No Headlights, No Tail Lights, and No Horn

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chevy76monteman

Greasemonkey
Oct 9, 2006
150
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Portland, Oregon, USA
I have an 86 Grand Prix as my daily driver. I went to go to work Sunday night, started up the car and hit the lights, but as the title suggests, no lights came on. I have signals, hazzards, reverse lights, brake lights, and dome light. I have checked the light grounds, replaced the healight switch, horn relay, every single fuse, and both 30 amp circuit breakers, but still no horn, no headlights, and no tail lights. Any help would be appreciated.
 

81Regal

Royal Smart Person
Apr 5, 2009
1,562
486
83
Terril Iowa
Are you getting power to the headlight switch?
 

MrSony

Geezer
Nov 15, 2014
6,790
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Des Moines, Iowa
When my starter wires got yanked apart when I lifted the body I had a no start as well as everything you described. Could also be two unrelated issues. Wire horns and lights directly to battery to see if they still work.
 

Rus

Master Mechanic
Oct 7, 2016
283
858
93
Queensbury, NY
Check red wire going to starter. That's where my problem was on mine.
 

69hurstolds

Geezer
Supporting Member
Jan 2, 2006
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You're screwed!:banana:



Probably YET ANOTHER blown fusible link. I will never understand this one. How the f**k do you people keep frying those things?!?!
JMO...GM put those links in some sort of rubberized blob of silicone or some rubbery crap. But the wiring in coming in and out of the rubbery crap, for whatever reason, had a tendency to get water in there after years and years (think Oklahoma 1957 Plymouth vault - good intentions on water tightness, but didn't last 50 years) and corrodes the wiring/fuse link. Wiring insulation corrodes, some wire strands break after a while, and maybe some arcing occurs across the strands, blowing fuse links. Or something downstream wears out, shorts somewhere and blows them out. I've seen the wire "burn" past the fuse links on some cars. And some wiring near the fuse links felt flimsy like rubber bands even if the fuse was good.

I'm no electrician, but I have a strong suspicion that the links weren't really designed to last 30+ years in the elements. I've only personally experienced it on my cars once. And for cripes sake, why couldn't they put them where they could be easily reached if they did blow?
 
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69hurstolds

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If it's fusible link issue, you'll likely find them in this location, thereabouts. Not fun.

fusible_links-jpg.52729
 
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69hurstolds

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If you're not worried about originality, you can replace both those fusible link sections with real wire, and run that wire somewhere easier to reach so you can install maxi fuses or similar.
 
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pagrunt

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Sep 14, 2014
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If you're not worried about originality, you can replace both those fusible link sections with real wire, and run that wire somewhere easier to reach so you can install maxi fuses or similar.
An addition suggestion to that is double up the positive battery cable on the battery (like the '95-'98 C/K trucks did) & run one to the starter with the other to a remote power junction mounted on the inner fender. At that point run the red wires there using the fusible links or maxi fuses. Even a good point for A/C cars to run a fused power wire to the blower motor. OE has that crimped into one of those red wires with out a fuse.
 
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