Weird dash light behaviors... Any place to check other than the big 3 dash grounds? (1 Viewer)

[caladin]

Got weird dash light behavior.

Going to check the 3 common dask ground locations tomorrow. Show in link below.

Where are the FJ62 ground points? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/where-are-the-fj62-ground-points.1018631/

That being the Driver & Pass A pillar bolts, and the common bond block behind the dash.

Behavior I'm chasing.

Hi beam light on dash was super dim, so I converted cluster to led

Now when I hit the brake pedal, the led turn signals in the cluster both come on about 25% brightness.

Sounds like power coming back through the ground from the brake light circuit to me.

Any place other than the big 3 linked above that I should check while I'm in there that's brake circuit specific?

Any clever places to add a new auxiliary ground for the whole cluster?

Thanks

 

[OSS]

You’ve got a classic land cruiser floating ground issue.
My bet is the culprit is the grounding junction (bus) tucked in behind the wiring harness behind the dash. Betcha it shows signs of burning.
The headlights originally grounded through that little piece of junk too - which would explain why your headlights went dim.

Examine that junction/bus carefully. It has a bunch of white/Black wires going into it. Don’t mess with the blue wires
I took mine apart and cleaned all the contacts up and it worked fine afterwards.

My driver’s side A-pillar ground bolt was LOOSE! Passenger side was fine.

 

[CruiserTrash]

You’ve got a classic land cruiser floating ground issue.
My bet is the culprit is the grounding junction (bus) tucked in behind the wiring harness behind the dash. Betcha it shows signs of burning.
The headlights originally grounded through that little piece of junk too - which would explain why your headlights went dim.

Examine that junction/bus carefully. It has a bunch of white/Black wires going into it. Don’t mess with the blue wires
I took mine apart and cleaned all the contacts up and it worked fine afterwards.

My driver’s side A-pillar ground bolt was LOOSE! Passenger side was fine.

Damn, I haven’t discovered that Junction, so thanks for bringing it up. Any more clues as to exactly where it’s located?

 

[caladin]

Damn, I haven’t discovered that Junction, so thanks for bringing it up. Any more clues as to exactly where it’s located?

Read the linked thread, in post#1 the ground bonding junction is much deeper in the thread than the a pillar bolts, but there are photos and a description.

 

[OSS]

Any more clues as to exactly where it’s located?

This thread below has a picture of a burnt one

Is my alternator about to eat dust?

Ever since I bought my FJ60 2yrs ago the brake warning light in the dash cluster is always dimly lit at idle but not when driving. Wondering if this is the alternator or battery? The battery has no date marked on it from what I can tell and I was going to replace until I found out that it's a...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[NWxDrew]

I had a similar problem and my issue was a poor trailer wire job. Most trailer wire junctions I’ve heard about were located behind the drivers side cargo panel. Mine was just hanging out behind the bumper for all the weather and road grime to mess with it. After I removed trailer wiring and cleaned it up, all my issues went away.

 

[caladin]

Even with teh photo s in the linked thread, I'm Having a hard time finding the drivers side (left) a pillar ground, Inst cluster is remvoed, can i get to it from back there?

Thanks,

 

[OSS]

Even with teh photo s in the linked thread, I'm Having a hard time finding the drivers side (left) a pillar ground

Get a flashlight.
Lie your head on the floor on driver’s side and look straight up along the A-pillar. It’s tucked up in there.
The way I took a picture of it was with a little pocket camera I pushed up next to it. That view is impossible with just the naked eye. You won’t see it like that — but you can see it and get a wrench up to the bolt if needed.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Start from the backside of the choke knob as a reference. No look towards the front of the truck a few inches. Now look as far as you can towards the outside skin of the sheet metal. That’s the backside of the upper door hinge - boom there’s your ground.

 

[caladin]

I got my bore scope out and found the passenger one, some how I missed that it was parellel to the skin of the vehicle. I now get why it's called an a pillar ground.

I Was looking for it straight up, parellel to the ground. Thus my problem.

Pulled the glove box and put my hand on that one. With that for reference, I did pretty close to what cruiser trash said with my bore scope and (eventually) found it.

Cruiser trash, that a great photo. Do you mind if I add it and your instructions to the thread linked in post 1? That's where Google will take people looking for the grounds. I was going to figure out how to take pics to help the next guy, to add there, but yours is great.

Is there an easy way to pull the 90 degree ac coupler from the drivers outside ac vent so I can get to it easily through the cluster hole?

Though I may try A ratchet extension exactly how your Pic is first.

Thanks everyone.

 

[CruiserTrash]

It’s fairly easy to get from underneath, from where I took the photo. Fee

I got my bore scope out and found the passenger one, some how I missed that it was parellel to the skin of the vehicle. I now get why it's called an a pillar ground.

I Was looking for it straight up, parellel to the ground. Thus my problem.

Pulled the glove box and put my hand on that one. With that for reference, I did pretty close to what cruiser trash said with my bore scope and (eventually) found it.

Cruiser trash, that a great photo. Do you mind if I add it and your instructions to the thread linked in post 1? That's where Google will take people looking for the grounds. I was going to figure out how to take pics to help the next guy, to add there, but yours is great.

Is there an easy way to pull the 90 degree ac coupler from the drivers outside ac vent so I can get to it easily through the cluster hole?

Though I may try A ratchet extension exactly how your Pic is first.

Thanks everyone.

You can reach the ground from the point of view the photo was taken. It’s not too hard.

Feel free to share that too - just add that it’s a 1982 FJ60. There’s a surprising amount of variations on these trucks and I don’t know if that ground is present on all of them.

 

[caladin]

Okay, Aparently I suck, now I can't find the common ground bonding.

I can see the ac vent to the side window and the plug, I've marked as #4 in mine in the pic on the other thread, but that's a 62...

Is it in a different location on an early 82(12/81) fj60?

For the life of me I can't find it.

From looking at the thread linked in post #1 it should be in the taped section in the center of the 2nd photo. I don't see a big rectangle. Unless it's smaller than I think, it can't be in that bundle at all. Don't want to just unwrap stuff willy nilly till I find it.

Any help is appreciated

 

[caladin]

Whelp, I cut in with a, seam ripper where I thought it might be and it's just a bundle of wires siloconed together.