Removing interior light lenses

[Matt Harwood]

I have a '63 Riv that is on its way to a new owner and I noticed today that the round courtesy lights in the sail panels are out. I'd like to fix them before the car ships. I poked around a bit and couldn't discover the mystery of how the lenses are removed. Before I start prying with a screwdriver or something, can someone tell me how they come apart? They seem pretty fragile and I don't want to risk breaking one.

Also, can anyone tell me which fuse is for the radio? I don't have a manual for the car.

Thanks!

[RivNut]

New ones are flexible enough that you can bend them just enough to get the tabs on the lens into the slot on the housing. Get the new ones first and look at them before taking the old ones out. You will see where the tabs are. To get the old ones out, simply insert the tip of a small screwdriver between the lens and the housing and pry the lens up. If the ones in there now are original, they're brittle and will come out in pieces

Ed

[Seafoam65]

The two sail panel lights are on a different fuse from the other courtesy lights. The fuse

in question powers up the two sail panel lamps and the trunk lamp. When I bought my car my sail panel

lights were out and it turned out to be that someone had pinched the trunk lamp wire under the trunk

lid latch striker and blown the fuse. If both of your sail panel lights are out, it is probably 95 percent probability

that you have a blown fuse.

[RivNut]

To add to what was said above; the switches: head light switch, door jamb, courtesy, and rear console are all switches that "go to ground." The hot wire goes to the lamp and the switch is on the ground wire side. That's how different lights react to different switches - they all come on when the door is opened, but once the door is closed, different lamps come on with different switches; multiple ways of grounding each lamp.

Ed

[Matt Harwood]

Thanks for the advice guys. I've totally struck out repairing any of the gremlins in this car. All fuses look OK, but I'll check tomorrow with a voltmeter. All interior lights are out except the one on the back of the console, which works fine with the door switches but not with its own switch. Courtesy light under the dash on the passenger side and sail panel lights, even with fresh bulbs, are non-functional. Radio, gas gauge, and horn also not functional. Some electrical gremlin has gotten in there and buggered it all up. I was thinking I could at least have some success with the horn, but I bet the relay is shot--I hear it clicking but nothing is happening.

I hate electrical problems. Thanks for the advice, I'll report back if I discover anything new.

[petelempert]

M-So, I'm no electrician and I get nervous just thinking about the wiring in my 63. That said, two things seemed to have cured most if my electrical woes. I had a whole host of oddball electrical gremlins that I just couldn't figure out no matter how long I stared at the wiring schematic. Also, I had problems that seemed to mysteriously appear and then go away. Full disclosure: I'm not even sure why these two fixes helped and this is sort of "kook advice" but they did. First, I had the door switches rebuilt and when I reinstalled them interior lights I never even knew I had came on. Second, an old mechanic I know told me the headlight dimmer switch on 60's GM cars can malfunction and cause all sorts of squirrelly problems that affect things other than just the headlights. Both are not too expensive to fix/replace. PRL

[Seafoam65]

Matt, you need to buy a test light at your local auto supply(an ice pick with a

light bulb in the handle and a ground wire with alligator clip coming out of the top of the

handle that you can ground, then probe with the ice pick end for power) With your new test light, probe the fuse holders in the dash to the left of the column on both sides. a

lot of times even though the fuse looks OK, it is blown on the end where you can't see the break, and often times on 60's cars the fuse holders get enough rust on the metal that even a good fuse can't make a connection to the fuse holder. It sounds to me like

you have power feed issues at the fuse box holders. Probe the fuse holders on each side

for power that lights your test light not just the ends of the fuses. Do this and report back to me with your results.

[1965rivgs]

Thanks for the advice guys. I've totally struck out repairing any of the gremlins in this car. All fuses look OK, but I'll check tomorrow with a voltmeter. All interior lights are out except the one on the back of the console, which works fine with the door switches but not with its own switch. Courtesy light under the dash on the passenger side and sail panel lights, even with fresh bulbs, are non-functional. Radio, gas gauge, and horn also not functional. Some electrical gremlin has gotten in there and buggered it all up. I was thinking I could at least have some success with the horn, but I bet the relay is shot--I hear it clicking but nothing is happening.

I hate electrical problems. Thanks for the advice, I'll report back if I discover anything new.

Matt, You should find three wires at each door jamb switch. Each wire should have battery voltage and when grounded to the body where the switch inserts illuminate one of the three courtesy light circuits. If you do not have voltage at all three wires the obvious next step is in the fuse panel.

Be sure you are using a DOUBLE contact bulb and not a single contact bulb. The fuses will blow if you use the wrong bulb. I have seen this many times in `60`s courtesy lights.

Contact Gordon on this forum for replacement switches. Good luck on your Ebay auction,

Tom Mooney

[Seafoam65]

To clarify.....the three wires on the door jamb switches ground different lights on the interior. One of the

three wires just grounds the sail panel lights as I recall. When these switches go bad, you can lose just the sail panel lights while the other courtesy lights may work. Usually when the door jamb switch is your problem, you can tell because when you open the door on the opposite side of the car, the lights come on. It is possible that both of your door jamb switches are bad on the same terminal, killing the sail panel lights even though they are getting power from the fuse box. The easy way to tell if the door jamb switch in question is bad is to pop it out of the door jamb and unplug the three wires going to it and holding them in your fingers touch the ends of all three to the metal in the door jamb. All the courtesy lights will come on when you do this if everything else is OK on the circuit. You can have these 3 wire switches repaired, but what I did is buy the

new ones for sale on evil bay that have only two spades instead of three, but are identical in all other respects. I then spliced one of the three wires to another wire making only two wiring connections to the switch and plugged them in.....works great, and the two wire switches are much less trouble prone than the 3 wire ones, plus you have brand new GM switches, not rebuilt. One

other thought......If the door jamb switches pass the test, and you have power

on both sides of all the fuse holders, you may have a car that fell victim to mice

who got inside the car and started chewing on the wiring harnesses. They love

to climb into dark inaccessible areas of cars and chew the wires in two. We see

this every winter in my car repair shop about every two weeks. They go into the

car to get away from the cold. This is usually a problem on cars left parked outside near wooded areas.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Seafoam65 (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

Wow, thanks for all the additional ideas, guys! I'll get to work checking the switches and I'm already going through the fuse box with my multi-meter so we'll double-check all the fuses.

This is why the internet was invented. Thank you!

[msdminc]

Matt, You should find three wires at each door jamb switch....I have seen this many times in `60`s courtesy lights.

Contact Gordon on this forum for replacement switches. Good luck on your Ebay auction,

Tom Mooney

Thanks Tom. For anyone in need send a PM to me to make arrangements for 1st Gen Door Jamb Switch refurbish. They will be as good as new for $15 each, and will work as they did when delivered from the factory. Contact me via PM and I will give you mailing and payment instructions. Return shipping in the US is included, all you have to do is send the rebuild-able cores to me with a check for $15 per switch you want rebuilt. I replace any parts that are not up to snuff, as well as I always replace the copper plunger contact with a much stronger and longer lasting beryllium copper plunger contact. If they ever not function after they have been refurbished - just contact me and I will repair them again.

Rock On

gord

Edited February 16, 2015 by msdminc (see edit history)