The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay No lights!!

Today I hooked up a battery on My 66 C-10 (fresh out of a field)to see what does & doesnt work. Seems like most things are working except for the exterior lights. The grounds appear good & all my curcuits in the fuse panel are powered up, & the headlight switch test good, power in/power out. There is no juice out of the firewall to the lights front or rear...do these circuits run throught the turn signal switch? The switch feels broken by the handle but I havent inspected it yet. What might this be???

Thanks again guys!!

For headlights, check the dimmer switch. They're notorious for going bad. Taill light circuit doesn't go through the signal switch, but brake lights and turn signals do. Also, be sure all the fuses are good, and the contacts on the ends of the fuses aren't corroded. The voltage supply to the headlights, and the fuse block comes from a "fusible link" at the starter cable connection. Be sure it's not broken or dirty.
Jerry

Thanks Jerry, my headlights were fixed by a new dimmer & pigtail & I fixed my front park/turns with new sockets & a better ground. Someone had cut & spliced a trailer connector in the rear so I cut all that out & am starting fresh cause I have no juice to the rear. Thanks again.

Andy

PS Are the parking lights supposed to go out when you turn the headlights on, my 62' wagon does this but I wasnt sure if this pickup was supposed to also?

Andy:

Glad to hear you got all your lights burning. The park lights do go off when the headlights are on. A popular retro is to splice a jumper wire between the blue and purple wires at your headlight switch, thus connecting the headlights and front park lights. I suggest a jumper splice in lieu of an inline splice, so you do not have to cut into your factory wiring harness.

Good luck with your project.

I rewired the tail lights this evening & I even have the blinkers & the brake lights working. I may have to try the mod to the parking lights...after I am sure all the other circuits are fixed for good. Thanks!

Andy

Let me suggest a different method of making those park lights burn with the headlights. Find the wire that feeds the tail lights and splice that one to the park lights. If you connect headlights and park lights, you'll have headlights in both switch positions too, unless you put a diode in there!
Jerry