The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts My boneheaded wiring move. Help

Working to replace the underdash wiring harness on my 58 Vikking 60. 283 engine. Original ignition switch ( working well.., b4 I get hold of it ...but brittle wire) so I take a god look and picture on my phone camera of where all wires go and hook up. I have some wiring diagrams from multiple sites on web and thought I understood it all. PROBLEM. MY PHONE CRASHED and I lost my reference pics. Now my question.. I got it all hooked up. All lighting circuits and gauges working but I have a red wire coming out of ignition Tri-plug/conecter which comes into the center three tabs on back of switch (original v8 switch). where does it go to??? Pink is going to gas gauge , acc to windshield wiper, hot wire coming in from main harness , which travels though amp meter then goes out to voltage reg /with leg to fuse block. Green wire out to resistor. All as I remember ..But the single 10 inch red wire.. Duh. No picture/ no memory. Funny thing is truck starts without it hooked up to anything and switch installed in dash,,,, but will not turn off / kill engine by turning switch off. ( I have to disconnect hot wire to switch to turn off engine). Any help or insight is appreciated. Yes I posted in electric bay too, but my 1/2 ton does not have this switch so thought you big bolters could help me. Dang cell phone cameras. Lol

Hy txpete, I think that red wire might belong on one of the ammeter terminals, My manual shows a brown wire going to the resistor and a green going to the coil from the resistor, hope that helps.

Thanks 38. But my diagram and how the truck cam wired shows an hot wire coming in from battery to the amp meter on the passenger side and then the underdash harness carrying from the drivers side amp meter through the firewall to voltage regulator with a y going to the fuse block and back to the switch. Problem is most of the wiring on this truck was not correct color with previous owner splicing in white and new wire terminals. But how it was wired worked fine and looked correct according to diagrams. But alas I lost the pic I took of harness on back of switch Gotta keep tying stuff. I guess. Have a good week

Are you installing a wiring harness from a vendor (if so what brand) or are you making it from scratch?

Do you have the accessory fuse box?

Mike B

One of the things the Ignition switch does is supply hot to coil. The switch gets an almost direct feed of 12V to it's BAT terminal, then when in Run/On it energizes the On terminal/wire to the Ballast, then thru ballast and to coil pos. There is another wire from coil pos to solenoid R. There is a wire from solenoid S to Start terminal on Ign Switch. To repeat: There are two wires on the coil pos.
You have it wired wrong so that you have hot to coil somehow, but it's not switched by the On Terminal as my above.

When the solenoid is energized it starts the starter motor AND it supplies hot from R to coil during start. When you let off of key, the R is disconnected and the hot from ballast (which is wired from the ON position on Ign SW) takes over to run the motor on less than 12V to points.

As you mentioned, FORGET the colors and wire start/run per schematic or my info. The other ACC stuff/Ammeter is up to you.
If your ignition switch is not marked and you don't have a diagram of what terminal is which, you will have to take switch out and test continuity and find out what each terminal is for and write it down on a piece of paper. You just have to chase each wire as it comes out of the switch connector and be sure you know what it is and where it should go.
This problem is normal and you are normal. Just redo the think.

This is all assuming you have a solenoid on your starter and by V8 switch you mean the spring loaded/momentary/key to the right to start.. style ignition switch.

I would also like to know what Mike is asking. We can't tell you what any wire is for from our house. You said the PO may have changed colors and obviously something is wired wrong. If we guess at that it could cause you big problems. You will have to determine the whole ignition switch wiring.

Thank you sirs. I will study some more and start tracing wires this weekend. The original wiring harness has a three receptacle/female connector (factory) plugged in center three male post on original spring switch. On off start .

Mike I have all the original harness and v8 switch but have lost the pics I took b4 taking it out under dash and off ignition switch and am not sure how/ where this one free red 10 inch wire goes that is coming off the back of the switch in from the trip plug connector

Do you have a cigarette lighter? If so you should have a Heavy Wall #16 Red wire going from the BAT terminal on the ignition switch to the center post on the lighter. There should also be a #14 Red on that same BAT terminal going to the Ammeter, the Battery side of the Ammeter gets a Black #14 wire from the Battery Post on the Starter.

Here's the way I think the ignition switch should be wired;

BAT - #14 Red to Ammeter (battery power).
BAT - #16 Red to Cigarette Lighter, this wire might look like a #10 as it has a heavy wall insulation jacket.

START - Purple to Starter Soloniod.

IGN-2 - Green to Coil.
IGN-2 - Green to Ballast Resistor.

ACC - Pink to Gas Gauge.
ACC - Pink to Temp Gauge.
ACC - Pink to Accessory Junction Block.
ACC - Pink to Turn Signal Switch.

Hope this helps,

Mike B

Mike. Thanks friend! Just the specifics I was looking for! Will get on tracing wires this weekend.

Mike, what about IGN-1 ? Also seems like there should be more than a three hole connector?

Good catch, I missed that one. IGN 1 is also part of the ACC Terminal i believe.

IGN-1 - Brown to Ballast Resistor.

Mike B

Whoop i.e. Thanks to all your advise and some studying and thinking. I finally got it all working !!! Well the original light issue still exist , I'm. Sure the rear lights have been retired and possibly wron as the cab roof lights and instrument panel lights come on when brake lights come on. This occurs when lights and light switch is off. When lights /light switch is on, the brake lights do not work. My tail lights have two bulb one blinker and one for lights with second filiment for brakes. Any suggestions?

You have wires crossed up somewhere and need to follow each circuit out from start to finish, one at a time.

Since you have different bulbs for Blinker and Stop it should be easy to track the wires. The Stop light circuit should have 12v + (hot all the time) to one terminal on the Stop Light Switch on the fire wall at the brake pedal and the other terminal going directly to the Stop Light Bulb, that's it!

The Blinker Lights should wire directly to the Turn Signal Switch and since the Stop and Blinker are separate at the rear, both the front and rear lights cam be on the same terminal/wire from the Turn Signal Switch.

The Front and Rear Running Lights wire directly to the Light Switch. They terminate on different terminals so the Front Lights are only ON when the Switch is in the Running Light position only. The Rear Lights should be ON in both Running Light and Head Light switch position. The Cab Roof Clearance Lights should be wired to the same terminal as the Rear Running Lights.

The Instrument Lights should be wired to the Dimmer Terminal on the Light Switch.

Hope this helps,

Mike B

Thanks Mike. Running lights and park lights are all working fine. could it be that the bulbs on rear lights ( two filament bulb) ate reversed in fixture? blinkers work fine. I'll chase down lines being crossed at stop light switch or in ther rear wiring harness soon.

If the two fillament bulb (Stop and Running) are reversed then the Stop bright light would be ON with the light switch pulled out one click to Running/Parking light position. If you then applied the brakes it would show no change as the bright light would overpower the dim fillament.

I'd start at the brake light switch with my icepick tester. Confirm there is 12v+ and then depress the pedal to confirm there is 12v+ on the other terminal (switch leg side). If that checks OK, then follow the switch leg wire off of the switch and see where it goes. It should go to the rear Stop lights, but may pass through the dash wiring first (which is where I suspect you have your issues).

Since you have two light bulbs at the rear your brake light circuit does not need to pass through the turn signal switch. Your trun signal should be a simple 3-wire switch with a 12v+ hot wire going through the Flasher and then going up the collum and the Left and Right switch legs coming down...

Mike B

The bulb can not be put in socket the wrong way, it is keyed. The wiring could be reversed I guess. As far as I know, the brake must go thru the turn signal switch so that the brake signal can be turned off during blink mode. Otherwise it will not blink. That is one of the functions of a turn signal switch, disconnect the brake signal on the side that want's to blink. Don't know what turn signal switch you have, but 58 should be about 7 wires. If you have some other system, disregard.
I have lost what the exact latest issue is. What are the lights doing or not doing? The only thing that would turn on roof lights and instrument lights on when brake applied is feed or feedback from brake switch or turn signal switch.

Bart,

He says he has two bulbs on each side (3 filaments, Running, Stop, Turn), so the brake circuit doesn't need to go through the turn signal switch as they are separate circuits.

Mike B

OK. Sorry, didn't catch that. Thanks Mike.

That thought occurred to me also. If the rest of the wiring checks out, maybe try reversing the two wires that go to that two filament bulb. The tail lights should be running the dim filament of that bulb and the brake lights should be on the bright filament.

I still say the issue is under the dash, to many weird things happening with cab and dash lights coming on with brakes lights etc. The only way to fix it is to start with ONE circuit at a time and make it right as you go...one mistake in the harness that's corrected could fix it all.

Mike B

I suspect you are -00 percent right Mike. Gina get on that wire trace Saturday. I'll post my success then lol

Follow 12V with a test light. Sometimes disconnecting one wire at a time can show which is mis-wired and which does not affect the problem.