I recently refurbished an OEM headlight switch and installed it on the
50... worked fine. Until dark last night!
About 10 minutes into my trip, all the lights went out - went back on.
Again. And again. Managed to take back roads and get home w/out
encountering Mr. Law.
I realized the 'circuit breaker' - a bimetallic strip - was heating up, and
breaking contact; cooled off after a split second, closed, and started
over. It shouldn't be a short; as near as I can tell, I have everything
hooked up properly:
Power comes in at back, travels thru circuit breaker. Brake lights and dome
light attach to top screw terminals, always 'on.'
Pull the switch to the first stop, tail and front park lights go on (rear
and middle terminals, bottom); pull to the second, front park lights go off
circuit, headlights come on. (headlights, front terminal). There is also a
screw for dash lights, and a little 'bridge' between the rheostat and the
tail light screw.
This is also how it was traced out on the aftermarket switch I had, which
worked properly.
So my theory: the bimetallic spring 'fuse' has become old and cranky; this,
coupled with some resistance thru the switch, has the spring disengaging
the power just due to the heat from normal current flow - not really a
short here at all.
Does this sound right?
I should be either to
A) bend the contact toward the spring a little, and make it a little
harder to move enough to break contact
B) permanently break contact, and install a buss fuse between the connections.
Don't want to burn down the old truck, but would rather not butcher an OEM
switch if there is a simple fix...
TIA
craig
caretaker of
stephanie's 50 3104 216 5-window deluxe
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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