ignachuck

In case you haven't noticed, I'm tackling electrical problems one-by-one on my '56 Super 88. Got the lighter working. got the trunk light and underhood light working. Thanks for the valuable tips!

In today's episode, I'm trying to get the instrument cluster lights and clock light working. According to page 13-43 of the service manual, there is a fuse "on the headlight switch" for these lights. Figure 13-62 on page 13-35 shows the headlight switch, but no pointer to where the heck the fuse might be. Oh yeah, no autronic eye on my car.

I really do enjoy behing upside down with a dorkey light on my head looking for stuff to fix (I mean it- it's nice and quiet down there after a day at work) but I can't find this fuse. I think that 54 to 56 might have the same switch.

Can anyone help me find this fuse?

Thanks,
Frank

Tedd Thompson

You might try the wires coming directly out behind the head light switch, there may be a inline fuse there, it can't be much it only calls for a 2 amp fuse. I know it's not in the regular fuse block. Or follow the foot dimmer wire back to the light switch that is where the clock wire and instrument cluster wires start. the original hot lead comes from the horn relay. ...Tedd

ignachuck

Here's what I found from piecing together other threads and the AACA. Headlight switches from that era have a kind of a nut behind the headlight pull (there must be a technical name for the nut). If you pull the headlight switch rod all the way out (to the headlights on position) you can get at that nut and back it out. Then, with the switch rod still all the way out, reach under and find a little push button on the switch itself that releases the entire rod. Then the switch can be lowered out, and there is the AGA2 fuse. All this can be done from above, without getting your head stuck between the brake pedal and the dimmer switch! So, having done all that, I replaced the fuse and put it all back together and viola! Nothing! I still have no instrument panel lights. I have parking lights, tail lights, and headlights. Sooo, the fuse was never blown and now I'll take the switch out again and clean the contacts and start tracing the instrument panel wires. Oh well, I always get it right the second time.

twintracks

Hi Frank,
Two things to try:
1. It would be common for every bulb to be burned out if your car has been sitting for a long time. Or perhaps some power surge blew them all out at some time in the past, although that's why the fuse is there. Take a few out & test them on the battery.
2. The more likely cause is the panel light dimmer rheostat in the headlight switch. Try turning on the parking lights, and then spin the **** back & forth, & see if they come on at all. The switch can be taken apart & cleaned, or you can just wiggle the **** when you loose the panel lights..

Your clock went in the mail on Friday.

Cheers, Jerry

ignachuck

First off, thanks Jerry for the restoration of the clock. It keeps perfect time. As mentioned by others, those clocks shake you up at first when they rewind every few minutes. That and the mercury switches in the trunk and hood lights are really neat features of 50's cars.

Back to the headlight switch, I've tried my best to clean the rheostat but I can't get it to work and I think it's a lost cause. I really don't want to jump the rheostat to the switch itself and I don't fell like paying a hundred bucks for a new one right now, so I put it back in and I'll keep an eye on e-bay for a replacement.

At least now I'm an expert on taking that switch out.......

Yellowstatue

Usually we would pull the headlight **** out, then reach under and press the little button and then remove the knut. You could take a jumper wire and put 12 volts directly to the dash circuit to check your lights.

Tedd Thompson

X2 or use a multimeter and see where the juice stops and address that area. No use taking stuff apart that doesn't need to especially under the dash..Just a thought....Tedd