Wiring dilemma 63 clock

[Lybo33]

Hi,
The lights in the original clock of my 63 air car are staying on when the car is shut down. If I turn the light switch to parking or running lights on position, the clock lights go out. Push the switch back off, and the clock lights come back on.
I had a regular electrician look at it, and he says headlight switch was bad. I ordered a new one and installed it today, but same thing happens.
Any ideas?

 

[Tom Bryant]

All of the instrument lights feed off of a common buss so if the clock light is staying on, other instrument panel lights should be on too. If a short is feeding power to that light then all lights on the same circuit will be on or should be. Do all of the other lights work normally? Is the clock light on full brightness when you turn the switch off and can you dim/brighten it with the light switch knob? Try unplugging the power to the clock and see if the light acts normally again. Could be a short through the clock. Also check the clock ground and other harness grounds are clean and tight. Might also run a jumper wire from the clock case to a good ground and see if that changes anything.

Here is a link to a wiring schematic on Zip's catalog. It says they are out of stock but if you open the page and mouse over the image it enlarges so you can see it. Here's a pretty good clock video on Youtube. With the clock light grounding to the clock case and if the clock power terminal is not insulated anymore from the case due to age or whatever, it could be feeding power back through the ground to the light.

Tom

 

[Lybo33]

Thanks Tom. Only the two bulbs that light the clock are on. Yes I can dim it with the light switch.

 

[Lybo33]

Well today I added a jumper ground wire from the birdcage vertical member to the clock case. I had disconnected the ammeter gauge plug in because the radio capacitor wire was not completely connected. I didn't pay attention to which terminal it was connected to. When I hooked it back to the plug, I installed it to the inboard tab, which is described in the aim as to the Gen.
When I tested it last night, the clock light were working properly, but the footligjt were out, dome, radio and clock were all out. Checked bottom fuse, and it was blown.
Today bought and replaced all fuses. Now I have power to the foot lights at the socket, but bulbs won't burn. Gave up... will try again tomorrow. I have an electrician coming tomorrow pm or Sunday. I will post what he finds.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Sounds like you are closing in on it. If there is power to the foot light sockets but the bulbs won't light it has to be either bulbs or ground.