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1965 Continental Short To Ground

Hey Bill –
Huge fan first off, Now to my issue. I have a 65 Continental and I had installed an Amp Meter that blew after about a month. Before installing the new one I checked all my connections only to find that I had power running through my grounding out points. I had tracked the issue to the red connector on the right side of the dash. Upon doing my research I found that the Amp meter was a common issue and mine indeed was corroded and shorting out. Also there was several other wires that had been tampered with, so I replaced the whole dash harness as well as discovering the amp gauge and soldering the leads together as well as isolating and insulting them. I reinstalled the dash only to find out that the short is still there and still goes away when I disconnect the red and only the red wire Dash connector. So I guess my question to you is where do I go from here? I have the maintenance manual, but the schematic is very limited and hard to troubleshoot.
Thank you in advance,
Scott
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Hello Scott –
It sounds like you have a difficult issue there.
Because we don’t have a 65 Lincoln apart at this time to look at could you send me clear pictures of the wires or connector etc. that you disconnect to stop this short as well as the location of this connector on your vehicle. If you have found evidence of wire tampering, there maybe more to uncover.
Sincerely
Bill
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Bill –
Thank you for the quick reply, I have sent you two sets of pictures the one in of the red connector in the pass side behind the kick panel by the circuit breakers, the other is a spare harness I have basically showing where the main power wires branch off from the red connector to the white and off white connector thanks again. Just to be clear, my problem is in on the interior harness side of the red connector. When I unplug it from the in wall connection at the red connector my short stops and when I tested the main power wires at the red connector the ones that are black with yellow stripe on the inner harness I had continuity to ground. I know that is redundant but just to try to help you get a better picture.
Scott
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Hi Scott –
Your photos helped to locate those connectors and their function in the wiring diagram. What symptoms are you seeing that lead you to believe that you have a short? You have soldered the ammeter wires together and are running without seeing the ammeter. If you do in fact have a short a good suspect is the alternator. They are known to fail in this mode (drawing power with the engine off) in some cases. I would carefully disconnect the alternator and its regulator electrically and retest. I cannot see the wiring in your Lincoln from here of course but if the wiring harnesses all look good and are intact and not grounded anywhere the culprit has to be a component. A good local automotive electrical shop will be able to test and repair the alternator for you. Let us know what you find.
Bill –
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Bill –
A quick update, I took the lower dash off and unplugged the dash and it stopped, upon further investigation I found that it is the main black wire that is causing the short in both the red and off white connectors from the dash harness.. this is very strange due to the fact I completely swapped harnesses.. I will let you know if there are any updates but this is kicking my ass!!!
Scott
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Bill –
Last update… it was the map light switch.. I pulled the dash and unplugged every connection one by one until the main black wire stopped beeping (continuity) I am about to beat my head on the wall.. something so simple… well thanks for getting back to me anyway.. I hope this helps someone else down the line lol.
Scott
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Bill –
Actually had two shorts, the map light switch and the clock is shorting out.. had to replace the switch and just pulled the fuse for the clock.. what are the odds? It has been a nightmare!!!
Scott
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Scott –
Perseverance, a wiring diagram – and a little advice pays off!
Bill
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Bill –
Sorry to bother you, I had a short to ground in the dash of my 65 Continental, actually there were several things that were fried due to the prior owner cutting and splicing.
I did narrow it down to basically somewhere between my two Courtney light switches on both sides of the dash, one green and one orange, I also had to pull the fuse out of the clock. The only thing that those two share in common is a black/blue wire. I had replaced both dash harnesses with good ones that haven’t been modified and look fairly decent. I was wondering if you had seen anything like this before?
Scott
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Hi Scott –
Yes, we receive many Lincolns in for repair here at Lincoln Land that have been modified electrically by automotive shops or previous owners. A few of these ” fixes” are successful and well done but many become a nightmare for us and the present owners. The reason for failures is that the quality of work is poor or that while trying to fix their problem properly they have erred and caused unintended consequences to other components and wiring etc. that were already designed correctly by the FoMoCo. These unintended side effects usually show up immediately or sometimes at a later date. Time will tell for your repair. We wish you the best of luck and many good times with your Lincoln. When you need any of those necessary repair parts we usually will have them in stock for you or easy access to them.
Sincerely,
Bill

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