Desoto Wire Diagram

[50desotocoupe]

So, I have my Desoto at the shop and having problems with the rear lights (brake and taillights).  The mechanic rewired the steering column as several wires had the insulation flaking off.  Now he is having more problems.  Is there a wiring diagram that is available?  The car is bone stock and not been messed with/hacked up.  The only thing I changed was having to cut the wires to the passenger taillight when replacing the fender and purchasing new pigtails that go in the taillight assembly.  Also, I took out the bulb in the trunk light as I didn't want to battery to go dead as I was working on it.  Would that have anything to do with the issues (drivers side taillight brighter than passengers side, when turn signal is flashing the light goes out when you press on brake pedal). 

 

Is there by chance a Desoto/Plymouth guru in Denver area? 

 

thanks

Matt

[desoto1939]

Sounds as if you have a grounding issue.  HAve the mechnaic run a sperate ground wire for each tailight bucket.  I had a similar situation after my car was painted with the rear taillights.

 

What wires did he replace in the steering column.  Was this for the factory installed turnsignal? When you have an add on turnsignal the brake lights also run througth the turn signal unit.

 

If you have this setup make sure it is wired correctly. Grounding the units and the buckets is important.  Assuming you are using double filiment bulbs in the taillights.  The double filiment            is one for running lights and the other is the brighter filment for the brake light. When you hit the brake pedal the brighter filment lights up in both taillight units. When the brake pedal is pushed and you have the turnsignal engaged either r or l the appropriate brighter filiment now will be the flashing filment.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[50desotocoupe]

Thank you for that fast response!  I am on the phone with him now and he was already working on the ground now.  He is going to do what you suggested and see where we are.  The car has the factory turn signals but we originally thought the switch was bad but hopefully was just a grounding issue.  Makes me wonder if I need to rewire the entire car.....and wiring isn't my strong suit by any stretch. 

[greg g]

You also need to assure that both bulbs (f and r) on both sides are good.  If one of the bulbs is out or not well grounded, it will not generate enough resistance in the system to activate the bimetallic strip that makes the flasher switch on and off. 

 

If you go to the downloads section of this website, there is a wiring schematic for a P15.  This should be very similar to the DeS with the exception of the accessories that the latter up market vehicle will likely have.

Edited August 15, 2013 by greg g

[P15-D24]

And make sure the correct bulbs are installed. Most of the time dim tail lights are caused by 12 volt bulbs in a 6 volt system. 

[50desotocoupe]

Thank you!  He is chasing down the ground right now.  It did have the 1157 bulbs when I got the car but I changed those over.  He is also going to look at the flasher. 

[J.R.]

I still need to trial and error mine, it is the only thing that I haven't hooked up after I installed the EZ Wire kit.

 

http://p15-d24.com/topic/33426-50-windsor-turn-signal-switch-diagram/#entry335705

[vintage6t]

If you are still looking for a wiring diagram PM me and I'll scan one from my service manual and email it to you.

Edited August 16, 2013 by vintage6t

[_shel_ny]

If you are still looking for a wiring diagram fPM me and I'll scan one from my service manual and email it to you.

 

send one to GTK and he can add it to the downloads

[50desotocoupe]

Well, my mechanic called this afternoon.  He added grounds from the taillights to the body.  Now the turn signals in the rear are flashing when the key is on but not the front turn signals (with the turn signal in the center, not up or down).  He rewired the turn signal switch on the column as there were several wires that the insulation had come off in the column.  Am I on the right track in thinking that somehow the wires from the base of the steering column up to the switch were somehow not wired correctly since there is now power to the rear turn signals but not the front and the fact that they are on when the key is turned on (but the turn signals are not on).

[martybose]

In my experience the front turn signals are much more likely to have ground problems than the rears.  Tell your mechanic, more ground wires!

[50desotocoupe]

Thanks for that information.  I found a new turn signal switch last night for the Desoto that was already wired up.  I bought it and will install.  Funny thing is that I didn't have any of these problems until i replaced the passenger side rear fender and then the mechanic thought the turn signal was bad...and that started the rewire.....

[greg g]

When you repaired the fender, the new paint probably corrupted the ground path.  It was likely as simple as that.

[50desotocoupe]

Yeah, I a completely agree with you.  I think it was a ground issue all along.  I think the mechanic may not have wired the new turn signal switch correctly as it wasn't a Desoto part, but a Chrysler part.  I can deal with it after the disc brake upgrade.