68 fury III no parking and Dash lights

[Knebel]

Hi Folks,

i have a problem with my parking and Dashlights. Basically they dont turn on when i switch the Headlight switch to the "Park" position. If i switch it to the full Headlight position the dash/park lights stay off. I can get them to turn on when I pull the switch just a tad back towards the parking lights position, but that is to crazy of a balance between having the light work and not having the headlights on. The Dimmer switch still works tho when i found that sweetspot where the dashlight come on.

I have narrowed it down to the Headlight Switch and that sucker is quite expensive for a NOS part :fucyc:. I had taken it apart, cleaned it ect. and put it back in yesterday, worked one time. Today I took it apart again and filled the grooves in the contacts inside the switch with solder, made it all nice and straight and it did absolutely nothing! The Parking light position is absolutely dead even tho i have tested the switch 25 times with my voltmeter on the contacts and it worked, nothing cut out ect. But in the car it dosent.

I have a relay laying here and am thinking about putting something together to keep the stock switch with the relay turning on the dash/parking lights when i switch on the headlights. I looked at the wiring diagram and have a hard time following this Headlight wiring. I know the dashlights are the Orange wire, and i could figure out the wires for the headlights ( so easy to trigger the relay with the headlisght volts when the lightswitch is on). But how do i do it that the Dimmer still works and i can still dimm the dashlights? where do the Parking and dashlights get their 12Volts from? Wire color?

Anyone done anything like this? Thanks all!

 

[Polara_500]

Your local parts store should have a light switch, usually around 20 bucks or so. Unless you're doing a concours restoration who needs NOS? I personally wouldn't spend the time putting together what you're talking about unless I had lots of time to kill.

 

[Knebel]

This one for 20 bucks? If you find me a link for that I will buy immediately! It dosent have to be NOS but it needs to be the toggle style. Cheapest i found it was $100.....

 

[Knebel]

Hmmm. I installed a brand new lightswitch, worked perfect in the garage and on the way out. I shut the car off and left it in a parking lot for about 30mins (while cold and raining) and it has the same issue. Something must lose contact when its humid but on the wiring diagram i cant really follow where this point could be. It affects the parking/tail and Dashlights and i have to pull the switch back between parking and headlight to get everything lit up, only in the parking position there is no lights at all.

 

[Dale Michaels]

If it's affecting the parking/tail lights it could be your turn signal switch,your tail lights and such run through the switch,

 

[Knebel]

Thanks for the Tip! The turn light work, so do the Emergency Flashers!

I measured some stuff at the Switches and Fusebox:

The dimmer switch works but when I unplug it and measure Voltage on the 3 Connectors they all have 0 Volts, regardless of Light switch Position. My 2 Light switches are fine, i measured the contacts and they all switch how they should!

Interior Lights work.

- Regardless of Ignition switch Position

Light switch in Park or Headlight Position: Tail Light Fuse has 12Volts across.
Light switch off: Tail Light Fuse has 0.4 Volts across.

however, the Instrument Fuse with the Orange/Tan wire has 0 Volts.

-Ignition switch in Accessorie Position and Lightswitch Off
All Fuses have 0 Volts across except Tail and Dome Fuse, they have 0.2 Volts

-Light switch in Park
Yellow and Pink wires on the connector have 0 Volts (That would be the Park and Dashlights circuit i guess)

When i fiddle the switch between the Park and Headlight position, i can get 12Volt to the Yellow wire on the connector.

I already took apart the connectors to the Tail light behind the Kick panel and cleaned everything, thats all good, no corrosion. But somwhere it must lose the connection to the Park/Tail/Dash Light Power!

I checked both of my lightswitches, they both switch and work fine outside the circuit so its not the switch itselfe!

 

[Knebel]

Alright, got the Problem solved.

It ended up being the connectors in the Fusebox. For some reason I had 12 Volts across the tail light fuse now and then and this kept me chasing my tail. I cleaned ALL contacts including dimmer, lightswitch, column turn indicator ect. After that I checked every single wire and found out the on the brake light switch i had some odd ???? 2 Volts ???? The Turn signal connecter showed the Voltage okay but then it was lost at the tail light connecter behind the kickpanel. Traced it back to the Tail Fuse and sure enough 12 Volt on one side and some odd 2 Volt on the other. Fuse was good but the pink wire contact was a bit loose and the contacts a little corroded. After cleaning all that it worked fine, all lights there!

 

[wihaltom]

Man, that was a great job of troubleshooting. Good job !!!