79 RS2000 Escort instrument cluster will not light up

[retroracers]

Hello fellow Esky's,

Trying to troubleshoot why the instrument cluster on my 79 Escort RS2000 no longer lights up / has no power. Symptoms I'm seeing:

- indicator flasher no longer signals
- alternator charge light no longer lights up when key is in reds position.
- High beam indicator does not light up, but lights do come on.
- wipers do not work

Shortly after I purchased the car, everything appeared to be working fine.
But one afternoon while the car was running, i was cycling through the instruments and was operating the indicators when all of a sudden the indicators just stopped flashing.

I turned the ignition off and then switched back to reds and noticed the alternator light was not coming on now either. Car still started fine though.

I immediately checked the fuse compartment in the engine bay and all fuses tested fine with the meter.

My gut feeling is that the flasher relay may have shorted and is probably buggered, but this doesn't explain why the alternator light no longer comes on?

I have been tracing wires behind the cluster and into the engine bay and have noticed some very loose terminal connections to the Starter, the distributor and the alternator. I've fixed those in question.

I've now disconnected and removed the indicator, wiper, horn and light switches. The heater controls have also been disconnected.

So here are my questions.

1. With all these components removed, can someone tell me whether or not the alternator light on the instrument cluster should still light up, if I only have the two plugs connected into the back of the cluster?

2. Is there another fuse somewhere behind the dash that may have blown and resulting in no power to the cluster?

3. With the two plugs connected (pics attached) to the back of the cluster and ignition in the Reds position, can someone advise which wires on both plugs I should expect to see my test light, light up?

Any advise here would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone