tony: The probablem is that there so many of them (grounding points) and each year can be diffetnt. The car I noticed this probablem was a 72 and it grounds all the rear stuff on a screw that mounts the trunk latch (3 brown wires on eyelets). There is a grounding point near the circut board, one in each headlight bucket and I don't remember about under the dash.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

okay its official, i am done with brake problem

but my key has to be on for brake lights....is this normal??

does the key need to be on for brake lights?