I have several electrical problems with my 65 F-85 that I am trying to fix.
While I am good at making mechanical types of repairs, electrical things are not my specialty.

The first thing I am trying to fix is the AM radio (original to the car). It gets power- the dial lights up when I turn it on. However, I get no sound from the speaker, other than a little crackling while turning the volume ****- which then stops when I stop turning it. I'm sure the power feed wire and the speaker wire are hooked up. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting them. I am sure that the antenna is hooked up also. There is a "ground" wire slot on the back of the radio which has nothing going to it. Out of curiosity I hooked up an alligator clip from this slot and connected it to a ground, but this didn't change anything. I am sure the radio is mounted properly. I thought it was possible that the ground for the radio was through the dash mounting so I made sure no screws are loose. The weird part is, a while back, the radio did not work, then suddenly started working for a week or so, then all of a sudden it stopped again and I can't get it working. So, I know it CAN work. Does anyone know what I should check? Do I need to open the radio up to fix this?

The second thing that is wrong is the horn. I know the relay works. I can get 12 volts at the connector at the base of the steering column. However, there is some kind of a problem with the metal ring shaped piece inside the steering column. I get power this far. However, there's some spring type of device that holds a contact down onto this ring shaped piece. It is here somehow where the power is lost. Before, the horn would only work when the steering wheel was turned to a certain position, and not at other positions. Now, it doesn't work at all. I think this spring type thing is not holding the contact down onto the wheel properly. Does anyone know where I can get another one?

The third thing is that the dome light does not light up when the doors are opened. The dome light turns on if I turn the headlight switch all the way counterclockwise. However, neither door switch will turn the dome light on. I've checked things like the fuses- they're fine. I don't know how to get to the door switches to check them, or what else I could check.

Thanks for any ideas you may have.

 

On the radio issue, you will need to pull it out and look for bad internal connections and cold solder joints. Since it sometimes works, it should be an easy free repair. Contact cleaner in the volume and tone controls will help, too.

I think you isolated the horn issue to the upper steering column. I do not know where to get column parts, but i am sure someone else will know.

For the dome lights... Since neither switch works, it may be a bad connection beween the two switches and the lamps.
--Assuming the colors & wiring in 65 are the same as 72:
There will be a white wire going to each door switch. Connect an alligator lead to ground and the other end to a needle or straight or safety pin. Take the pin and push it into the white wire. If dome lights light, then the switch is bad. If not, look for an open in the white wire circuit upstream. The wire eventually connects to the headlight switch.

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can do.

Do you (or anyone else) know what the spring and ring type of thing inside the steering column is called? I would try to find one if I knew what to call it.

 

as far as your horn goes. there is the piece of plastic above the spring that pushes down on the spring to hold it in the steering column. it could be a couple things. it either is not making good contact with the brass ring behind the steering wheel, the contacts on the back of the horn bar are no good or the relay is going bad. it is under the hood on the fender well along with the junction block. i had the same problem. mine was kind of a combination of the three, but mostly it was centered around the relay going bad. i got one out of a junk yard off another car. i have seen them on ebay. i also bought a beeter set of horn bars of ebay and i cleaned the brass ring on mine. they work great now. good luck chris

 

the ring is a turn signal cancelling cam it has the metal contact ring around it for the horn to make contact with. you can get them out of yearone. they should be the same for yours as they are for a 65 cutlass.

 

thanks.

 

The power transistor in the amplifier stage of these radios is notorious for failing. I have replaced several of them. If you're at all good with a soldering iron you can remove the transistor (it's the TO3-case transistor that's bolted to the outside of the radio case) and take it to (gasp!) Radio Shack for a cross reference. Of course, Radio Shack will be out of this transistor when you get there...

 

OK! First, some good news!
I got the dome light working. I was able to remove the door switches to find there was surface rust on the contacts. I used some sandpaper and got the rust off- now the dome light works when I open the doors!

The radio- well, I've been fiddling with it for an hour or so. I don't see anything obvious disconnected or with poor contacts.

Joe, you say the power transistor in the amplifier is what may have failed, and that it's bolted to the outside of the outside of the radio case. There are two possibities I see. One is in the back of the radio and is smaller, and has 3 wires running to it. It says on it "Delco, DS-503, 6519".

Or are you saying it's the piece attached to the on/off and volume switch? This is definitely where the battery voltage comes in, and also where power goes out to light the radio light.

I'm wondering if the fact that there is no wire to the "ground" port is significant. Also, how does the speaker get grounded, just by being bolted to the dash?

 

One other possibility is the speaker. I had one years ago just go dead. It is pretty easy to check.

 

It's the one on the back with three wires.

 

I believe the front speaker gets grounded through the dash, just like the rears did.

Since the radio has 'sometimes' worked, I would suspect cold solder joints internally.
Also, since some static could be heard in the speaker when the volume control was turned kinda tells me the problem is in the preamp side or before.

If you can hook it up on a workbench to a 12V power source, take a plastic or wooded probe to prod around until you find the sweet spot. Do not use a pencil, as the "lead" is conductive enough to cause problems.

I would probably resolder every connection, or have some one do it if you are not too skilled in the electronics side. ("If there is one, there is more" I say). I have done this to many radios and it does not take too long. Avoid "no clean" solder, as it causes corrosion later.
I do know the 80's ETR units were popular for having cold solder joints.

Hope you get it going!

 

just a thought on the radio,
is the antenna connected? and is the circuit complete from the antenna to the radio?

without a good signal-you will get this symptom.


bill

 

The antenna is connected. I can at least follow the wire out to the antenna (it's not too long)- whether it completes the circuit electrically I'm not sure.

The speaker is a possibility... I'll have to check that. I guess even if it puts out some crackles it could be the problem.

I'm going to work on it some more later.

If all else fails I'll replace the T03 like Joe suggested.
Thanks everyone.

 

Norm

 

Cool. Thanks for the photo.