Help! I drove home today before dark (didn't use headlights) and before going to bed noticed the interior lights on inside the car. The doors were closed and when I push on the door jamb switches, the lights flicker a bit but don't go off. I pulled the wire that taps off the fuse box and the front courtesy lights went out but the two rear convertible dome light (on the arm rests) stay on. There are lots of dash lights that have been out since I got the car in Oct. but this is new. Any thoughts? I have a wiring diagram (are the 'vert lights the same as the dome light on the diagram?)

Bill

 

The headlight switch isn't rotated to the courtesy light on position is it?
Otherwise maybe the one of the door jamb switches is grounding out?

 

I checked the headlight switch. I'll see about the jamb switch, but why would the rear interior lights be on with the fuse lead pulled?

 

Not sure about 68 but in 72, the underdash courtesy lamps were an option on A-bodies (but standard on verts with no roof mounted dome light). Therefore the two underdash lights had its own harness that could be unplugged. In 72 that harness is under the dash - hidden - but in 68 it may have plugged right into the fuse block.

Flickering when depressing the door switch points to it as a culprit.
Unscrew the door switches (start with LH side) and when you unscrew the defective one, the light should go out. If you pull both switches and the lights stay on, then there is a short to ground on that white wire that feeds the door switches. Headlight switch is next in line, providing there is not much chance of pinching that white wire after having removed and installed any interior panels or stuff under the dash.

Does the car have an alarm system that could be malfunctioning or has been miswired?

 

I don't have the diagrams in front of me, but is there any chance the passenger side switch is a double-contact switch (driver's side should be double: one for the lights and one for the key alarm)? If so, then one half of the passenger side switch may be for the under-dash lights, and one side for the rear lights.

- Eric

 

I do not think the key warning was used in 68. If not, both switches would be single contact.
Key warning was used in 72. The RH door switch in 72 IS a double contact with only one contact being used.

 

You're right - I think it started in '69. '68 was a dash ignition switch, '69 went on the column. I KNOW it was required in '70.

- Eric

 

I'm almost positive the driver's side is double contact and passenger is single in 68. I know the buzzer goes off when I open the driver's door. I remember breaking the contact removing the passenger switch when I was stripping the car for painting and it being different than the driver's side

 

Thanks for the tips...I'm going to do battle with the jamb switches first. It appears from the wiring diagram that the pass (RH) switch is a 2-pole (I'm not sure I'm reading it right). Also, the driver's (LH) would have to be at least a 2-pole for the buzzer to be activated only by the LH door switch and not the RH switch or the headlight switch. BTW, the buzzer hasn't worked since I've owned the car.

Where is the buzzer? Is it physically part of the ignition switch?

-Bill

 

If I'm correct (and I could be off), center firewall, more or less, inside engine compartment, same unit as the horn relay ('67 is left fender liner, but I think it's firewall for '68). The buzzer wire (if it's got one) is pink with a stripe of some color (black?).

- Eric

 

on the driver's side inner fender in 68

 

Well, it was the LH door jamb switch. The RH switch is a 2 wire (spade type) switch with a plastic barrier strip to keep the two wires from touching. The LH (driver's) side switch is 3 wire switch with each wire terminating in a barbed strip. The 3 barbed ends of the wires fit into a plastic cylinder. The ends of the barbed strips actually pass through the plastic cylinder and each has the same protrusion length. The end of the pogo pin fits into the center of the plastic cylinder so that when the pin is pushed in the cylinder (with the ends of the wires) is pushed away from the conductive fitting that screws into the jamb thus breaking contact between the wires and ground.

The plastic cylinder had cracked in half and the pogo pin wasn't pushing the wires away. After 5 minutes of agonizing finger clamping, the 5-minute epoxy I used to glue the cylinder back together had set up to the point where I could re-insert the, close the door, and let it cure fully. Probably won't last long but hopefully will last until a replacement can be found.

Any thoughts on where to get a 3 wire door jamb switch?

 

It was a common item on lots of cars (probably every GM car made for ten or twenty years, actually).

Probably available from the corner auto parts store. Also from the dealer.
Also at the junk yard .

- Eric