Revfan

Hey Guys

I am coming down the home stretch...

I replaced the Engine Bay and Dash harness, and replaced the dash bulbs...

When I connect the battery...

The courtesy lights are on with the doors closed, the high beams work (but not low beams) and the flasher/hazard only works on the left rear. Lastly, new bulb and back up switch, but no light.

Also, this happens without the key in... so doors closed and the courtesy lights are still on without the key in... hmmmmm.

I am hoping that these items are all related to just one boneheaded thing I did (as opposed to many separate bone-headed things being done).

Any ideas as to where I can start looking?


Solving this problem will pretty much conclude the October-July body on restoration of my 67 Convertible... so I am itchin' to solve this riddle and get driving.

Cheers

plaidside

For the courtesy lights try turning the headlight switch **** clockwise a half turn.
Did you depress the hi beam switch on the floor to change back to low beams?
Did you try the signal lights on both sides. Do they operate correctly? Make sure all the bulbs are very bright when flashing.
If they work properly then it could be the signal switch.

All three of these circuits are can operate with the key off.
Joe

65GGvert

Well, key in or out doesn't matter on the courtesy lights. Try pushing the door plungers both in farther than the door does. They may just need adjusting. They provide a ground with the door open and interrupt it with the door closed. The headlight switch also can't be rotated all the way or it will turn on the courtesy lights, overriding the door switches.
I'd start by checking around the connector and wiring on the dimmer switch for the dim lights not working. You should have 12v on the tan wire at the dimmer when the dims are on and on the light green when the brights are on.
The back up switch circuit is very simple. It has two wires at the bulkhead under the master cylinder that plug to two other wires going to the b/u switch., measure to see if you have 12v on the pink and the lt green at that connector with the key on. If so, move to the b/u switch and measure on the two wires on the switch. In reverse, both should have 12v with the key on. If only one does, the switch isn't closing and may be defective or just need adjusting so it closes in the correct (reverse) position. If you had 12v on both those wires, measure at the connector on the b/u lamps. You should have 12v on the pin connector in reverse with key on (accessory position, on can possibly overheat your coil with engine not running). If you do, the only thing left is the ground on the bulb socket. Make sure the b/u housing is grounded and make sure you have the correct bulbs, they should be single filament bulbs.
Sorry, I don't know about the hazard flashers, never dealt with those.

65GGvert

Except the turn signals

Revfan

Thanks guys... I have a good start on where to check.

Its late here, so I'll get started first thing in the AM (Euro-Time) and report back!

Revfan

Did that, no change C Lights still on

Tried that... no change

Did this... lights seem to work intermittently. Some times they come on, sometimes not... both hi and Low beams.

The right side is working correctly... the drivers side doesn't work. Left dash, Left Signal and Left Side of the Hazard Flash (dash and rear tail lights).

I bought an extra Headlight Switch and installed it this morning. Before I replaced the switch, I could get the Hi Beams to "always" come on but the lows were intermittent. I replaced the headlight switch and now both hi and low are intermittent.

The Glove box light is getting power, but won't come on.

Could this be one of those dreaded grounding issues?

All that being said... the Headlight bucket motors are out of the car for cleaning up... would THAT cause all my issues?

Robert Lewis

The headlight buckets out of the car would make no difference UNLESS you have a bad ground, because the grounding points are common to the headlights.

Do this: run a jumper wire (Radio Shack has these with alligator clips at both ends) between the low beam ground lead and the radiator support. Make sure you wiggle these around to make certain you have good contact. If this solves your problem, I would strongly advise that you revisit the grounds for ALL your problem connections: wire brush the ring terminals and the screws holding them to the chassis.

I'll bet money that the source of your issues is faulty grounds.

65GGvert

"The left side is working correctly... the drivers side doesn't work"

Are you saying that your car is converted to rh drive? I'm unclear as to what doesn't work, but it sure sounds like you have a loose or high resistance connection to ground.

Revfan

Here is the latest, and sorry for the confusion

ALL Headlights (hi and low) are not working. I could get them on intermittently before I replaced the headlight switch.

Drivers Side yellow light will come on when I pull the headlight switch, but does not flash when I turn left signal on.

Drivers side yellow does not flash when hazards are on.

Pass turn signal works when turn on, and when hazards are flashing

Rear lights flash for hazard and turn signal.

Courtesy lights stay on when battery is hooked up, only go off when the battery is unhooked. Headlight switch doesn't affect.

Headlight switch can adjust the dash lights to brighter/less bright.

Reverse light does not light.

jimgessner

I am thinking ''ground issues'' for lights not working. You say rear lights turn and flash. I think the front lights have ground problems

65GGvert

You're getting a ground somewhere on your courtesy lights. Normally they only ground through the headlight (dash light portion) switch or at the door post switches. They're always hot, so you will have to track down where the ground is incorrectly applied. It has to be on the ground side of one of the three bulbs (you also have one in the rear (convertible) or dome (coupe), or at the headlight switch. If the wiring or short issue was before the bulbs, you'd be blowing a fuse. One possibility is the bulb sockets. I'd pull the bulbs out of the courtesy lamps (all three) one at a time to see if the other two went off when the one was pulled. You may be getting a ground through the bulb to the mounting tab if you have a bad socket, or the wrong bulb inserted. The bulb should be a two contact bulb (90)

Revfan

Ok... here is an update (spoiler- a little progress but still no success)

I made sure the harmonica connector under the dash was snug (it wasn't) and that all the other connections in that area (that I could see/reach) were squared away. I visually inspected and tightened all connections on from the engine firewall connector down to the headlights/signals.

The Left AND Right Turn signals in the front now work. (Change -Victory)
Hazard Flasher Both blink at the front now (Change -Victory)

Rear Brake lights work (No Change)
Right Rear Turn Signal works (No Change)
Right Brake Light comes on with Hazard Warning (No Change)

Left Rear Turn Signal Still does not work (No Change)
Left Rear Turn Signal Does not blink with Hazard (No change)

Back up Light - Still doesn't come on

Dash Area
Headlight indicator Comes on and Blinks (Change - Victory)
Left Turn Signal Indicator on Dash Now blinks (Change Victory)
Emergency Brake Indicator on Dash NOW Blinks... but won't go off.

Headlights Do not work (High and/or Low Beams) No change

Courtesy Lights still wont go off.
I took the switches out of the door jams and cleaned them up (though they were not dirty). Stuck em back in to no positive effect. I noticed that when I removed the courtesy light mounting bracket (with light bulb still in it) the light goes off. Also, the lights stayed on even when the switches were unpluged and out of the door jamb.

Also, I blow the 20a Courtesy Light fuse about half of the time I connect the battery.

As to the headlights... I added relays so that I could convert to the Euro Spec H1/H2 headlights. Sometimes when I turn on the switch, the lights will come on for a nano-second and then go out.

Here are some pics to see if there is anything obvious that I am missing.


Here is the driver side Court light bracket. When I unscrew the bracket from the car, the light will go out.


The relays for the Headlights. They are mounted to the Radiator Bracket. On the other side of the Horn Relay

This is the ground terminals from the headlight relay. I stuck em under the Horn mounting bracket.


The horn relay... the green wires are the fuseable links coming from the headlight relays.

65GGvert

Take those bulbs out and look at the contacts on the end of the base. They should be TWO contact bulbs, not just one. If you use a one contact bulb, you'll short the voltage to the connector, which is grounded when you attach it to the dash. Here's a picture of the correct bulb contacts:



If they look like this, they're wrong and can cause a short:



The correct two contact bulb does not use the metal base as a contact, the single does. It's the wrong bulb

Revfan

The Courtesy bulbs are the correct two contact type...

But now I seem to be blowing fuses...

Thanks for stickin' with me so far, by the way!

stingrayl76

By "correct" two contact bulbs, do you mean they are #90 bulbs. A #90 bulb grounds through one of the contacts, not the base of the bulb.

65GGvert

That's what I'm getting at Revfan, if you don't have the #90 single filament, double contact bulb, you'll have the exact symptoms you are seeing with your courtesy lights.

Revfan

65GGvert
Thanks... we are probably on the right track. I switch my lights out to LEDs. So those are the ones that are staying on. I check at this forum, and saw that other folks had used the BA15D LED

Apparently, what I have is BAY15D... see below (it has the double contact on the bottom, but the bayonett lugs are uneven


Thinking that was the problem, as per you post above, I swapped it out, but used locally sourced bulbs that were the BA15S which have the single contact on the bottom, which started blowing my fuses.

I put the LED BAY15D back in, and notice that the Courtesy lights will dim when I turn the headlight switch clockwise (along with the dash lights) but not go out.

When my new bulbs get here, I will know for sure, but I think we are on the right path now concerning the C-lights.

Anyone have any ideas on the Headlights? They worked as they were supposed to, until i put my steering column back in and hooked up the harmonica connector under the column. It worked "a couple of times, intermittently", and now nothing. I disconnected the harmonica connector, and it doesn't work at all.

stingrayl76

Originally you said "the flasher/hazard only works on the left rear", and now you say the left rear turn signal does not work.
If your left rear turn signal doesn't work the problem is likely the turn signal switch.

Revfan

Ugghhh...
I was afraid of that... Its a "new" switch that I put in last fall.

jimgessner

LESSON LEARNED.

DON'T OUT ENGINEER THE ENGINEERS. REMEMBER YOUR CAR IS 47 YEARS OLD. New LED lights are nice, on an AUDI A8, but a vintage Corvette needs original T-3's or maybe LUCAS ''FLAMTHROWERS'' from back in the day.

Life is GOOD when you keep SIMPLE.