instrument panel and stoclk gauges wont turn on when i turn on headlights???

[Sin'sVr4]

i eliminated most of the hack wiring that was previoulsy installed. I took out my turbo timer and made the stock connections. The only wire that is spliced in is for powet to my boost gauge and oil pressure gauge. Everything else is stock. Im going to start by unplugging the d44 connector (about halfway point on the tail circuit) then go from there. then move to the next connection point.

There IS a black wire that is spliced into the power from my boost gauge, but its not hooked to anything? wierd? It had a male spade connector on it and there was only one other femae spade, so....i hooked them together and it started smoking and melted the insulater on the female connectors wire. So i immediatley took those apart. Thats how i found the male connector was a power and the female was a ground. But wtf? those are the only two connectors that can fit each other. there is NO other connectors under the eintire dash that fit. (they are the connectore that are insulated, light green see thru ish) Why the hell would those be randomly crimped. Like I said I didnt wire anything under the dash.

ugh this is frustrating me. everything else works, headlights, tails, blinkers, hazards, door lights, overhead lights...just not the parking or gauges. My prosport boost and oil guages are working with lights...

[Toni]

so....i hooked them together and it started smoking and melted the insulater on the female connectors wire.

Step away from the wiring

[Hans@GZP]

Step away from the wiring

So, what you're saying is... plug the 2 wires back in together?

[Sin'sVr4]

lol to burn it down!!! haha. well, i got my new FMIC today, so I will put that in then start the process of elimination. this is gonna be a bitch.

[Sin'sVr4]

ok, so got home and started trouble shooting. pulled out my instrument cluster and tested the cluster and it worked. lights lit up so ...
1. cluster good... check...
2. next, pulled plug c-71 off and switched on the parking lights....blown fuse...
3. next, unpluged the c-69 connector, switched on the parking lights....they came on and the fuse did not blow. so, I have a short to ground somewhere after the c-69 plug hit the junction box under the dash. I gues now i have to t/s the port that c-69 goes into and back. its only 3 wires, blue/red and green/white(power) and cant remember the other one. so the green white goes to the rheostat and the D-03 (cluster power) I am not getting power to either wire or connector when testing. so it seems that the issue is somewhere on the c-71 cable. now i just have to get under the dash and figure out a way to look at that entire cable to see if something got fried or is shorting out.

[20G_VR4]

Thanks for this post. Mine started doing this exact thing two days ago and I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

[Hans@GZP]

It's most likely a short in the green w/white stripe wire. That's the power wire for the parking lights, and power to the rheostat, and multiple other interior lights. It's also the wire you tap off of for illumination for aftermarket gauges.

[Sin'sVr4]

I will have to take a pic of what wires are spliced for power