dashlights won't work

[Cpt.Fred]

hi everyone,

first of all i hope you had a great christmas! i got a new master cylinder for my 40 from my parents (actually they gave me money for clothes and stuff and hate me now for throwing it away on old car parts...hehe) and can hardly walk because of all the delicious things we had on our plates!

i just read the other thread about dashlights and that reminded me of a little problem i have.

under my dash there are several switches that don't really belong there, so i got kind of confused during rewiring the car. after rewiring everything, my dashlights don't come to life anymore, but everything else does. in the wiring chart there is a switch for the dashlights, but i don't know which one it might be on my dash. i tried all of them but they didn't change anything.

i guess i forgot what i was doing with the wires under the dash, maybe i had too much blood in my head then...

do you have a photo of one from a 40 plymouth?

i cannot tell from this one...

it looked like this under there:

[Young Ed]

Your mystery switch looks like the dash light dimmer switch. If you are missing a connection to it they wont light. However if you didnt connect to it at all I would think your lights would just be on all the time.

[Skrambler]

There is a three position toggle switch that you should look for. I believe that the above photo shows that you have found it. Check the wires from there. Merry Christmas back to ya!

[Cpt.Fred]

thanks guys!

so you say it might be the one in the middle? it has three positions, if i remember correctly, so that must be it... absolutely impossible to figure this out of the manual, in my opinion:rolleyes:

the one on the right i reused for the electric fuel pump i installed, it makes a nice anti theft device, i think, because you don't find it that easy if you don't know where to look. the engine's turning without it but it just doesn't fire up...

i hope the thief gets bored and hits the road

next time i'm in the garage i'll start tracing the wires from my mystery switch.

if my fingers don't freeze on the door handle...

[BobT-47P15]

There are actually quite a few wires that run thru that dash light switch on a

P15....kiind of amazing actually. Fred, do you have a wiring diagram for your car -

that switch and wiring should be shown. Some of those switches, at least on a

Plymouth, are only two way - dash lights on or off. And, those switches, get dirty

and/or corroded inside due to age. I believe the 3 way switch is dash lights, bright--

dim...and off.

The dash light switch has a square metal housing, and the little handle of it sticks thru an

oblong hole in the dash. Held in by two screws. I think yours is the one labled "what is this for?".

Here's a pic of one I happen to have out.

And---another one....

Edited December 28, 2009 by BobT-47P15

[Cpt.Fred]

hey bob,

thank you for the photos! that's the one, it looks quite similar.

i have a wiring chart also, i found the switch in there already.

it's the one in the middle named "U", and actually everything looks really easy...

i wonder what i did wrong there. i already replaced the whole wiring harness with a newly built one from rhode island wiring. the parts going to the back of the car where not available, so i built them myself.

anyway, now i know exactly where to look and for what! sometimes your own eyes are not enough and you need help;) (mainly because my eyes are connected to my brain and that's where the problem might hide... but thats another wiring chart and way OT:D)

i'll keep you updated!

frederic