<VV> 68 interior lights

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/6/2010 1:04:52 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
dschnei at yahoo.com writes:

Hey  all,
I'm trying to bring a 68 Monza back to life and am having  a problem with 
the interior lights, this car has a dome lamp as well as lights  under the 
dash. The lights do not turn off. What should I check and in what  order? The 
door switches move freely and the headlight switch works fine  turning on 
and off the headlights and I can feel the detent for turning on and  off the 
interior lights on the switch, but I suppose the switch could be bad.  The 
car also has an underhood and trunk light, could either of those affect  the 
interior lights? thanks for any help.

Dave  Schneider






Dave, the underdash light harness and the overhead light harness are on one 
 circuit, and not affected by the engine or trunk lights. The underdash  
lights, when used on a coupe, have their own harness that plugs in-line with 
the  feed to the overhead light. That is why they should dim together. On a  
convertible, the under-dash lights replace the overhead light, but they 
still  dim with the headlight control. Something you didn't mention, but  - does 
 turning the rheostat in the headlight control effectively dim the dome and 
 underdash lights, or do they stay bright no matter what? If it has no  
control over them, someone may have wired the feed to the lights from another  
12V source. But remember that the circuit for those lights is hot, and the  
switches in the doors just provide a ground. So if any of the wiring in the  
circuit - after the bulbs - gets grounded, the lights go on and stay on 
even if  the doors are closed. You might want to check the feed wires behind 
the door  switches. It is kind of a convoluted reach, but you should be able 
to reach  them. You could also unscrew the door switches - carefully - to see 
if the wires  behind them are still attached. If the wire has fallen off 
and is sitting  on a ground - there is your problem.  Let us know what you 
find. 
 
Seth  Emerson

C's the Day! - Corvair, Camaro,  Corvette