HELLO ALL. I HAVE A 65 CONV AND 4 DEAD TAIL LIGHTS TO GO WITH IT. I DID A FRAME OFF RESTORATION AND IN DOING SO LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON-DOCUMENT HOW YOU TAKE APART EVERYTHING NO MATTER HOW SIMPLE IT MAY APPEAR TO REASSEMBLE. I THOUGHT MY TAIL LIGHTS WOULD BE EASY TO HOOK BACK UP, BUT AS OF RIGHT NOW THEY DON'T WORK. FIRST QUESTION, WHERE EXACTLY DO THE GROUND WIRES (THERE ARE 4 OF THEM) CONNECT TO-THE FRAME OR THE LIGHT HOUSING IT SELF? SECOND, MY SCHEMATIC IN THE ASSEMBLY MANUAL DOES NOT JIVE WITH THE NUMBER OF WIRES I SEE THAT ARE EITHER CONNECTED RIGHT TO THE PIG TAILS OR ARE CLIPPED WITH A PLASTIC SPLICER. WHERE DO ALL THE WIRES GO? WHY DO I HAVE MORE THAN WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE I SHOULD? DOES ANY BODY HAVE A PLAY BY PLAY INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO TROUBLE SHOOT THIS SYSTEM? HOW ABOUT A WIRE DIAGRAM THAT A LAYMAN LIKE ME CAN READ? BTW ALL MY FUZES ARE GOOD, AND THE BULBS ARE ALL BRAND NEW. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ALL YOUR HELP. KEITH
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Re: MID YEAR TAIL LIGHTS
Keith,
Maybe I can help out some. My car is a 67 but I checked the wiring diagrams for both 65 and 67 and they look the same for the tail lights. First, lets resolve the number of wires. You should have four wires - yellow, brown, dark green, and black. Yellow is the left turn signal. Brown is the tail lights. Dark Green is the right turn signal and black is the ground. The yellow and brown should go to both tail lights on the left side. Mine are inside a rubber cover which covers the actual light socket where the bulb is. Same with the right side only the wires are dark green and brown. The black wire is the ground. Each of the 4 tail lights should be grounded. My ground attaches to the top bolt of the tail light housing which holds the tail lights in - not to the frame. The ground does not attach to the frame in the rear of the car. The ground is carried back up to under the dash. It connects to the main wiring harness under the dash, just to the left of the steering wheel. There is a plastic clip connecting the two. The ground continues through the main wiring harness and actually grounds on the metal support bracket next to the radio, drivers side.
As to why you have more than 4 wires, my guess is that one or more of the original 4 wires are bad and someone installed additional wires. To check them out, you need to connect the 4 black wires back on the tail lights first. Then, I suggest disconnecting the plastic clip under the dash which is just to the left of the steering wheel (at least it is on my 67). This will isolate the entire tail light wiring. Get two long wires and attach them directly to the battery. At the plastic clip under the dash near the steering wheel, connect the negative wire to the black wire. Connect the positive wire to one of the other wires. Then look at the tail lights to see whether one comes on. Write down which one comes on and what wire is connected to the positive. If nothing comes on, write that down too. Continue switching the positive battery wire to different wires and note what lights come on. By trial and error, you should be able to figure out what wires go to what. Then, you need to decide if you want to reuse the extra wires or revert back to the original wires.
Hope this is of some assistance.
Rod McCormick 67 convertible -
Re: MID YEAR TAIL LIGHTS
Keith,
Maybe I can help out some. My car is a 67 but I checked the wiring diagrams for both 65 and 67 and they look the same for the tail lights. First, lets resolve the number of wires. You should have four wires - yellow, brown, dark green, and black. Yellow is the left turn signal. Brown is the tail lights. Dark Green is the right turn signal and black is the ground. The yellow and brown should go to both tail lights on the left side. Mine are inside a rubber cover which covers the actual light socket where the bulb is. Same with the right side only the wires are dark green and brown. The black wire is the ground. Each of the 4 tail lights should be grounded. My ground attaches to the top bolt of the tail light housing which holds the tail lights in - not to the frame. The ground does not attach to the frame in the rear of the car. The ground is carried back up to under the dash. It connects to the main wiring harness under the dash, just to the left of the steering wheel. There is a plastic clip connecting the two. The ground continues through the main wiring harness and actually grounds on the metal support bracket next to the radio, drivers side.
As to why you have more than 4 wires, my guess is that one or more of the original 4 wires are bad and someone installed additional wires. To check them out, you need to connect the 4 black wires back on the tail lights first. Then, I suggest disconnecting the plastic clip under the dash which is just to the left of the steering wheel (at least it is on my 67). This will isolate the entire tail light wiring. Get two long wires and attach them directly to the battery. At the plastic clip under the dash near the steering wheel, connect the negative wire to the black wire. Connect the positive wire to one of the other wires. Then look at the tail lights to see whether one comes on. Write down which one comes on and what wire is connected to the positive. If nothing comes on, write that down too. Continue switching the positive battery wire to different wires and note what lights come on. By trial and error, you should be able to figure out what wires go to what. Then, you need to decide if you want to reuse the extra wires or revert back to the original wires.
Hope this is of some assistance.
Rod McCormick 67 convertibleComment
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