I had a feeling, as we got deeper into this project, that once we got it on the road there would be many more hours of tweaking to get the little Mustang right. And....I was right.
Lately, it's electrical issues that continue to haunt us. When I reconnected the heater many months ago and was surprised that it actually came on, I had a brief moment of hope that maybe, just maybe, the electrical system would be fairly intact. As it turns out, we've now replaced almost all of the major electrical components on the car in an attempt to make everything work.
Our latest, and ongoing, battle has been with the brake and turn signal lights. The brake lights work fine (which surprised me because I had read that the Ford brake switch was rather primitive) but when Daniel applied the brakes, the front parking lights came on as well. A minor issue, I felt, since at least people would know when he is stopping, both in the rear and in the front! Not something to address right away for sure. We also had a problem with the turn signals not working, with all four corners flashing rapidly when the lever was applied.
Yesterday, though, I decided to attack the problem head on. I spent quite a bit of time prior to the assault studying the Mustang's exterior wiring diagram, and felt pretty confident in a couple of possible solutions. Once again the steering wheel came off, as well as the gauge console, for better access to the wiring. I started by disconnecting the rear brake light pigtail, thinking there might be a short in the trunk wiring (which we hadn't replaced). The parking lights up front came on nice and bright when we hit the brakes. First dead end!
Then I pulled the main harness from the steering column apart, because all of these light circuits come together in the turn signal switch. We had replaced the turn signal mechanism, so I felt pretty sure that was good. With everything still energized, we applied the brakes and took readings off of various terminals, which ended up not telling us anything out of the ordinary. Another dead end.
Next, I began the final assault of pulling the harnesses out from behind the dash and looking for any obvious knicked or damaged wires, thinking a back feed could be the only reason. I did find a connector that had three wires going out of it, and all three wires were skinned back and bare. A possible clue!
Scanning my diagram again, I could find nothing that resembled that connector on the exterior lighting schematic. This connector must be for some of the interior electrical.
Still thwarted, I retreated in for lunch and downloaded the interior wiring diagram. There are a number of circuits that power both interior and exterior, which was illustrated clearly. The parking and brake lights were identified on this diagram as well, so I backtracked from the parking lights until I came across...the emergency flashers toggle switch. There were three wires going to this switch: the two front parking lights and the rear brake lights. Eureka!
Eating a little quicker now, I surmised that the toggle switch must be defective and causing a short, effectively connecting the front and back lights. Opening up the glove box (where Ford conveniently located this switch) I found the toggle switch in the "on" position. Could it be as simple as that? Switching it off, I hit the brakes again and Daniel reported no lights in the front. I then hit the turn signal lever and...success again! All of that work to figure out it was simply a switch turned on. Ahh, life with a classic car!
Feeling pretty cocky, I reassembled the dash and steering wheel, checked the turn signals once more, and strutted in the house happy for a good days work.
Last night, Daniel came home from visiting friends to report that the rear tail lights are now not working. The battle continues...
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