Hey guys, I just bought my 68 convertible last Monday and loving it. It has some electrical gremlins that I've been trying to get resolved however.

None of the dash lights work. No signals, dummy lights, gas gauge, or cluster lights. I've opened up the dash and found the printed circuit is broken. The cluster connector has two grounds that go into one pin, one gound is broken off and the pin itself is damaged. I've found the lighter and radio wires are cut and not connected. There have been previous repairs to the harness, but it really doesn't look to be in that bad of shape that I feel like I need to spend $500 on a new one. Also, there are no courtesy lamps.

So here are my questions.

Has anyone found a source to buy just the terminals within the cluster connector?

I understand why the cluster lights do not work with the broken ground and printed circuit, but shouldn't the temp control and shifter lights still work? They're not hot at all?

Are connectors for the radio and lighter going to be available for purchase?

Should my ride have coutesy lights under the dash?

Could the rheostat possible be my problem for lack of lights? Which wire should I test to see if it's hot?

Maybe you guys will tell me I need a new harness and circuit and I'll have to break it to the wife, but that's ok. The car is super cool and I'm extremely excited to be driving it.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Poor electrical grounding

Get new Circuit board and wiring harnessW

I agree , pull the harness out and if you want to repair it, its not that hard. Use a multimeter and just ohm out the connections 1 by 1. I did that with my dash harness , i also cleaned the connections and soldered them as appossed to just relying on the crimp on connection. I then used heat shrink tubing to protect the connection.
As for the broken ground, if there is no path to ground nothing will work. If the printed circuit board has only 1 bad path, make a jumper wire to make the connection. the screws that hold the board to the cluster by screwing into the metal housing are grounded. So just make a wire to go across the broken ground from mounting screw to mounting screw.
I have a spare harness that i keep around for parts im sure that connector is still on there. But again if the pin is still in the plug but the wire is broken, its easy to repair. Just use a very small screwdriver to press down on the tab to release the pin . when you get it out gently open the crimp back up. Then strip the wire ,crimp it back in place and solder. Then just push the pin back into the connector.

Should my ride have coutesy lights under the dash?
yes

Could the rheostat possible be my problem for lack of lights? Which wire should I test to see if it's hot?

Yes, again just put a voltmeter onto one of the dash lights and a good ground. if you get no voltage start tracing back where the +12 comes from until you hit +12 volts. It could be as simple as rusty fuse holder. mine where rusty so i bead blasted them while i had the harness out of the car.

Thanks for the great info. I hadn't thought of pulling the factory harness out to repair it.

The pin in the connector is actually damaged, so I would need to find a new one. The more I dig into this car, the more I'm thinking I need to go for the new harness. The M&H harness looks to be a quality peice. Had I realized it had this problem I would've factored it in to the purchase price. Live and learn I suppose.

Thanks again!

i have a donor harness i could cut sections off for you for a few bucks, plus shipping, or just sell you the whole harness if you wish.

Cool, PM'd.

i'll snap some pix of it for you. which connectors you interested in?

Here ya go , actually the harness isnt trashed, the only reason i didnt use it is the fuse block is cracked in one corner. other than that its fairly complete.

http://theyells.net/dash-harness/

oops i just realized your looking for a 68 harness. this is from 69.

are the conectors the the same ?

On my 1967 my harness uses something called Delphi Packard Twin locks. I think in '68 or 69 they switched to Packard 56 connectors. Here's my cruddy bulk head harness. They look pretty similar right?


Here are the other connectors
Twinlock male/female


packard M56 Male

Packard 56 female


The twin locks are both male and female at the same time (aaa oooo). They are hard to find but they have them at a place called PCS connectors. They were also used on boats so they have an evinrude number. They are Evinrude / Johnson 0310680 TERM. PCS makes you order like $15 minimum plus like $5-10 for shipping. I found my twin locks at boat.net. Super cheap if you only need a few. I bought like 16 connectors and paid a whopping $8-9 including my $2 shipping. Worth checking out if we are talking about the same connectors. Also if you only need a few I have some i can send you. You will need a special crimper though.

haha, I was looking at it last night. It didn't quite look the same, so I was going to dive into the dash before I said anything. No problem, I appreciate your help.

Oh cool, that first connect is somewhat close. Let me pull the gauges this weekend and see. Thanks!!

I wish I would have known that you can buy those. I took two paper clips, hammered the tips flat, inserted on both sides of connector and pushed them out. Then pried open the end and removed as much wire as I could and soldered my new wires to the connector.

I started digging through the dash and I've come to the realization that this harness is really in need of replacement. I'm going to order a new one today. Thanks for the help.

A wise choice that I made. These wiring harnesses have are 45 years old and have probably received many mickey-mouse repairs over the lifetime of the car.

Nobody wants to see somebody work pretty hard on building and/or maintaining a classic vehicle and then have it burn to the ground on the side of the road.