My 63 monza coupe no dash or tail lights

[Datsolow]

Hi all, I've finally got my pride and joy on the road
Went for the first drive all good , then dash lights stopped working and no tail lights any ideas I'm going to check fuses now.
Also my pg seems to loose traction drive on taking left corner ?
All the best from uk

Ps thanks to clarkes for the brake parts

[bbodie52]

Looking through the schematics, it appears that the instrument panel illumination lights are fused, but the tail lights are not. Both are controlled by the light switch. The tail lights and license plate light are on the same common circuit (labeled 20B), which you can see if you trace the wiring from the light switch, through the multi-connectors, and on to the left tail light, then license plate light, and finally the right tail light. The instrument panel lights start at a separate wire labeled 16V at the light switch, which leads to the fuse block. It passes through the fuse, and then exits the fuse block labeled 16GY, which leads to a wiring junction point that branches out to multiple instrument panel lights, with each wire labeled 20GY. Each light socket is grounded separately, so a poor ground is unlikely to be the problem. Since the wiring is also separate, a poor wiring harness connection in a multi-connector is not likely to be the problem. If you have power to the headlights, then the power feed to the light switch would probably be OK. The fault might be a loose multi-connector where it plugs into the light switch, or possibly a faulty light switch. Are there any other electrical circuit faults in the car, or just these two illumination circuits (which both share the light switch as a common component)?

The front parking lights are also controlled by the light switch, on a circuit labeled 20V from the switch to the trunk multi-connector, and then 20N from the multi-connector in the trunk to each front light. Do the front parking lights work?

Left-click each image to enlarge for better viewing...

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=84B


Part number C1330: 60-63 HEADLIGHT SWITCH

Weight: 0 lbs 12 oz
Catalog Pages(s): 84B,R,24
Price: $ 33.45

[Datsolow]

Hi thanks for the info , all fixed dodgy connectors and fuse carrier was corroded . I took her out for another spin unfortunately I now seem to be running lumpy on the number 4 cylinder side. There is also a loud tapping coming from the rocker cover on that side.
I haven't been able to remove this as of yet , hoping maybe a loose rocker not allowing a cylinder to function correctly.
Thanks again from uk

[pweber5]

My '66 Monza has the exact same issue as the OP. My front parking lights don't work either.

My car has circuit breakers and when I pull the breaker and reinsert it, the tail lights, instrument lights, etc., work again. I tried an experiment tonight--I closed the doors to see if I could make the lights go out again, and once I shut the door the breaker immediately tripped.

Based on my experiment I believe it is a loose connection issue and not an electrical short. I believe the issue is one of two things: 1) either the headlight switch has an issue (as mentioned by bbodie) or 2) the fuse box contact for the fuse has a problem. As you can see in the photo below, my contacts are a bit rusty. When I remove the circuit breaker for the instrument lights (the 20 amp with the pink wire shroud) the contact is very loose and jiggles around.

My question is: how can I tighten it down? The box is hard to get to and I can't tell exactly how to tighten a contact. I'd like to try tightening and cleaning it before I buy a new headlight switch (though I will need to replace the circuit breaker with a correct 10 amp unit).

[terribleted]

pweber5 That corroded mess should be replaced. Buy a new harness is my suggestion. No more troubles after that.

[gregpenn]

Is it common for the rheostat controlling the dash lights to fail while the headlight switch continues functioning?

Sent from my SM-N910P using Corvair Forum mobile app

[pweber5]

pweber5 That corroded mess should be replaced. Buy a new harness is my suggestion. No more troubles after that.

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that. I wish I could replace just the box and not all the harnesses; I better start reading where all those harnesses go!

[terribleted]

Not necessarily all the harnesses but I would replace that fuse box harness for sure...there is just too much riding on this harness for me too fool around with a crappy one unless I absolutely have too. Replace or clean and repair other harnesses as needed. The repros Clark's sells are top notch. There are not that many wiring harnesses in the car actually. There is the fuse box harness (fuse box and most of the wiring under the dash), Instrument harness (fuse harness to instrument panel), front lighting harness (runs forward from fuse harness into trunk), main body harness (runs from near accelerator pedal...fuse box harness to engine bay), engine harness (from main harness plug in engine bay to all engine bay functions). Those are the main ones. The engine bay harness in your late model is of high value since it also includes new factory quality tail lamp sockets ( tail lamp sockets are often old crap on our cars). Check for corrosion in the connectors in the main body harness...the large red wire supplies all the power to the car from the battery and often has corrosion issues at the plugs at either end.