Wiring harness snafoos! Help!

[Daniel Cate]

Hey guys,
Just finished up my wiring harnesses and fired the car up. Everything electrical was replaced with after market harness kits from NPD including switches. Nice stuff, everything looks correct and plugged in exact. OK. Everything seams to be working except: wiper motor, heater fan, radio. I have tested these systems directly from the battery and the wiper motor, fan blower etc work. But there is no juice at the fuse block. Do these systems get there power only after the key is in the on position? I have a wiring schematic and assembly manual etc etc etc. so I'm pretty sure everything is wired correct. Is there a ground that would be associated with all 3 of these systems? Also, when I first fired the car to break the motor in, the tic toc tach was working. Now it is not. Is it a stand alone item which is only affected by the printed circuit?  The clock does work still. I may have more things as I go but that's it for now. Thanks in advance, Dan

[JohnZ]

Everything seams to be working except: wiper motor, heater fan, radio. I have tested these systems directly from the battery and the wiper motor, fan blower etc work. But there is no juice at the fuse block. Do these systems get there power only after the key is in the on position?

Yup, those items only get power with the ignition in the "on" position.

[Daniel Cate]

JohnZ,

Am I correct then in assuming that if the car starts ok then the switch is ok and is the switch itself against the dash metal how it is grounded? I've had a friend suggest that the switch has a bad ground. Everything else seems to power up except those 3 "accessory" items, so what next?

[JohnZ]

I don't have a '68 wiring diagram, but those items are all fed from the accessory buss in the fuse block - I'd look for a bad fuse, bad fuse clips, or a bad connection inside the fuse block for that circuit.

[Daniel Cate]

Ok! Wiring lesson 101. It turned out to be a loose connector inside the brand new fuse block assembly. The wire lead to the accessory side had come un-clipped due to being under strain from the way the manufacturer routed it. It seems as though it worked when the car first fired up but then shook loose after a while from the vibration. I don't think it was ever really secure from when it was made since I was unable to get it to "clip" back on until I re-routed it. So even though it's new doesn't mean it's perfect. Anyway, thanks to JohnZ for steering me in the right direction, Dan