Electrical non boat

[racer808]

Okay not a boat issue.  I have a jacked up 1983 GMC beater we use as our launch vehicle.  One day I cranked the stereo and it popped, no more radio and the lights for P R N D 3 2 no longer work.  I've been thru every fuse I can find, at the battery, the ones in the amps, the inlines under the dash and I am stumped.  Can't find any blown fuses and it never magically started working again like my cable internet does.  Where else would one zero in on to look?  Truck works fine otherwise.  Any suggestions?

[oldjeep]

IF you are sure you found all the fuses then I would be tracing back the ground wires

[90oldskool]

are the light on at the amp? headunit lights on? Old head units have fuses on the back side of the head unit . But that would not explain the lights off at the gear shift

[racer808]

I'm pretty sure I've found all the fuses.  Felt around the back of the deck (it's an alpine) didn't feel a fuse but found the inline on the hot.  I'm assuming where ever they got power must have involved the other lights but I have no idea.  Looks like the electrical been hacked so it's hard to trace anything down.  And that it only went out when I cranked the volume makes me think it's gotta be a fuse somewhere.  I'll dig deeper in when we go back up this weekend.  Didn't care before that it didn't work but now my OCD has taken over.

[Falko]

I wonder if they fed the entire radio from the lighting circuit instead of just the face light from the lighting and the power from a dedicated source. The lighting is controlled by a potentiometer which allows you adjust the light level. They will typically not be rated for a lot of power, on an '83 truck, it is probably the light switch knob that you turn to adjust the light level of dash lights. You could have smoked that part of the switch.

[MadMan]

Did you measure the voltage on both sides of the fuses and at the stereo/amps?

[oldjeep]

Do the rest of your dash lights work?  If not then replace the tail light fuse

[racer808]

Dash lights do not work.  Couldn't find any other fuses, thinking falko is on to something.  The amps do not have a direct feed from the battery either.  Strange crap this beater is.

[oldjeep]

18 hours ago, racer808 said:

Dash lights do not work.  Couldn't find any other fuses, thinking falko is on to something.  The amps do not have a direct feed from the battery either.  Strange crap this beater is.

do your tail lights work?  Typically the dash lights run off the tail light circuit so that you know they are out.  I'd pull the tail light fuse and inspect the socket , also just replace it since sometimes it is hard to see a bad fuse.

[racer808]

2 hours ago, oldjeep said:

do your tail lights work?  Typically the dash lights run off the tail light circuit so that you know they are out.  I'd pull the tail light fuse and inspect the socket , also just replace it since sometimes it is hard to see a bad fuse.

Tail lights do work, blinkers and headlights all work.  Do not see any fuse location identified for tail lights or interior.  I was actually thinking last night maybe just replace all fuses and see what happens.  I was tryin to play with the headlight switch but not understanding what part of it would go bad.