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P15 high beam indicator light bulb socket question


3046moparcoupe

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I was fortunate in having the original wiring harness still in place on this car when we started this project. So I carefully removed it one conductor at a time and labeled things. That said, I think I should be on the correct path here, but I would appreciate the confirmation back before I just start trying to make this fit.

 

Almost got the entire under dash wired, and just tried to insert the bulb socket ( I had identified as belonging to the high beam indicator light above the instrument cluster on top of the dash ), and it seems like the diameter of the round bulb socket finger opening is about the same size as the diameter of the high beam barrel sleeve. Doesn't want to readily slide over the barrel sleeve and doesn't want to insert inside the barrel hole like the other dash light bulb sockets.

 

The socket fingers don't look to be out of shape / bent irregularly / etc. ..fairly round and uniform to my eye...

 

it's been 3 years since I removed this harness, so heck if I can remember how this  socket came off.  My guess is that it does grab from the outside of the barrel tube (slides over if you will rather than inserts into it), and the fact that I've painted the socket receptacle barrel is what's causing the interference.

 

Figured It would be wise to try and confirm with the forum if possible before proceeding with a bit of force on this.

 

 Is this the correct high beam indicator light bulb socket, for a P15 ?

 

Does it slide over the fixture barrel sleeve with the fingers grabbing from the outside ?

 

Thank you all again for the continued help, here on the forum. I do appreciate it.

 

You realize as your working to put things back together, how many ground contact surfaces you've painted over...:)  I'll have my work cut out for me getting a good ground everywhere it has to be around this dash area...!!

 

Steve

 

 

 

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Edited by 3046moparcoupe
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Dunno if this is any help but on my 1940 Dodge the high beam indicator "thing" is inserted from the front then thru a pressed metal bracket extension from the instrument cluster which the front thing is held tight to by a metal light socket or "tube" that has a threaded end which is screwed onto this thing trapping the instrument cluster bracket and both holding the thing and the cluster tight against the dash .........the light socket with the globe is then inserted or pushed into the open end of the light socket or tube and is held in place by clips that hold it tight inside the tube..............BTW if your high beam indicator is missing its coloured piece of plastic a replacement can be sourced from a model car builder.........AMT/Revell/etc red plastic tailight sprues are a good source of this plastic or a common toothbrush handle can offer red and other colours if wanted, just need to cut it down to size...........................I can't confirm whether the socket shown is correct for your P15 but it looks to be the right type of socket, tho' the one on my 1940 D15 has more "curved" sides............BTW, nice looking dash ............regards from Oz.......andyd     

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that socket looks different than mine. Did you replace them when you did the new wiring? My socket goes inside the high beam light and its a tight fit. You can just see it at the top

dashproject10.jpg

 

and a better view of the socket

dashproject12.jpg

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That is one of those worthless Chinese replacement sockets that is supplied with some harnesses.

Your right... they don't fit into the socket.

Re-use your old quality socket... I've done that on several replacement wiring harness jobs.

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Thank you Andy, Ed and Rob. Pretty amazing the story these old cars can tell as you work your way through their pieces and parts. 

 

Ed, your wiring harness pic is especially helpful in that it shows me your socket connector and also something regarding wiring color code.

 

Your harness (just like mine) has a total of 4ea instrument /dash light bulb sockets. Two that are larger for both sides of the instrument cluster, and two that are smaller that light up the key hole and the high beam indicator. Just like yours, my smaller 3 wire socket harness that connects the two large gauge lights and the key hole light are all wired together to a single stakon connector that connects to the dash light switch, using 14 awg brown wire. My smaller socket harness was in perfect condition so I re-used it, so it was impossible for me to get any part of this smaller harness confused. This 14awg brown wire color also matches the color code shown for these cars in the wiring schematics.

 

Per the wiring schematics the 14 awg wire to the high beam indicator light is supposed to be orange. That color also looks to be a match for what you have on your high beam indicator wire and is a match for what I had on my high beam indicator wire shown in the picture I attached to the beginning of this post. An orange wire with a broken blue hash mark line which codes the wire as 14 awg… Pretty interesting that my high beam indicator wire was not cut or spliced anywhere, but had this odd ball bulb socket on it. Seems like it would be difficult for the socket to get damaged, requiring replacement, when the remainder of the sockets are so perfect...and if it was replaced, I guess it would have been easy enough for someone to cut off the crimped contact on the end, replace the socket, and crimp on a new contact.....as Rob stated in the previous post, him recognizing the bulb socket as a Chinese aftermarket sure may be the answer as to how it got there.  With this socket being hard to reach, maybe someone broke a finger or two off the original and did this as a replacement.

 

I was beginning to think that maybe the factory just grabbed whatever they had the day the car was coming through the line..:)

 

Anyway - Ed after seeing your picture (thank you again), I have a spare bulb socket that came with an ignition switch assembly that I bought off of Ebay. My original ignition switch was worn and sloppy internally and sometimes the key would try to hang , etc....when I got the replacement ignition switch - they had just cut off all the wires going to the switch rather than undo them, and I also got the bulb socket that lights the key hole. Again brown 14 awg wire on this socket. I've attached a picture of this socket to this reply. From what I can tell in your wiring harness pic you sent, this looks like what you have attached to your high beam indicator light.

 

Would you mind taking a quick look to compare and let me know back ?, and it would also be helpful if you could look on our end to see if your high beam bulb socket and your key hole socket measure the same dimension. From the picture they sure look the same but I suppose if one were slightly different in size I wouldn't be able to tell from just looking at a pic. Kinda stand to reason that there should not be an in-between, or slightly smaller size, as I believe there were just two size bulbs, standard bayonet and mini bayonet..

 

Thank you all again for the help.

 

Steve

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The wires feeding the dash/ instrument lights should or would have been black originally I'm quite sure.

High beam orange as already noted.?

 

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Ron, I looked back at my manual - and you are correct, it does show them as being "black"...I was seeing them as a very dark brown,...must be a combination of age and dirt that made them look dark brown to me.,..but absolutely Yes, black is the correct spec for the dash light wiring harness color.  Good eye there :)  Thanks for your input,  you always add value and I appreciate it.

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Just thought I'd mention it for others who might not know!?

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Tim..........you are the smarty pants.......lol...........Bobs pics do show what I tried to describe in almost 1000 words........lol..........andyd

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Yep.....with some of the old diagrams, you gotta use your imagination and add the wire if ya want power......

When new, those high beam indicators had a red lens inside them  so they would be red when high beams were

on.  A long time ago on this forum there was a discussion on how various people made replacement lenses.

You need something that the light will show through.  

 

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4 hours ago, Andydodge said:

Tim..........you are the smarty pants.......lol...........Bobs pics do show what I tried to describe in almost 1000 words........lol..........andyd

 

wiring sold separately …… this stood out immediately when I saw the pic there was no wire..sorry, just so obvious...while not shown in the pic there is a panel number for a socket and wire just above this...that was what drove the odd part of it to the forefront...

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Bob..........see my 1st post on this thread............the red taillight sprue in AMT/Revell 1/25 th plastic car kits or a piece of a red toothbrush cut to size works for the hi beam lens.........regards.........andyd

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  There are two instrument lamps, a 55, like the ones pictured in these posts, and a 51. The 51 is shorter and has a smaller bulb. It's the only bulb that fits in a dimmer light that I have at hand. the 55 hits the inside, and won't clip on. The vintage 51's are even shorter than ones I have recently bought. But, the newer bulbs fit and work.

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Many thanks guys, especially Bob's pictures,...I sure would be interested in getting my hands on whatever old Plymouth manual those pictures came from, incredible detail,...seriously I'd like to know so I can be on the lookout through ebay, etc...

 

Yep, that second bulb socket I have (see attached pic #2 to this post), looks like an exact match for what Bob's pics show. I went out and tried it and it snapped in place nice and firm, so I went to splice it onto my new wire and started cut back into the cloth wire to find black corroded copper, cut a little farther, still dark and nasty looking, finally ended up just removing the original cloth wire pigtail from the incorrect socket and using it. Worked like a champ.

 

I stumbled on this yesterday, ( surprised I hadn't noticed it before, as much as I've looked at the P15 wiring diagram in my manual). it shows an extra light bulb wired off the dash light switch labeled as "speedometer light",...so all together it shows : two instrument/gauges light bulbs, one ignition sw. light bulb, a high beam indicator light bulb, and a speedometer light bulb.

 

Unless I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, my speedometer assembly has no hole for a bulb socket in it,....just the two each larger bulb holes on each side of the gauges/speedo assembly, so I've got a total of 3 light bulbs wired off of my dash light switch, (not four as the manual shows).

 

Thank you all again for the tremendous help and support here on the forum.

 

Steve

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One of the most important and helpful books is the P15  parts manual.   Not perfect, but a very good source of identifying

numerous items.    Sometimes you have to go to the back and read through the listing of numerous small parts that make

up some larger item.

 

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P15 owners manual......nice to have, not much technical info.

 

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Book on the right......P15 service manual......is the other best book along with parts book.   

The red, white and grey manual has pretty much the same stuff as the lower right one.

 

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Hello Bob, 

 

thanks for taking the time to post the pictures for me,...….I have the exact same orange parts book who show here (man I love that parts manual. It has been an incredible asset in searching for parts and pieces,....I treat it like gold :), I've also got the exact same motors repair manual, and I've got the same Plymouth ( red, white & gray) service manual you show.

 

Only one I don't have that you show is the two tone red Plymouth service manual you show, and mention that it is the next best book in your opinion.....Is that manual where the diagrams you attached in this post showing the instrument cluster detail, came from ?

 

Thanks for your help

Steve 

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