1955 Headlights and Parking lights stopped working

[jquevedo]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and this is my first post so I hope I do an ok job explaining my issue and hopefully getting a response. I purchased a 1955 thunderbird a few months ago and it has been converted to 12V. I drove it around for a while and the headlights and parking lights were working fine. My painter gave it an engine bay a cleaning and painted the engine bay black. When I got the car back, the headlights worked the first time I drove it, then stopped working when I drove it a second time, then worked again for the third drive, and stopped working altogether and have not worked ever since (1 month). Blinkers and stoplight work fine. I ordered a headlight switch and that did not solve it.

I was reading in this forum about the possibility of being an issue with grounding somewhere near the junction block at the front fender. I am including a couple of pictures of what I believe is this junction block and also an additional little black box with wires connecting to the junction block. Are the screws that connect the junction block to the fender metal (highlighted in yellow in the picture) provide the grounding or should I look for another place/wire that grounds the lights?




If the little black box attached to the junction block burns out, would this cause the lights to stop working?


I also read that the dimmer switch can be the culprit but I am not sure if I should order one.

Thank you for all your help.

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[Rust]

I have a 56. This is the junction box. It is on the drivers front fender. Remove the screw I'm pointing at and the other one that should be just like it. Use a small wire brush to get all that new paint out of the screw holes and scrape near them in an area where you will not be able to see the scraping marks when the junction box is put back on to the fender. It may be different in your car. That black box looks like a flasher relay. I don't see the junction box in your photos.

 

[83ragtop50]

The bigger box with screws circled in your picture is the voltage regulator.

 

[PJB]

I will pile on to the post from Rust. In my experience, problems with lights not working are almost always associated with bad grounding. Since the bay was recently repainted, it's a good bet that's the cause. While you are cleaning connections at the driver side junction block, you should do the same at the passenger side block. If you have a multimeter, you can test to see where power is and isn't. You might also benefit from getting an electrical wiring diagram. They are inexpensive and it will help to understand where connections are (or should be) and could be useful in troubleshooting the next time something isn't working properly.