Tick Tock sound by heater controls and the lights dim

[Tonefiend]

I unplugged the wiper motor.  That stopped the tick tock.   The lights still surge with acceleration.  Also my right turn signal light in the dash is on when the lights are on.  This is nothing new though but thought I would mention it while on the subject. 


I have what appears to be a new harness mounted to the firewall.  There is a chrysler tag on it and the lettering is computer printed.  Also the wiper motor has been out of the car and repainted at some point.  So it appears these problems are not new, and as with the rest of the car everything was done half ass. 

[dodj]

I unplugged the wiper motor.  That stopped the tick tock.   The lights still surge with acceleration. 

That is typical of an e-body with an unmodified electrical system. If you do the relay mod for the h-lights and bypass the ammeter, run a charge wire straight from the alt to the battery, the surging will go away.

[the_engineers]

Also my right turn signal light in the dash is on when the lights are on.  This is nothing new though but thought I would mention it while on the subject. 

You either have a shorted bulb, or someone was kind enough to chop your harness for the right indicator lights (front or back) and has the running and blinker lighting crossed.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

A turn signal light staying on in the dash means you have a problem. It's a stupid system they had back then, but let me tell you my tale...   

A 70 Challenger, but it was bad grounding to the front turn signal indicators in the valence panel. Heck, the one turn signal housing was barely being held on by one screw.     So it could be a burned out bulb, or a bad ground as I had.

[Tonefiend]

Crossed wires could be a problem.  I straightened out the rear harness and cleaned the light sockets with Deoxit D5.  I went out tonight and checked the lights. The rear pass side turn signal left light is full power, the right light is dimmer. I will replace the bulb and see if that makes a difference.  The front works, but the front light has been replaced. Given everything else on the car it is a hack job.  I will look into that. 

Also, I have not replaced the alternator, so I am going to check that out to make sure it is still good as well as the voltage regulator. 

[72cudamaan]

Dim lights and bulb problems can almost always be traced back to grounding issues. The bulb in the dash is glowing because it is being  backfed with a grounding issue. The electricity has to go somewhere so it finds a new source of ground. The alternative is no ground at all and a dead short occurs, blowing the fuse.

[Giveitawack]

I had to put in a ground wire to the left tail light on my Barracuda 70. The right housing gets ground from the cover for the trunk mechanism.
The tail lights aren't grounded very well from the factory.