Crafty12

Hi Guys,

I am working in the interior of my 73. I had to replace the carpet and the tach. With the dash open I have taken the opportunity to try to solve some of the wiring issues that were present. All of the safety/indicator lights were not functioning. Nor were either of the warning buzzers. While most people would be happy with that I on the other hand want that original nostalgia back.

The seat belt buzzer behind the passenger side dash had been removed, so I bought and installed a new one, and plugged the wires back into the re-tractors under the seat, so that indicator light, and buzzer now work.

I changed both head light limit switches. With a little adjustment that indicator light now works correctly.

My last dash light issue is the door ajar light. Both of the door ajar switches at the back of the jam had been removed. When I had the carpet out I found the wires, and replaced the terminals. Last night I got the new switches plugged in and screwed into place. (I had a lt blue, white, and black on both driver and passenger side.) After replacing the switches and terminals I still am not getting the door ajar light on the dash. Where should I start looking for the problem? Both of the switches at the front of the jam work correctly. They turn on the courtesy lights and rear compartment light correctly and each side works independently. The car was originally equipped with an alarm though the key cylinder is gone and the hole was covered over. I located the pink and orange wires back between the tail lights where it was originally installed.

Any assistance on this issues would be greatly appreciated. I have a wiring diagram, but don’t fully know what everything means. I have a multi-meter, and again I kind of know how to use it. I have managed to ferret out quite a few of the problems, but these last few really have me stuck.

Thanks!

Mooser

It should not stay on when the lights are open, only while not up.

I pretty sure the light comes on with the headlamp switch and stays on until the lights are both fully up.
The warning lamp should only be on while the lights are turned on and not in the up position, so only going up.

Sounds like they just need to be adjusted. with the lights up and locked, check underneath and you should see that the switch is not being pressed or not pressed in far enough to activate. Adjust the bracket as needed.
Oh, one side might be ok and the other not, the light needs to have both sides fully up.

HIH
Mooser

Crafty12

Interesting. Thank you! I guess that means that my 70 is not working properly either, as the dash light stays on while the lights are fully up in that one too.

Do I try to re-position the switch, or adjust the headlight armature?

Mooser

I believe the theory was since you don't really see the lights, the warning told you that the lights were turned on but didn't come up (or didn't come up all the way)
(can't see the lights on any other car either )
Once the lights were all the way up, the warning goes out, letting you know

I'd adjust the switch if I could rather than mucking with the lamps
Careful, they are not real strong and mounted in such a way they can be broken off easy

Also, check each switch, one might be fine and the other not. If you can reach the actual plunger, you should be able to feel if it's only partially depressed (or have a helper watch the dash while you trip each one and see which it might be (or both))

my $.02
Mooser

Crafty12

Ok, got the headlight indicator light straightened out. I adjusted the headlight itself since the switch wasn't contacting the armature.

Any insights on the door ajar system?

Mooser

Ok I'll give it a try since no-one else seems to be jumping in
I don't have a schematic handy and I'm not sure about 74's
I think (getting old sucks) the black is grounded
The light blue should be the one feeding ground up to the light through the switch
I think the white is probably for the factory alarm.

If you ground the lt-blue the light should come on.

The warning lights were all fed through the same positive so check your parking brake light and see if it works. If it does, the positive (pink wire behind the dash) is ok

So, black should be connected to ground
lt-blue should go to the bulb (ground)
Bulb should be connected to positive through a pink wire which is also connected to parking brake lamp
White is most likely for the alarm but I don't know for sure

HIH
Mooser

Peterbuilt

Thanks for taking the time to explain the door ajar system.
Here's a index of schematics
http://www.vetteprojects.com/bmv/mis...ng%20Diagrams/

PeteZO6

The headlight warning light will be on until the lights are UP and LOCKED into position. The linkage goes over center in the lock position so that if you loose UP vacuum, the lights will stay up. If you adjusted the switches to extinguish the light before the linkage goes over center and locks, you haven't got the system correctly adjusted.

When the headlights are correctly up and locked, they won't come down until you apply DOWN vacuum to the actuators.


Pete

Crafty12

I used the Willcox video to properly adjust the clevis. The lights lock into place as they should, and now trip the switch. They do not fold down until the actuator pulls on them.

Easy Mike

My hunch would be a ground. UPC 12H Sheet 16 ion the AIM shows a ground on the pasenger's side. There may also be on on the driver's side.

Left front fender next to the S in the Stringray script. UPC 11E Sheet 6 shows location on the backside of the fender under the hood.

Crafty12

I have an AIM for my 70, but not the 73. I'll look it over anyway, maybe there is some symmetry in the ground locations. I did find the pink and orange wires from the alarm cylinder. They are disconnected and loose in back between the tail lights. I think that was a correct location for the lock cylinder also, but not sure. That's where it is on my 70.

Blue73Shark

On the 73, the alarm lock cylinder was between the tail lights centered above the license plate bezel, in line with the gas cap. Let me know if you need a pic. Door ajar lights only operate when ignition is ON.

Crafty12

Here's the update from the weekend. I pulled the switches out, and checked all of the wires with my multi-meter. There is no juice in any of them. Also I mentioned that I found the pink and orange alarm wires. They are cold as well. The wires run into the harness as the should. Meaning I don't see any place where they were cut, or spliced before getting bundled into the harness. So now where should I look? I see on my wire diagram that there is an alarm relay somewhere. Where is that located? Is there a place where you could disable the whole system? Like pulling the pink wire to disable the buzzers?

Mooser

The lt-blue should be connected through the light bulb to positive, no taps, no other connections

If you ground the lt-blue the light should come on.

If the bulb is burnt out it will of course not come on

The alarm should have zero affect on the door ajar system, ignore it for now
Mooser

Crafty12

Good point on the bulb. I did replaced all the bulbs though, so that's not it. I'll swap it with another that I know works just to be sure. I'll try grounding the blue wire to see if it turns on.

Crafty12

Well I'm happy with the results, but a bit disappointed at how I arrived there.

First step I unhooked the rear end harness under the dash and tried to ground the lite blue wire as I read in an old thread. No light. Then I swapped the bulb (good thing I still have the passenger side dash off or that would have been a PITA). Still no light. I attempted to probe the light terminal, and the lt blue wire just pushed right out of the housing. I checked one of the other terminals in the cluster to make sure I put the blue wire back in correctly. After that I opened the passenger door and presto it lit up! Tried the driver door, and still no light. I wiggled the plunger a little and it went on. After I adjusted the terminals a bit on the driver switch the system now works perfectly.

I am guessing that the issue was in the bulb terminal. I wish I had something a little more concrete, but I guess the bottom line is it now works and I should just be satisfied with that.

Thank you to everyone who offered assistance. Now its time to button up the dash!!