Tail lights and headlight switch 64 tbird

[64ZCODE]

Hi Don

That's good news. Likely with the new battery, the starter's cranking power and speed will be up to snuff. And you might find that some of the nagging electrical issues you've been battling resolve themselves with adequate juice available from the battery.

Once the new battery is installed in the car, you can check to see if the alternator is OK by using the multimeter to measure voltage across the battery terminals. With engine off, voltage should be around 12.6 volts. With engine idling, voltage should measure 13.5 to 14.6 volts. Then do the stress test. With engine idling, turn on all the accessories (headlights, heater blower, radio). If voltage across the battery drops below 13 volts then the alternator may be bad. Check to make sure that all the connections in the charging circuit are good (battery terminals and other electrical connections are clean and tight).

Doug

 

[cjbird]

Hi Everyone,
I am sure you all are sick of me by now lol - but here goes:

I switched over to the petronix ignition today - yay!

Next, gauges were working fine, the headlight switch was weird though, you had to adjust it "just right," to get the lights to work. I noticed today that the lights stopped working. I installed a replacement switch, it is much tighter but still no gauge lights...Do you think that it could be a fuse? I thought a new headlight switch would fix the problem.

Also, my rear turn signals work but my tail lights and brake lights do not work otherwise apparently. I dunno, could this be fuse related?

I had quite a battle on my 78 Tbird with lights, the gauge lights didn't seem to work, found they are blue tinted glass and are not bright in daylight,,, and three were burnt out. Also when I turned on the headlights, after 5-10 minutes the dash park and tail lights would go out, I ordered the CORRECT headlight switch(which on these tbirds is an adventure), but before it arrived I pulled all the park and taillight bulbs and found one of the 2 small tail light bulbs was shorted and would cause the switch(I guess) to trip a breaker in it? and turn off those lights. Head lights would stay on but all others would go out. If I shut off head light switch for a few minutes and turned it back on all would work for a few minutes, then lights would go out on everything but the head lights. My guess? I got new switch anyway because someone had been onto this and messed the swicth up anyway. Spent a lot of time with Battery charger on testing and working my way to each bulb. But, works great now and am onto making this old tbird get back on the road
John G.

 

[Dj-Dan]

Talking about headlight switches. When I first got Misty (64t-bird) I had creepy head light issues. When the Headlights heated up they would flick on and off like eeeerieee Christine. I replaced:light switch from NAPA, high beam switch, and relay. Now when I turn headlights on everything works but the selector light. But when I click high beams on the selector light comes on. Not sure if the mechanic who put in my new turn signal switch forgot to hook up a wire or the headlight switch is wrong.

 

[pafudd]

Don,
Did the new battery hold charge better? I’m troubleshooting different issue but got same voltage drop with engine off and headlights on. Voltage returned to 12.6 but didn’t have enough juice to start the 390. We have a 66 and think we have issues with light circuits - headlights/dash lights going off and on but also seems like the headlights may be draining battery. Had to get boost last night after driving around for half hour. Will be replacing original headlight switch but regulator, alternator and battery are relatively new. Only took half our to recharge battery at 15 amp rate