Overlord

I'm wrestling with the courtesy lights - or I would, if I could find them!

All I have is the cargo light that comes on in the back. And it's blocked by the speaker box. I'm putting a line of LED tape from side to side across the underside of the top panel in rear compartment and jumping it off the cargo light.

Other than that, I spend my days pouncing with the meter on the odd bubba connections I find behind the dash searching the duct tape and electrical tape for the actual wiring for the courtesy lights. Recently found more taped off hot wires under the passenger side dash. Also found some spindly wires attached to them. You know, uninsulated crimped ring terminals with the 'tap' wires wrapped around them several times and taped. The spindly wires look like what you run your ipod earbuds off of....

I'd better get to the point before I get too cranked up on the wiring.

Can someone give me the color codes for the courtesy lights under the dash? That way, if I really do find them and they're dead, like so many other lines under here, I can take a look at the headlight switch to see if it's not sending current to them.

Durango_Boy

The courtesy light circuit uses orange and white wires. The orange is constant hot and the white is switched by the door switches as kind of a backwards ground. When the switch opens, it lets the white wire ground out, closing the loop.

xCCTer

Hey Durango (or anyone else that may know),

When I hooked up my new door switches on the '71, the lights came on, but the wires started to get hot, so I immediately popped out the fuse.

When I got the car last winter it never had a fuse in the space for dome light/clock. When I looked at the switches the plastic part was obviously deformed from heat, and I'm guessing this is why.

I'm thinking that when the car was repainted, the threads in the door frame that the switches screw into are covered with paint and not making a good ground.

Does this make any sense?

Overlord

Aw crap! Thanks DB, I know which ones they are. Saw 'em the other day, saw they were hot so I didn't check the ground. I am assuming that turning the headlight switch will mysteriously ground them out also?

Last question; How come I always faintly hear Rod Serling when I'm in the garage working on the car?

Durango_Boy

Xccter - It's very possible that there is a ground problem but I would also suspect a short somewhere in that system where the hot is pinched to the ground and when the circuit is closed the wires start to get very hot.

Overlord - Yes, rotating the headlight switch hard over to the left will also ground out the circuit so that you can manually turn on the cabin lights.

xCCTer

Durango,

Quick update. Replaced the wire tips (that was fun) and switch on Lt side again.

The Rt side switch has only one White wire, and goes to ground where it screws into the birdcage. No problem with Rt side switch. It works as intended and doesn't get hot.

The Lt side however has a Black and a White wire. When I put the 20A fuse in (Courtesy/Clock) the interior lights worked great from the door switches and headlamp switch until...

I felt the White wire on Lt side and it was getting quite warm. Before I could pop out the fuse, the White wire tip had melted itself away from the plastic plunger, thus breaking the ground and the lights went out. Nice Fail-safe. The Black wire and surrounding plastic were fine.

I'm stumped. Guess the dash is coming out completely. I already have the Rt side removed because I was looking for the missing Black wire on that side, which after looking at the schematic for the 20th time I realized doesn't have a Black wire. DUH!

It's grounding out somewhere I can't easily see I guess.

Thanx

RunningMan373

Pull out your rear curtusy light fixture and check the wiring to see if it's melted and shorted. People have the habit of installing a regular single curtusy light into the fixtures, which very nicely shorts the power and white switched ground together. Also, the 18 gauge wire they use just keeps the current below the 20A rating of the curtusy fuse, allowing the wires the time they need to heat up and burn thier way clear of thier insulation. Check all your curtusy lights for the wrong kind of bulbs, and thier attatched wires for previous burn and shorting- now, as they can go to a permanent short when burned, weather or not the bulb type is correct now. Bubba was kind enough to provide me with the need for a new rear wiring harness. Found a single post bulb in the rear curtusy light holder and the wires burned to a short once the fixture was pulled. Couldn't figure out why the Amp gauge kept jumping to 20A when the door was opened. C.

xCCTer

Thanx. I'll take a look. I ended up putting everything back together and leaving the fuse out. I then took a 96 mile ride with the tops off and back window out. I feel better now somehow.

jcswm

Did you get my PM???

saxman1

I don't know if I'm in the right area, but I've also got a problem with my courtesy lights.
My car is an 85 and when you open the doors, the interior lights don't come on and the deck release switches do NOT work. Turn the headlight switch back to the left and the lights all come on and the deck lid switches work. The deck lid switch mounted in the console works all the time as it should. Any advice? Many thanks

Easy Mike

Saxman: you've pulled up a nine year old thread in C3 to ask about a C4.

Post your question in C4.

saxman1

oops sorry..