TheSiLvAPython

I got Headlights, turn signals and brakes. still no dash lights or parking lights.

I have two License plate lights. you just can't see the second one in the pictures sorry about that.

yeah this is difficult I have never done something Like this. actually this truck has been alot of "first time"s for me.It's cool I'm learning but it always overwhelming the first time changing a rear main seal or motor mounts/transmission mounts or welding a broken parts when the only thing I have done before on any of my vehicles is change spark plugs/brake pads/oil/coolant and sound system. I have taken the slow approach to this I because there is a lot of melted mess. I tried wiring up my dash lights to my new switch and switch connector and for some reason my dash lights only come one when I hit my brakes.... so i am very confused.

So could I get Just from the fuse block back? I'm a little confused on how the bulk head connector works. when I take the fuse block off none of the wires appear to come from or lead to the bulk head connector.

no my license plate wires are already plugged in these are spliced in or something one is ground and the other is power.

yeah this is difficult I have never done something Like this. actually this truck has been alot of "first time"s for me.It's cool I'm learning but it always overwhelming the first time changing a rear main seal or motor mounts/transmission mounts or welding a broken parts when the only thing I have done before on any of my vehicles is change spark plugs/brake pads/oil/coolant and sound system. I have taken the slow approach to this I because there is a lot of melted mess. I tried wiring up my dash lights to my new switch and switch connector and for some reason my dash lights only come one when I hit my brakes.... so i am very confused. because I have the wires labeled on the switch connector to what the go to. I don't know its weird. this is what the old switch connector looks like. I will show what the fuse box looks in a bit.

now normally that wouldn't have been an issue because there would be a fuse to blow right? well not so much because one night i blew fuse after fuse after fuse (fuse was for the tail lights and dash lights) then i ran out of fuses and it was raining so i temporarily(or atleast was suppose to be temporarily) I replaced with a copper wire so I could get home. and i forgot about it. so on the fourth of july i was spraying some undercoating stuff under my truck and i seen those two little male and female plugs and must have thought that I had been missing out on something with those two being unplugged so I plugged them in and later that night when i went to go work i quickly found out that i was most certainly not missing out on anything and in fact was avoiding electrical catastrophe.

it all started when I connected these two

i have a 1989 4.0 2wd and on the fourth of july had electrical short happen and ever since i have been dealing with issues and I'm almost to the point of giving up because I can't seem to figure this out. my headlights don't work, blinkers keep shorting out and blowing fuses. one brake light stopped working my fuel gauge works above 1/4 of a tank. i don't know where to start and I have an electrical service manual for 1989 year but it has not been much help because I don't quite understand it. i have multiple melted wires my fuse box is a wreck. how difficult is it to rewire everything from the fuse block to the tail lights? I really don't want to but i did buy 300 ft of wire but everytime i look at my fuse block and all the melted wires it is very intimidating. is there any advice or tips that could make this a little easier? i can post some pictures in a little bit to give a better visual of what i got going on.

It's okay. 8W-3. I got the truck running again. my fuel gauge stopped working for a little bit after because the variable resistor melted! I replaced it with a sending unit i got one with a gas tank that i purchased from someone. had to pull the sending unit off of that assembly and put it into mine because that assembly was really rusty. but I broke off the little tab so I just rigged a 16g primary wire through the hole that the tab was connected to on the plastic tab that the variable resister is. my gas gauge works (sort of) it reads anything over a 1/4 tank haha i will have to fix it better but for now its okay. whew that was long story my bad. off topic a little. I appreciate your help with this though

were you still looking for a grey bench seat? If you want to trade maybe we could work something out? I am located in WA. willing to ship if you are willing to reciprocate.

Yes when I press the clutch in it immediately goes back to steady idle. No more buck wild. Yeah It stopped doing it for a little bit after I changed my motor mounts then returned. Eventually changed my transmission mount and it went away but slowly returned. I almost wonder if it is the distributor not being properly indexed won't know until i get to it. I just don't want to mess anything up on accident and make things worse so I haven't done it yet.

When I did the rear main seal about a month ago I did three oil changes (mostly because I ran out of daylight twice and didn't have a 13/16ths socket to take the main bearing cap off so I scrambled to put everything back together three times three days in a row but I didn't see any chunks of metal mostly just carbon build up. I cleaned my oil pan real good before I put it back in. Finally the third day i just delt with no light and finished the job but I am getting off topic. My bad haha I will definitely pull the shifter and check it out while i have the interior pulled out. Currently need to replace a few melted wires from a gnarly short that happened fourth of july night. I have no lights or gas gauge anymore. so trying to figure that all out right now. But its getting hectic so I may just take a break from this and check out my shifter.

Ahh okay that makes sense so this is gonna be a big job for a beginner haha I guess every thing I have done on this truck was a big job for beginner but I have had no choice but to figure it out. I have never pulled a transmission or engine from a vehicle ever so this will be quite an experience.

Kind of yeah i can feel an extra clunk right as or right after i press the clutch in. But how come the bucking doesn't happen if I hold the shifter lever in the "g" spot? Haha

Also forgot to mention the ONLY OTHER WAY I can get it to NOT buck is if I hold the shifter lever in specific locations depending on which gear I am in. Could this be the bushing inside the transmission for the shift lever?

Okay so I have had this bucking issue since I got the truck (2wd 89 Long bed 4.0 ax15 dana 35) it happens all the time unless I am accelerating almost full throttle or close to full throttle(atleast quickly accelerating) it will buck/Jump/Lunge/jump I don't know what to call it but it gets bad. The only way to get it to stop is to push the clutch pedal in and that will cut the bucking immediately. It happens in any gear, at any speed. Now this is the first manual I have ever owned. At first I thought it was the old motor mounts so I replaced them with some daystar polyurethane ones. And it masked the issue for a short while but it returned. I finally got around to replacing the transmission mount months later after I found out that the motor mounts and transmission mounts go hand in hand. So I replaced the transmission mount as I was sure that had to be the issue. That masked the issue for a while But sure enough the bucking returned. Now I am wondering if this is an internal issue of the transmission or maybe the dana 35? It is driving me crazy and I can't seem to figure it out. Has anyone else ever dealt with this bucking issue this severe? I mean it gets so bad I worry my engine is gonna lunge itself through my radiator sometimes.

Do you know what page it is on? I can't seem to find it in my electrical service manual. I have a physical copy but I do not know how to read wiring diagrams at all. Also I found out it was one of my fusible links though. To get home I just twisted the wire on the newest broken fusible link. Been spending all day replacing melted wires that all stem from..... The light switch in the dashboard.. This will be fun..

I'm doing that right now. Also two of my fusible links wires have melted as well could that have anything to do with what I'm dealing with could I just use a like a butt connector to just connect those two wires in the fusible link back together and continue on?

That is also where I saw the smoke coming from

Unfortunately no I don't know any history of the vehicle. The guy I got it from just said when he got the truck it was on a flatbed trailer and he got it running again and used it daily until he had his third kid and he decided to sell it thats when I got it. But yeah now it's doing the same thing it starts up and then immediately dies. I don't know where the smoke was coming from exactly because I look under the truck where it was coming from but none of the wires look melted so I'm really lost right now. This is another one of those times where I just wish my truck was carbureted instead of fuel injected

Well I bypassed it and it started and stayed running for a little bit but then I noticed some smoke coming from the fuel filter area and my truck shut off again so do you think it could be a bad fuel pump now at this point?

Yeah cuz it starts up but then after a second literally it shuts down. So could I just run a temporary jumper wire between the two wires in the ballast to bypass it just to get it home?