wally74

Hello,
As a newbie from the Netherlands. I introduced myself on the Newbie forum and now I'm here for my first two questions.

You have to know that working on a US car complete new is for me.
So, when I'm asking something stupid I apologize.

My car is a 350 Cutlass Salon 75.

2 main problems are:
No fuelmeter and instrumentpanel light.
(driving by night isn't funny)
and;
Oil leaking

I add two pictures
One of the fuse box and my question is:
Do I miss something in it?

the other photot is what is the thing that is leaking the oil?

I hope you can understand what I mean and maby you know the anwsers.

Grtz,
Wally

1969w3155

It appears that your oil/sending unit is leaking...replace it.

1969w3155

www.rockauto.com has them.

wally74

Thanks a lot!

Wally

Willidog

For the dash lights I would pull a couple of the bulbs and check them, they may be burnt out. It's pretty easy to pull them if you have small hands, otherwise it can be tough.

1969w3155

On the dash lights, the headlight switch doubles as a dash dimmer control. If you turn it clockwise or counterclockwise it turns the dash lights on or off, or dims them, on the slight chance that you are not aware of this, give it a try. I do not know if European cars have this feature or if it is controlled by another switch.

wally74

That's new for me. I have to learn a lot about US cars.

When it's not the dash dimmer, I try this with my ...big hands.....

Thanks!

Grtz,
Wally

svnt442

The other thing to check is do the tail lights function? If not you have a blown fuse. The dash lights and tail lights use the same fuse. My guess is they did that to make you check the fuse panel when you can't see the dashboard at night.

Oldsguy

Wally, if it is not the fuse you may be in for a tough job. Either it will be the lamps (as you indicated it could be), or the wiring harness to the dash, probably a faulty ground. Either way, with large hands it is going to be tough.

Cecil Anderson

Photo not real clear but upper left fuse looks blown? andy

geckonz08

know how you feel wally BUT

good people here with heaps of knowledge

good luck
mike

geckonz08

BTW your grasp of English is better than a lot of the 'English-as-a-first -language ' speakers.

mike

wally74

Hi guys,

A short update from Holland.

No blown fuses, no broken dashlight bulbs.
The only lights that works are the "fasten seatbelts" and "oil" , but these are individual wired. The other bulbs are placed in a kind of PCB.
Am I correct?
So something is wrong in/with the wiring to the PCB, I think.

Maybe Dan you can give me some advise where I have to start looking for that faulty ground.

Grtz,
Waldo

Jamesbo

Waar, waar

Oldsguy

I'll do my best in a generic way since I don't have the wiring diagram for your car. There must be a ground wire in the harness to the back of the PCB so the lamps and the idiot lights will function. You really need a wiring diagram (schematic) to work with as that will identify exactly which contact in that connector is the ground. It may also be a faulty connection, at the same connector, from the source for the lamps. As was mentioned, the ring around the headlight switch is actually a rheostat that provides a variable DC voltage to the lamps thereby allowing the dim feature. This source voltage could be interrupted between the light switch "dimmer" to the connector on the back of the PCB, at the connector itself, or even on the PCB (a run could be cracked or some way damaged). Again, a wiring diagram would identify everything you would need to inspect and then correct once found. If you can use a volt/ohmmeter you can check it. First identify the ground on the PCB and ohm it to the chassis ground, you should have continuity (close to zero ohms). IF you do not, then you need to find the open and correct it. If you do have continuity then you know it is your source voltage. Once you have identified which connector (or pin) is the source voltage from the switch you could start there by looking for a DC voltage between 1VDC and 12VDC depending upon the rheostat setting. If you have voltage, you know it is on the PCB or in the connector itself. If you do not have voltage, you know it is from there to the switch. Either way, you should be able to correct the open and have lights!

Oldsguy

Doing all this while lying under the dash-upside down is very difficult. There is not much light to work with and it is extremely hard on your back and arms. You mentioned large hands, if the rest of you is large also then you are in for some aches and pains. I am over 6 feet tall and 250 lbs and I experience the same troubles. Now that I am over 50 years old I doubt I would even tackle it any more, at least for any period longer than fifteen minutes because it KILLS my back. Then you also have to deal with the scrapes and cuts you get from the under dash items on your fore-arms, again extremely difficult. An alternative would be to hire a "little person" to do it or to remove the dash completely, which I am sure you do not want to do. So, any way you go at it, I wish you luck. You are going to need it.

Jamesbo

Een grote

113.6 kg en 243.8 cm lang

dlh61olds

Buy a factory service manual for your car.
It will have a wiring diagram as well as all the
important information you need to service or trouble shoot
any problems that might occur.

Dave

D Appeldorn

Yep, buy a manual, works great for me.

and now you guys say how the light switch works. pffff.
just wanted to buy me a new one, and found out my selve (tought it was broken)

Ik heb gelukkig kleine handjes

the dash/ speedo/ gauge's on mine has one ground through a smal metal piece, but are those cupper (wire) on that plastic thing where the bulbs are clean?

check with a multi meter voltage at your fuse's

And do you see a needle? mine fell off and found out after shacking my dash gauge unit and spent one whole day to set it right again.

faulty fuse or ground is the most common thing

jeffreyalman

the tail light fuse marked TAIL controls all exterior lamps except headlamps AS WELL AS instrument panel lamps - but there is also an instrument panel fuse marked INST that most likely controls the gauges as well (top left I think - I had to replace one once and it was tough - small amp too from what I remember 2.5amp maybe???)

wally74

Hi guys,

Thank you again for all that information.
I just bought me a manual and tomorrow I hope to do something on the car.
At least the weather will be fine because I have te work in the open, the Olds doesn't fit in my garage.....
[QUOTE][Doing all this while lying under the dash-upside down is very difficult/QUOTE]
Yepp.... I'm 6 ft 4 and a bit over 250 lbs so I'm afraid that I've to suffer tomorrow.

Grtz,
Waldo