Always better to be grounded!!!!!

[Guest Im4darush]

Man sometimes these old cars give you the worst head scratch moments..

I pulled the rear bumper on my 65 to replace the tail light bezels. Of course cleaning and painting was in order so all the bulb housing came out. Put everything back together and all seemed well. Tail lights look fantastic when bright and clean. Walk around to turn the lights off and notice the dash lights are not on. I know they worked before! Long story short...bad ground at one of the tail light bulbs. Go figure! But it does not end there. Turn the lighs on, dash lights come on and BAM few seconds later the fuse blows. Every time. Long story short....no bulb in the clock and the wire inside the housing was free to move around and touch the housing. Put a bulb in and no more blowing fuses. These cars sure are delicate when it comes to grounding.

There is one thing however that is still not quite right. I remember that my headlight switch would dim the dash lights when you turn the knob. So it did work at one point. Now however, it will not. When I turn the knob just past it's brightest point, it just turns the dash lights off.

Could the few times I blew that panel fuse have damaged the switch?

[Guest dwhiteside64]

How long has it been since you used the dimmer feature? Did it work right up to the point of your refurbishing project? Yes I believe a few current surges COULD have effected the fine coil rheostat or the wiper arm within the switch but without knowing for sure you may need to inspect the switch for signs of damage. I believe removing the dash pad is the easiest way to do a visual without disconnecting and removing the switch entirely.

Edited October 2, 2014 by dwhiteside64 (see edit history)

[Guest Im4darush]

I have been working on the car for a while, and it sat up on jacks with no battery. Last time I saw it work was a few months ago. But it did work.

[Guest dwhiteside64]

I modified my post above.

[60FlatTop]

Those snap in bulb sockets rely on tension for a ground, whether they are metal or plastic. I like to solder a chassis ground wire to the bulb housing just to be sure:

Bernie

[Guest dwhiteside64]

Those snap in bulb sockets rely on tension for a ground, whether they are metal or plastic. I like to solder a chassis ground wire to the bulb housing just to be sure:

Bernie

That is a very good idea Bernie and great advice. :cool:

[1965rivgs]

Man sometimes these old cars give you the worst head scratch moments..

I pulled the rear bumper on my 65 to replace the tail light bezels. Of course cleaning and painting was in order so all the bulb housing came out. Put everything back together and all seemed well. Tail lights look fantastic when bright and clean. Walk around to turn the lights off and notice the dash lights are not on. I know they worked before! Long story short...bad ground at one of the tail light bulbs. Go figure! But it does not end there. Turn the lighs on, dash lights come on and BAM few seconds later the fuse blows. Every time. Long story short....no bulb in the clock and the wire inside the housing was free to move around and touch the housing. Put a bulb in and no more blowing fuses. These cars sure are delicate when it comes to grounding.

There is one thing however that is still not quite right. I remember that my headlight switch would dim the dash lights when you turn the knob. So it did work at one point. Now however, it will not. When I turn the knob just past it's brightest point, it just turns the dash lights off.

Could the few times I blew that panel fuse have damaged the switch?

No way a bad ground at a tail light bulb would cause no dash lights. Just a coincidence or perhaps the clock bulb issue had something to do with it....or an issue with the headlight switch rheostat.

Regarding the rheostat sometimes it will develop corrosion on the windings and not behave as expected. Easy to wipe off this corrosion by sweeping the knob back and forth a couple of dozen times. This may clean and wake up the rheostat. It is possible a short like the clock bulb wire could have a detrimental effect on the rheostat windings. Try moving the knob thru its range of motion before getting into light switch removal.

Tom Mooney

[Guest Im4darush]

Tom, what you are saying could be possible as I found the clock issue after the tail light housing. Could have been coincidence I guess that it started working if the clock wire did not touch the housing at that particular time.

In terms of the switch, I did turn it back and forth a few times, but no change.

dwhite mentioned taking the dash pad off to inspect the switch and I gave that a try. Removed the 4 screws and just could not get the pad to budge. I have the original pad in close to perfect condition so I was very weary of handling the thing. Changing the gauge bulbs was on my to-do list so this would have helped if I could actually get it to come off. For those interested in changing the bulbs, there is really only one that you can reach with your hands through the fuse door. I dropped the steering column (2 screws - 5 mins) and was able to reach all but the 2 at the very top of the gauge housing.

[Guest dwhiteside64]

dwhite mentioned taking the dash pad off to inspect the switch and I gave that a try. Removed the 4 screws and just could not get the pad to budge. I have the original pad in close to perfect condition so I was very weary of handling the thing. Changing the gauge bulbs was on my to-do list so this would have helped if I could actually get it to come off. For those interested in changing the bulbs, there is really only one that you can reach with your hands through the fuse door. I dropped the steering column (2 screws - 5 mins) and was able to reach all but the 2 at the very top of the gauge housing.

Hi, check this thread out for info on dash pad removal:

http://forums.aaca.org/f177/65-headlight-switch-354383.html