63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

[Thomas S.]

I recently replaced the instrument cluster in my 63 and have a question about the warning light that I didn't find answered elsewhere on this site.

The indicator light for the emergency brake did not work on the original cluster. All bulbs were replace with new and verified to work. I removed the connections (green and black wires) to the switch on the end of the emergency brake mechanism and connected them to eliminate the possibility of a defective switch. Still no light. The switch is actually functional and was tested separately.

The ignition switch has 4-positions, Acc, Lock, On, and Start/ momentary. What positions on the ignition switch would allow the the warning light work? I'm assuming that the warning light for the emergency brake would be on with ign switch in the on position or with the vehicle started.

Thanks

[Timothy B.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Thomas,

Is there anything else that does not work on the gauge cluster? The lower fuse is what powers the switch, do you have power at the fuse and on a light green wire at the switch. The run position is what powers the lower fuse so the ignition switch needs to be in the run position.

[Richard M.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

The lamp will work only in the ON position. The lamp should be a #257 Flasher Bulb.

The lamp is fused, and that circuit also feeds the FUEL and TEMP gauges, as well as the FUEL SENDER in the tank. Does your FUEL and TEMP gauge operate? Is the fuse good? IIRC, the fuse should be marked GAUGE (or GAGES). It's a 10A(maybe 15A on a '63) and located at the top row of the panel.

The Lamp circuit feeds 12V power from the fuse to the switch, therefore it switches 12V to the lamp. The ground for the lamp base comes from the lamp socket itself. The ground for the cluster relies on a separate wire plug that connects to a blade terminal at the top of the cluster.

Make sure your Ignition switch is in the ON position when you test the circuit. Use a testlight or voltmeter at the input wire to the switch to verify fused power is getting to the switch. If it is not, trace back to the fuse panel/fuse. If it is, activate the switch and test the output of the switch to the lamp. If 12V is there, you have either a dead bulb or bad ground at the lamp socket, or a open wire to the lamp socket.

edit.....Tim and I were typing at the same time. I may have gotten the FUSE location wrong. I was looking at a '67 panel. Maybe it's different on a '63 I forget.

'67 panel
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[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

I recently replaced the instrument cluster in my 63 and have a question about the warning light that I didn't find answered elsewhere on this site.

The indicator light for the emergency brake did not work on the original cluster. All bulbs were replace with new and verified to work. I removed the connections (green and black wires) to the switch on the end of the emergency brake mechanism and connected them to eliminate the possibility of a defective switch. Still no light. The switch is actually functional and was tested separately.

The ignition switch has 4-positions, Acc, Lock, On, and Start/ momentary. What positions on the ignition switch would allow the the warning light work? I'm assuming that the warning light for the emergency brake would be on with ign switch in the on position or with the vehicle started.

Thanks

Tom. I had a situation not to long ago with one of those Chinese made bulbs from LI Corvette and it burnt out the first time I used it.need less to say I remove the cluster to access the bulb and replaced with a GE257 bulb which 3 years later still works. I hope this is not what happened to you. Also to add a simple test for the ground to switch, just run your own ground to the green wire just in case your ground is faulty.

[Thomas S.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Tim and Richard.

Thank you for replying. I'm an EE (electrical engineer) and i did ccheck all of the obvious stuff but didn't know the affect of the ignition switch position and couldn't find it documented. So i had tried it in every position and once again just now. Still no light. So i confirmed that no fuses are blown, there is power over the green wire to the switch, power to the other terminal when the switch is activated, and finally; no light when the wires are jumpered.

The correct bulb is in there and was tested ouside of the harness, however there still could be a bad socket or an/or open between the switch terminal and that socket or maybe ythe bulb was damaged when inserting the socket. I do remember both of those warning lights being a bit more difficult to seat

You already know thats its virtually impossible to get at those top bulbs without pulling the cluster which will have to done for other reason at which point i'll dig into this further and post the results.

thanks again. This is a great site.

1st vette just purchased in January.

[Thomas S.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

BTW, I own a electronic wholesale distribution company that also manufactures volume controls for various industries. There are no domestic incandesent bulb manufacturers left in this country. So no matter where you get them they are likely off shore. Back in the day lots of component parts had an R or MS suffix which was the designation for high reliabiltiy. We sold a lot to the military and that's what the bought.

Many people thought the product was made to a higher standard but in fact it was the same product except for one important point - they were actually burnt-in for a specific period of time. If they worked for that designated period then it was likely they would work for the full rated life expectancy. So the problem is more related to testing and putting pressure on whatever manufacturer to maintain quality.

On an aside, most electronic devices today simply do not last. One of the main reasons for failure is the breakdown of solder joints within these complicated circuits. The high rates of failure are directly attributed to the removal of lead from the solder alloy. The presence of lead in the alloy (Tin/Lead) of solder produced decades ago gave the alloy flexibility and allowed the solder to melt a a lower temperature. Todays solder and solder papstes contain no lead and more tin which is a very brittle metal. So the end result is a higher likely hood of faulure due to mechanical vibration.

Anyone manufacturing today has to use solder without lead. This was force upon us by the European Union ROHS standard (reduction of hazardous substances) and includes all types of types of material - so we are stuck with it. Finally, its somewhat ironic that the only exceptions to that rule are applications involving military use. In those cases the specifications are implicent to NOT to use ROHS approved products so the leads back in.

[Richard M.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Tom. I had a situation not to long ago with one of those Chinese made bulbs from LI Corvette and it burnt out the first time I used it.need less to say I remove the cluster to access the bulb and replaced with a GE257 bulb which 3 years later still works. I hope this is not what happened to you. Also to add a simple test for the ground to switch, just run your own ground to the green wire just in case your ground is faulty.

Edward, Just to clarify....

The 1963 Park-Brake switch switches power, not ground.

Rich

[Frank D.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

With the key in the ON position and engine running or not running and the parking brake engaged fully the bulb should flash. Overseas manufacturing history and soldering lessons aside, between two cars I have 3 of the Chinesium flashing bulbs and all of them have worked for years.

Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you have the bulb plugged into the right socket and not in one of the regular dash lighting sockets ?
Are you sure you seated the bulb into the socket firmly ? It can be hard to get a straight shot at them working behind the cluster with a bent wrist.
Are you sure you got the critical black ground wire connected to the spade connector W-A-Y up at the top rear of the cluster when installing it ?

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Rich, thanks for that I always thought it was a grounding circuit to bulb.

[Harry S.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Jumper around the switch and see if the bulb goes on. It could be the switch. Also put a meter inline when you jumper around it see if there is power there.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Tim and Richard.

Thank you for replying. I'm an EE (electrical engineer) and i did ccheck all of the obvious stuff but didn't know the affect of the ignition switch position and couldn't find it documented. So i had tried it in every position and once again just now. Still no light. So i confirmed that no fuses are blown, there is power over the green wire to the switch, power to the other terminal when the switch is activated, and finally; no light when the wires are jumpered.

The correct bulb is in there and was tested ouside of the harness, however there still could be a bad socket or an/or open between the switch terminal and that socket or maybe ythe bulb was damaged when inserting the socket. I do remember both of those warning lights being a bit more difficult to seat

You already know thats its virtually impossible to get at those top bulbs without pulling the cluster which will have to done for other reason at which point i'll dig into this further and post the results.

thanks again. This is a great site.

1st vette just purchased in January.

I feel your pain, get a test light and ground it to the cluster frame and check the socket for power. I have some new GE#257 flashing bulbs if you find the problem is the bulb.

[Thomas S.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Correct bulb correct socket power to and from switch. The regular panel lights are all fed with grey wires off the harness so that's hard screwup. I also thought i might the bulb in the wrong socket so with the light off in the garage i pulled the break and still no flash anywhere.

i'm replacing the steering column anyway so this will get resolved very soon.

[Frank D.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Correct bulb correct socket power to and from switch. The regular panel lights are all fed with grey wires off the harness so that's hard screwup. I also thought i might the bulb in the wrong socket so with the light off in the garage i pulled the break and still no flash anywhere.

i'm replacing the steering column anyway so this will get resolved very soon.

With the key in the ON position ? Right ?
Nothing is making much sense with all of your tests except that the socket isn't grounded for some reason...

[Richard M.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

With the key in the ON position ? Right ?
Nothing is making much sense with all of your tests except that the socket isn't grounded for some reason...

I agree.....A common problem which could cause a open ground on a bulb socket could be..... "paint".

Thomas, when you restored the cluster, did you paint the rear cluster frame housing? If you did, the buildup of paint may be a reason you have a ground problem on the lamp socket.
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Rich

[Thomas S.]

Re: 63 Emergency Brake Warning Light

Good point. I didn't do the restore myself. Had it done by Redline Guage & Clock and it was absolutely pristine.