courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

[Gary H.]

My courtesy lights are finally working again.

The passenger side works great. The lights come on every time the door is opened and the alarm functions properly every time the door opens. There are 2 wires on this side.

The drivers side only works the light itself (one of three wires) if I give it a little flick to help it out. As soon as I help it out a tiny bit, the lights come on strong. The alarm works every time the door is opened. The key buzzer also works properly every time.

Any suggestions?

How does this work as far as judging? I could have installed a brand new $12 switch on each side that would work perfectly every time but I chose to try to fix my 42 year old originals with the SX head markings.

Gary

[Edward J.]

Re: courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

Gary, I don't now if you have tryed cleaning the switchs, but it does help . use a little 400 or finer sand paper or even some steel wool.

[Michael W.]

Re: courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

From the judging point of view- incorrect operation of the switch might cost you 25 points. 'Incorrect' appearance (missing SX) might cost one point.

[Jack H.]

Re: courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

An issue that often overlooked/mis-understood is the functional nature of both the courtesy light and door ajar switches... Specifically, that's that they are 'self-learning' devices. That means they need to be re-set to their pre-installation configuration before being installed/re-installed in order to work properly.

The door gap geometry of the C3 Corvette was pretty sloppy varing appreciably from unit to unit. So, the switches 'learned' the specifics of the car they were installed in by self-adjusting to fit that specific gap.

You'll see there's an interference fit between the plunger's shaft and the ID of the hex installation nut. When you R&R the switches during a restoration, in addition to cleaning the exposed surfaces and perhaps re-plating them, you need to CLEAN the contact surfaces to get rid of any excessive oxide growth (a daub of silicone grease helps thwart oxide re-growth) AND reset the switches' plunger to its original position.

The plunger shaft should be fully forward/out of the hex installation nut giving the switch the LONGEST plunger shaft profile. Now, when the switch is re-intalled in the door jamb, it'll re-learn that door's geometry. After installation, a solid SLAM closure of the door will cause the switch shaft to slide inward, through the installation hex nut, and effectively shorten itself to tailor to that specific door gap.

If you don't reset the switch, expect to have intermittent contact make/break characteristics...

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

What I have found is that if the switches don't "learn" the right length, the lights won't go OFF when the door is closed. The lights (and alarm) will remain hot. What I would suspect is that the small recesses that the terminals go into on the plastic base of the switch are worn and the terminals are pulled too deep into the plastic not making contact with the ring on the metal part of the switch. Therefore there is no circuit. By jiggling the switch contact is made. Remove the switch and have a look.
Jeff

[Gary H.]

Re: courtesy light pin switches 69 and judging

Thanks for all of the replies. I ended up getting everything to work properly by loosening the pin switch about a half a turn in the door jamb. I was about to take it all back out again when the lights came back on again after a half a turn. I have opened and closed the door now like 40 times and it is still working great.

Gary