nightmare

I have electrical gremlins coming out the wazoo in my dynamic88. the engine, headlights,heater, dome light, radio, and air conditioner work but nothing else does. when i first bought the car my left turn signal and brake light didnt work but everything else did.

as of right now the car has been converted to an alternator and the fuse box has been cleaned with brand new fuses put in as well as a new battery. a friend checked it out and believes some of the wires have been eaten by a mouse but has no clue where that would be.

I need to find someone that is capable of getting this car street legal again.

oldcutlass

I googled auto electrical in seatle and there area few places listed.

rocketraider

The absolute first thing you need is a 1961 electrical wiring diagram, no matter if you do it yourself or hire the job out. The absolute last thing you need is somebody mucking around with your wiring who knows nothing about the car in question and just starts yanking wires. Wiring diagram is in Section 13 of 1961 Olds factory service manual. Get a copy of it if you have to buy the whole 61 manual to get it, which wouldn't be a bad idea to have it anyway.

Right now I'm leaning toward you have a corroded or failed ignition switch, since from your description anything that is either constant 12v (hot at all times) or fed from the ACC terminal of the switch is working, and what is fed from IGN 1 terminal is not. Does the car start and run?

Look on the ignition switch plug and you will see a heavy gage RED wire which is the battery to switch wire. Should be constant 12V at this terminal with battery connected.

You will also see a GREEN wire which is the ACC terminal wire (hot in ACC or RUN), and a YELLOW wire which is IGN 1 (hot in RUN only). You can use a test light to probe the terminals in the plug and see if you have power in different switch positions.

If things ain't up to snuff, with battery disconnected, pull the plug off the ignition switch and check for corrosion or melted wiring/plug. There are two, maybe three plastic "fingers" that hold the plug to the switch body. You'll have to pull those outward to get the plug off.

If you have a self-powered continuity test light, you can use it to check the switch with the plug and battery disconnected. Put the clip on the ignition switch terminal the heavy RED wire connects to (BATT), then put the probe on each of the switch's terminals while you move the switch around thru ACC, OFF, RUN and START positions to see if switch is making contact internally at each position.

You should have:

BATT to ACC- tester lights in ACC and RUN

BATT to IGN 1 and BATT to GRD- tester lights in RUN

BATT to IGN 2 and BATT to SOL- tester lights in START



Good luck. Learn how to do some of this stuff, for two things. Self-satisfaction, and so you won't be at the mercy of a technician who doesn't know any more about an older car than you yourself do.


Edit- Parts book shows 1959 all and 1961 full size car use the same switch. Grp 2.188, p/n 1116591. If you can't find a Delco Remy switch, whatever aftermarket switch crosses to those applications will work if you have to have a switch. You might wanna check with the guy in New Jersey who bought that garage full of older application NOS parts. He's c1run1 on here, and his boxes were full of old red and black D-R boxes.