1979 Malibu Sweeping Dash Clock

[gbodyrbc]

Hi guys. New here. I've been the owner of a 1979 Malibu for nearly 25 years! The car has been well taken care of, and truth be told, hasn't been driven nearly enough. I've been putting a few miles in here and there and well ... last week I connected the battery, started the car - and momentarily a billow of smoke rose from the dash, above the clock. Of course I panicked because the smoke was coming from any inaccessible area. But thankfully, after the smoke settled, the only obvious damage was to the clock's coil wiring. Of course, it's never that simple. So, the crux of this post - I can't figure out why the clock's 12volt dash plug is showing no voltage. If I turn the headlights on, it shows some voltage. I think, well I feel it's grounding out somewhere - but I have no idea where to lock ....

I don't know. I just hope someone might be able to offer some advice. I've checked the fuses - and there's continuity so I'm lost.

 

[mjc]

Hi, gbodyrbc, Did you ever fix your problem? I had a similar problem on my 79 Malibu wagon. It ended up that the short in the clock had also caused a melt/short in the the circuit board behind the instrument panel which caused a "short through hot" or something like that. Basically it caused a bunch of electrical gremlins that didn't make sense until I worked out that the melted spot was a location for the electric current to find an easier/shorter route to ground through an unused hot wire, robbing/re-routing power from otherwise intact accessories (making them seem "off" even when switched "on"), and instead, re-routing the power to ground through other accessories which were not "on" but which turned "on" of their own accord under certain situations. I do not remember all the strange things that were happening except for one - in order to keep the battery from dying every night, I had to disable the dome lights and disconnect the alternator pigtail. Haha! Wierd stuff. My brother was able to bring the circuit board to John Deere where he worked and some wizard there was able to repair it. Hope you located this without too much headache. By the time I figured it out I had been through a couple batteries, an alternator, and distributer cap and rotor - all of which were probably fine. I learned alot though!