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1968 Eldorado dome lite switch

Started by artie b, July 17, 2012, 10:29:33 AM

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artie b

Hi, I have to sell my almost perfect 68 Eldorado, and about the only issue is the door light dome switch needs replaced. This rascal has 3 wires that need to be grounded when opened. I can't locate one. Is there another way to get this circut working? Or where would a source be to buy a switch? Any help would be appreciated, Thanks, Artie b

Davidinhartford

I can't find those 3 wire door pin switches forsale anywhere.  Once I saw how tight it was to get the wires through the hole I can understand why it was a short lived idea to ground all three wires like that.    One of the wires broke off the pins on my drivers door switch too.   I just connected that wire to one of the other two.  It's just looking for a ground, so it worked.

The wire colors at the drivers pin switch are:

White with dark green stripe =  Rear courtesy lamps.
White wire =  Front lamps on dash board ends.
White with black =  Red door lamp on the drivers door only.

They pinned them like this so only the red lamp on the open door lit up.    Turning the headlamp knob would only turn on the front dash end lamps so not to disturb the rear seat passengers with glaring light.    The rear seat passengers had their own switch on the left rear armrest to turn on just the rear interior lamps.   But opening either door would turn on both the front and rear interior lamps and the red lamp of whichever door was open.

If your drivers door pin switch is bad, just buy a two wire style and connect the white wire with the white and green one.   The only side effect is that the rear interior  lamps will now come on if you turn them on by the dash switch.   

cadillactim

When you say the switch isn't working, the lights don't come on?  If no wires are broken off, simply cleaning the contacts may be all you need to do. Remove the switch from the hinge pillar, then just squeeze the button and the threaded base with your fingers to expose the contacts. Clean the contacts and the flat part the contacts touch with steel wool, steel brush, etc. 

Tim
Tim Groves

artie b

thanks for speedy replies. The switch its self is missing. I have grounded the 3 wires and only the  WH DK/GN will turn on the opers lights. The other 2 don't do anything. The pass door sw, headlite sw both work as intended. The wires at the drvs door switch loog good, is there a splice that I should be looking at?  Thanks, Artie

Davidinhartford

Quote from: artie b on July 17, 2012, 03:00:31 PM
thanks for speedy replies. The switch its self is missing. I have grounded the 3 wires and only the  WH DK/GN will turn on the opers lights. The other 2 don't do anything. The pass door sw, headlite sw both work as intended. The wires at the drvs door switch loog good, is there a splice that I should be looking at?  Thanks, Artie

No splices that I see.    So only the rear lamps come on when you ground the white w/green wire?    The red lamp on the door is hard to see in the direct sunlight because of the white lens.   Should light up nice at night though.

The white wire connects to the other white wire coming from the passenger door pin switch and they go to the left side body wiring harness connector.  But if your passenger door pin switch is turning on the front courtesy lamps, then that connector is good.    So there must be a break in the white wire between the drivers pin switch and where it connects to the passenger side white wire.   I'd make sure you had a good ground to try testing that white wire. 

What really sucks on these Eldorados is there is no room to get in the kick panel to access the wires from that door jamb switch down into the harness assembly.  At least my hands couldn't get in there.     I gave up and went over to the pass side.   Like your car, my passenger door pin switch was good.   So I took a jumper and connected the white wire to the white and green wire.   So when the drivers door opens and the rear lamps came on, it also grounded that white wire on the passenger side kick panel and turned on the front lamps as if you opened the passenger door.    Yeah, kind of cheating but it worked.

artie b

I got'em working.... broken wires the first place I looked, any guesses? yep door to cowl, spliced in some new wires and presto Thanks Alll, Artie