Gen 1 electrical connection

[BulldogDriver 51]

I’ve exhausted  all of my resources trying to identify this connection. The wire colors are violet, black, and yellow in one connector and the other connector has a red wire. I can’t find reference to it in my Chassis manual and the Illustrated Parts manual seems to have forgot that 63 Rivieras exsist. 
 

Ray

[Black River 158]

Is your starter wired up yet?  I remember mine had violet and yellow going to it, don't remember a connector like that, though.  

[RivNut 4,035]

I have the big color coded laminated wiring diagrams for 63, 64, and 65.  I looked at each of the three, but I could not find anything on them to support what you're picturing.  Going with what I said previously, I'd say that that plug with the added wired could be one of, but not limited to, the following:  Cruise control, cornering lights, rear window defroster, Guide-matic, or Twi-light sentinel.  If everything you have on your car is working, then I'd tuck that wire up and out of the way and not worry about it.

 

Ed

[Turbinator 736]

I was on the driver side floor board today. I noticed 3 wires going in the dimmer switch. The colors on the dimmer switch looked like what you showed. Can’t swear to it.

Turbinator

[JJ62 29]

Have you peeled that tape back to verify that the red wire is actually red and not a red wire spliced to another wire? That's the first thing I do when troubleshooting electrical issues. It's hard enough to decipher automotive electrical diagrams as it is, without wrong colored wires being spliced in.

 

Jim

Edited September 2, 2020 by JJ62 (see edit history)

[RivNut 4,035]

Usually one wiring harness is installed in all cars regardless of options.  That could be for an option that your car does not have.  I think the red wire is an afterthought that someone tapped into for power.  In almost any Riviera, you will have plugs that do not connect to anything.  The terminal on the end of the Red wire is not OEM, nor is it the same gauge a other wires going to the terminal. Picture is from a 1963 Riviera wiring diagram

[XframeFX 93]

Packard Series 56 connectors indicates OEM. The blue tape, not. Turbinator mentioned the dimmer switch. That and the speed minder buzzer are the only connectors on the dash harness that have that 3-contact connector. Oh, the rear defogger switch might have one but not at the bottom of the steering column.

 

John B.

[Turbinator 736]

9 hours ago, XframeFX said:

Packard Series 56 connectors indicates OEM. The blue tape, not. Turbinator mentioned the dimmer switch. That and the speed minder buzzer are the only connectors on the dash harness that have that 3-contact connector. Oh, the rear defogger switch might have one but not at the bottom of the steering column.

 

John B.

John, thank you for seconding the possibilities the wiring m I g h t be the dimmer switch. I get down there under the dash and get dizzy and don’t know which way is up.

Turbinator

[BulldogDriver 51]

All,

 

1. The blue tape is my doing. It’s so I can label the usage or if it is unknown. Black marks on the connector is also my doing.
 

2. The wires and connectors are original to the harness and from what I can see have not been used. Everything that I’ve  seen points to an unmolested and original interior wiring harness. There was one repair done to the fuse block, but done poorly. I have corrected that.

 

3. The wire colors don’t matchup with the usual scheme. Violet is a Courtesy lamp run, Red is positive 12 volts, Black is ground, etc. I have what I believe to be all of the printed references available, including the laminated wiring diagram which is good for general reference but is not completely accurate ie; yellow with black stripe (YBS) for temp sender, they show it joined somewhere off of the switch and it’s at the connector. Still a reference that I use a lot. 
 

4. My car has Cruise Control, but doesn’t have Guide-Matic , Twilight Sentinel, or Rear Defroster. Knowing that the factory did wire for the options in this car, I was verify that I knew what every connector was used for and that I had not forgot to connect any that are being used after all of the work I have been doing over the last 6 months. That will be shared at a later time.
 

This started because a continuity check on this connection doesn’t agree with what I thought it should. Rather then sway the response to the topic, I’ll leave it at that.
 

What I’m hoping for is someone responds with an absolute answer so I can than research the issue logically. I would rather not cut the sheathing on the harness unless needed. I’m sure someone knows.

 

Ray

[telriv 783]

Besides the standard wiring depending on options it could have an additional "Accessory harness".  Being your car has cruise it has an accessory harness. ALSO although part of the cruise control wiring & cornering light options some of that was included with the standard harness.  As far as I know ALL '63-'65 Rivs. came this way.

[dr914 96]

those wires are in my opinion much too new looking to be 56 years old.  Maybe someone had a problem with the original harness ends and spliced something onto it.

[BulldogDriver 51]

Resolved.
 

The harness is for the Guide-Matic. Shop Manual shows Gray, Violet, Black, and Red to the connector.  Apparently they substituted Yellow for Gray. The Red connector goes to the Guide-Matic foot switch. Was able to verify end to end continuity and I’m  now comfortable enough to obsess on something else. 
 

Thanks for everyone’s input.

 

Ray

Edited September 2, 2020 by BulldogDriver (see edit history)

[BulldogDriver 51]

5 minutes ago, dr914 said:

those wires are in my opinion much too new looking to be 56 years old.  Maybe someone had a problem with the original harness ends and spliced something onto it.

This is an amazing car! No rust, no dents, undercoated from the factory and other than a minor Battery acid fix, no repairs have been done to body. Was a south California car. It sat on a Buick dealership’s showroom floor for about 20 years. I have checked all of the wiring harnesses and have found very little wrong. Some engine wires where brittle, replaced, and a repair to the fuse block was poorly done in the past, also repaired. Could not see any reason to do anything else other then rewrap the engine harness and leave it at that.

 

Sometimes I get lucky!

 

Ray