Wiring issues!! Someone please help!!

[Lakermatt]

Hello all. I am working on hooking up my lights on my 53 Plymouth, and am having some issues. I got my tail lights to work when hitting the brake pedal, got them to turn on when I turn on the light switch.... But the brake lights won't come on when I hit the brakes with the lights on. I have 1157 bulbs in there.. So I know there is two filaments. Would there be an issue with 12v bulbs in a 6v system?? Also my headlights are acting funny as well. I have three wires coming out of the socket of the bulb. 1 going to ground, and the other two come out of the bucket. What do the other 2 do? I found the hot wire and hooked it up to one and got power, then hooked it up to the other wire from the hot and IT got power!! What is that all about?? If anyone has knowledge about wiring, please help me out. I have no clue what the heck to do. My turn signal also is giving me problems. It only works when the light switch is off, and only the left blink light comes on on the dash. But when I go look at the back lights, they are both blinking... And when I turn the light switch on, it doesn't work at all... Are you confused yet??? LOL....

[Robert Horne]

Well I am confused for sure. Maybe this wiring diagram will help a little...

[Oldguy48]

First thing I would check are the various grounds. I'm not familiar with the tail light arrangement on a 53, but on my 48 there is a spring style clip to mount the bulb/socket assembly. The bulb is supposed to be grounded by the spring clip being inserted into the taillight opening. If there is rust or paint present, the ground can be poor, and the lights won't operate as designed. If your 53 is the same, take a good look at that. Might even need to install a separate ground wire to ensure a good ground. Also take a look at the inside of the bulb sockets. They should be free of corrosion or rust. Improper grounding issues can cause a whole host of "gremlins" to wreak havoc with your electrical system. Just take your time, be thorough in checking it out, and you'll find your problem. Good luck.

[suntennis]

The tail lite issue sounds like both brake and regular lite power are going only to the tail lite area of lite socket and that no power is getting to the brake kite area. Do not know how this could happen unless mabe the two wires have lost insulation and they are touching each other. Once this issue is fixed, it should fix your turn signal problem. Since the lites work when the brakes are applied, that shows that there is power to the brake lite switch and that the brake switch does work.

The headlight has one wire for ground, low beam and high beam. Let us know what caused the tail lite problem.

[randroid]

Matt,

Did I read the first paragraph correctly in that you are running 12v lamps on a 6v system? That would certainly be an issue that will need to be corrected eventually so you may as well do it first because it's a lot easier to change a bulb than to run a wire.

-Randy

[Lakermatt]

Yes. I am running 12v bulbs. I bought new bulbs and new universal light sockets. The new sockets required 1157 bulbs. My original light sockets were super old. Why would a 12v bulb hurt a 6 volt system??

[Jerry Roberts]

Your 12 volt bulbs won't " hurt " anything , they just will not be bright enough . Use 1154 ( 6 volt ) bulbs to replace the 1157 bulbs , they have the same base and are also double filament .

[Lakermatt]

Ok. That's what I thought. I will change them to the 1154's. And the diagram that was attached to the other guys comment was for a dodge truck... I don't get how that would help me???

[greg g]

Because the major circuits are not that different between the trucks and the cars.

[Frank Elder]

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[Don Coatney]

Hello all. I am working on hooking up my lights on my 53 Plymouth, and am having some issues. I got my tail lights to work when hitting the brake pedal, got them to turn on when I turn on the light switch.... But the brake lights won't come on when I hit the brakes with the lights on. I have 1157 bulbs in there.. So I know there is two filaments. Would there be an issue with 12v bulbs in a 6v system?? Also my headlights are acting funny as well. I have three wires coming out of the socket of the bulb. 1 going to ground, and the other two come out of the bucket. What do the other 2 do? I found the hot wire and hooked it up to one and got power, then hooked it up to the other wire from the hot and IT got power!! What is that all about?? If anyone has knowledge about wiring, please help me out. I have no clue what the heck to do. My turn signal also is giving me problems. It only works when the light switch is off, and only the left blink light comes on on the dash. But when I go look at the back lights, they are both blinking... And when I turn the light switch on, it doesn't work at all... Are you confused yet??? LOL....

Were it me I would first decide on what voltage to use. Then I would rip all the old wiring out and start over. Every wire has a function and must complete a circuit. Crossed wires, open circuits, short circuits, and poor grounds can all be addressed by a complete re-wire job.

[WatchingWolf]

You do understand that both your head and tail light bulb contain 2 separate circuits correct? Lets address the rear first.

When the taillights are on, the dimmer of the tail light elements should be lit. When the brake is applied, the brighter element should also light and the dimmer element should remain lit. When the tail lights are turned off and the brakes applied, the brighter element should be lit and the dimmer element should stay off. The ground point for the rear light bulb is the brass or tin sleeve that covers the bottom of the bulb. The "pins" in the bottom are the power in points for the two circuits. Try wrapping a bare wire around the exposed portion of metal when the bulb is in the socket and touch the other end to ground (bare metal on the body of the car) and see if this corrects your lighting issue. If it does, your sockets are not correctly grounding the bulb.

The head light does not have a tin or brass sleve at the base and has one of 3 "pins" on the rear dedicated to ground. The other two will be power in points . One for High beams (bright light) and one for low beams (less bright light). In most cases, both element will not stay lit at the same time (to the best of my knowledge). You are simply turning off the low beam circuit and turning on the high beam circuit or vice versa.

Your turn signals flash due to the introduction of a bi-metallic switch in the flasher. Two metals that expand at greatly different temperatures are bonded together in a a thin strip. When electricity flows through the strip, resistance creates heat causing the metal that expands at a low temp to expand and the metal that expands at a high temp to stay rigid. This makes the strip bend and opens the circuit, turning the light off. It cools rapidly and bends back causing the circuit to close, turning the light back on and drawing more voltage which causes more heat which causes it to bend once again opening the circuit which allows it to cool which allows it to close the circuit which allows it to once again get hot.......all we hear is click, clack, click, clack, click, clack. If you are using a bulb that does not create enough resistance for the bi-metal strip to get hot, no click clack. A 12 volt bulb in a 6 volt circuit would do this.

There is a lot more to it all, I tried to paraphrase as best as I could. corrections are encouraged!