electrical problems in 1974 plymouth duster?

Question

So in my plymouth duster some how all my light wires got mixed up. . .my headlights come on and the tail lights come on but the brake lights do not come on nor do the reverse lights come on. .. . . . . . . . . .my blinkers are mixed up has well when ever i turn the blinkers on my hazards come on can someone help me and give me some advice on getting this fixed please and thank you

Answer 1

this isn't as bad as its seams, and this happens alot with those cars.

those cars have a common ground as they ground to the body, for the turn signals if the ground is bad they will feed back threw the blinker fuse to the other side using the other side as a ground, but the brake will have no place to ground as both sides are powered up at the same time, same with the back up lights, and i have seen em where the tail lights work but not the brake or turn signals because of the ground,
and 1970 to 1975 had a bad rust problem when it comes to those grounds
to fix this make a new ground for your tail lights and back up lights, run the new ground to both the body and the frame, then make sure the ground from the battery to the body is in good shape, and make sure that the braided ground from the motor to the firewall is not broken or bad.

i have seen this happen alot and have found that anyone if not all of what i just told you has been the problem with those years of dusters, darts and so on

Answer 2

Just got done restoring a '71 dart and dropped a 30 over 360 (okay I'm bragging...shoot me)
Anyway I've been doing this along time (wrenching) the above answers all touch on the main three:
#1 the MOST overlooked problem (and also a problem that will make other lights go on when they're not supposed to) is a bad ground.
#2 Blown lamp or fuse
#3 bad switch/relay or broken wire
Start with a test light, your'e not going to get any where without one.
Deal with one problem at a time, make one change at a time.
Check for power where the lamps make contact inside the socket. On a single filament lamp #1156 will have one contact inside that will be hot when on. (back up & some park lamps)
A double (#1157) filament like turn/brake w/park lamp will have two contacts.
Also check the turn signal relay.
Make sure you have power to the brake light switch-which is just to the upper left of the brake pedal, where it mounts. (key on)
The blinkers on mopars are intergrated with the turn switch on the column.
You can e-mail me with a specific problem/issue and I'll try to walk you through it if that doesn't work you can call me. Can't put it out here obviously, jan_elgaard@yahoo .. or agr8dane@ hotmail
Doc

Answer 3

1974 Plymouth Duster

Answer 4

Is it the fronts that lock, or the rears? Don't shim the master cyl with washers, that's f'in nuts. Theres an adjustable push rod between the pedal, and MC, if theres not enough clearance. There should be just a little. I will assume its the rears that lock. Is the rear jacked up? How do the brakes look, any fluid leaks? Pull back wheel cyl boots and make sure. Old mopars don't use a prop valve, the bias is in the master cyl. I'm going to take a wild guess here. The rear is jacked up and you have some fluid contamination on the lining, maybe even gear lube from a bad axle bearing seal. To help with too much rears a good tip:swap out the rear w cyls with late 70's mid' 80's truck w cyls, 7/8 inchers. That will tone down the rears abit for that fast drivin, hard brakin, pilotin solo mopar! Best of luck~Dan

Answer 5

1974 Duster

Answer 6

The suggestions above are good ones
I would first check the fuses
I would then check for burned out or incorrect bulbs
I would then check to make sure the sockets are grounded correctly - this can create more problems than you think
I would then move on to issues with the switches or wiring.

On the backup lights check the wiring from the fuse block in the engine compartment to the transmission before replacing the neutral safety switch - I would guess it is burned through (especially if you have headers)

Good luck

Answer 7

Your car is 33 years old, and it sounds like your turn signal switch has worn out. The brake lights/turn signals/emergency flashers are all wired into that switch, if you move the turn signal lever around as you operate the lights, you may see the nature of the problem as it raises it's ugly head.

The reverse lights are another matter, check the neutral safety switch first, and check the back-up lamp bulbs for blown filaments.

Answer 8

Check to see if you are using dual filament bulbs where you are supposed to, and single filament bulbs where they need to go. Then check your fuses. The brake lights have their own fuse. But before you call it "fixed" with a new fuse, you have to find the problem that caused the failure first.
Also, check to be sure you didn't swap bulbs or swap bulb holders between the brake or turn signals. Check for water/corrosion in all bulb sockets.

Answer 9

first go around and pull all the bulbs, or if you just replaced one,,,go take it out... look at the bottom of all the bulbs as you pull them,,,if they have one bump, does the socket have one bump too??? if the bulb has two bumps, does the socket have two bumps too???
this happened to me too. 1970 superbee (supposedly just rotisseried) blinker ran everything,,,brake pedal ran front markers,,,,,all boiled down to a single bump bulb in a brake light socket (two bump socket) the single bump on the bulb shorted both bumps in the socket...
hope this helps...

Answer 10

sounds like the car has been sitting a while start bu changing all the switches and flash module on the fuse panel and go from there with a test light