I would really recommend finishing the wiring before you start testing it. It sounds like you are close and that would make the testing easier/smoother. You would be less likely to miss something in your testing if you can do it all at once vs some now and some later.
I am making some assumptions based on my experience with universal wiring kits. I will flag the concious ones.
That said:
As a starting point, set the battery in place and connect whichever battery cable is *not* ground. In this case (and most) that will be the positive cable. Slowly connect the other cable and look/listen for a spark. If you hear/see one, immediately pull it back off because you have a short somewhere. Alternatively, if you don't see a spark you can connect an ammeter inline with the battery cable and look for a draw. A dead short will blow your multimeter fuse, so do the spark test first.
I am assuming here that you do not have any added things that *should* have a draw with the key off. I am also assuming that you do not (intentionally) have any unfused circuits.
Once you are confident that there are no initial shorts, you can start testing the individual circuits.
Identify what circuits you have connected and which ones you don't. Make a written list so you make sure that you test everything that is connected and don't put a fuse in anything that isn't. Ideally you created this list when installing the harness, but if not you should do it now.
Go through the circuits one at a time, putting the correct size fuse in and testing that it has voltage when you think it should (key switched or not). Then energize the circuit (whether that means turning the key or flipping a switch or whatever) and see if the device works. If not, check if energizing the circuit blew the fuse.
Be aware of what things are connected. As an example, your dome light, gauge illumination, and headlight switch are likely going through the same switch. If you don't have the headlights connected, make sure that circuit doesn't accidently get energized while you think you are testing the gauge illumination or something else.
Once you have fuses in all of your circuits and your electrical parts work, eat a victory taco. Then you can progress with whatever your next step is.
Again, I would recommend finishing *all* of the wiring up front.
Last edited by Fibonachu; 01/10/2024 10:57 PM. Reason: Added clarification about the initial test.
