Another Harness Question

[88trailblazer]

I have a '78 K10 with a shot wire harness (both engine and cab). I have someone that can get me the engine harness, dash harness and guage cluster off his '84 Suburban for $100+shipping. Included in the price is a door lock switch and door lock mechanism that i need to replace. So it sounds like a great deal to me.

Now, does anyone know exactly what is the difference between a '78 K10 harness (with flat fuses) and an '84 Suburban harness(also with flat fuses)? I don't want to have any suprises when i go to install it.

Anything will be an improvement since i don't have wires for the temp sensor, oil pressure sensor or choke. Plus half of my current fuse box is powered by a jumper wire.

Thanks in advance!

 

[73k5blazer]

You should be able to make it work. But there are likely to be differences. Unlike today's vehicles in which they make usally just one harness no matter the options, these things were made to vehicle and it's specific options.
Things to watch for:
HVAC (dash and in engine compart.), headlights (in engine compart.), sensors, any differences in options betwen the 2 vehicles.

 

[dyeager535]

I'd be worried about the column connector, and the gauge cluster. Gauge cluster year differences have already been mentioned in another recent post.

If doing the harness swap, I'd go with the better (newer) instrument panel and column at the same time.

 

[pauly383]

84 also had wipers in dash , and column mounted dimmer switch . Its easy enough to fix that . If the plugs don't fit , your going to cut and splice your ends on .

Getting the right gauge/idiot light cluster isn't too hard , we all have spares in the garage .

 

[88trailblazer]

Well, the gauges should fit fine because this truck has the newer style dash. It looks nothing like my brother's '79 and looks more like my other brother's '88 dash.

The truck currently has wipers on the dash and dimmer on the floor. That should be an easy fix.

Anything else to worry about?

 

[73k5blazer]

The dimmer switch you will need to extend, the newer version is on the column, but the plug will fit into the floor switch, it's the same plug.

If your getting the whole dash gauges, dash harness, and engine harness, then that will all work together obviously, But you will need new sensors for the motor mabey.

 

[88trailblazer]

Okay, i checked with the guy and he says that it uses the dimmer/wiper switch in the column. I should be abel to work around that, but is it possible to adapt that switch to my existing column? I thought about buying his old column, but he says that it's broken.

But would the switch assembly move over to my column?

 

[dyeager535]

No, the upper portion of the column changed.

Ask him whats broken. If it's the upper portion (due to theft or lost keys) then it is worthless. It may just be the bad tilt.

 

[88trailblazer]

No, the upper portion of the column changed.

Ask him whats broken. If it's the upper portion (due to theft or lost keys) then it is worthless. It may just be the bad tilt.

That's exactly what happened. He lost the keys and busted open the column. No big deal, that little bit of wiring work doesn't compare to the work the current harness needs.

Now, since i'm replacing the harness, could i run auxilary lights and my backup electric fan (Florida heat) off of some of the empty spots in the fuse panel (if there are any)? Or am i better off leaving them wired to the BlueSea fuse panel that i have by the battery now?

 

[88trailblazer]

This is what i currently use for my fan, 2 front aux lights, 1 rear aux light, under hood lamp and to substitute the fusible links.

 

[dyeager535]

I think you are best off the way you are...the fuse panel isn't designed to supply much power to anything, those accessory terminals on them are best used to switch relays with the ignition, that's about it.