Buddy of mine has a 47 Ford coupe with 350 chevy,350 trans etc. also has a GM steering column with an ignition switch.Car also has a Ron Francis wiring kit. car was fine when he first owned it. Recently, when you shut it off the gauge lights stay on thus draining the battery,battery is new. Seems like the "run" circuit is getting power from the ""bat" or "hot" circuit when key is off. He called Ron Francis,they walked him through it and every wire is where it supposed to be. A few people men-tioned the possibility of the ignition switch being worn out therefore it can't cut off the power. But, I hardly ever hear of them wearing out, possible though? Would I be able to tell quickly by putting a test light on each terminal where it comes out halfway down the column onto the harness? Thanks for any help.
It's very possible for them to wear out especially with a heavy keychain hanging on them all the time. like anything else it can wear out
the part that the rod moves is pretty hard to wear out, but I don't think it's really all that expensive. Swap it out and see what happens. Only other thing I can think of is that sometimes the alternator will feed back into the electrical system if you don't have a way to keep the current flowing in one direction only (diode?). Problem is that if it wasn't doing it originally and it is now, there could be other problems (generally referred to as "feedback"). dj
Since your friend has a Ron Francis wiring, isolated the stater wiring and hook it up to a universal starter switch and see what happens. If it works fine then your column switch is bad. Might be a bare wire shorting out on another wire. CRUISER
I had a 66 el-cameno that you could start the car with the key and than take the key out..it would remain running...to shut it off you put the key back in and turned it off
Switch is on the lower column. They have a slight ajustment. Maybe loosen the two screws and move it up and down to see if the light goes out.
Had a similer problem,after checking and rechecking again and again I had new keys made,wore so much that the key did not turn tumblers enough.
There is a rod connected to the switch that is hooked to a rack and pinion type gear setup were the the lock cyl. engages, on the early columns those gears were made of a plastic or nylon type material. You might want to pull the ign. cyl. out and check to make sure that those gears are ok. Sometimes a tooth will break off of one of the gears and the rod cannot make it's full travel.
When I was in high school, the ignition switch on my '55 Ford was so worn that I've had the key fall out of the switch when I hit a bump in the road.
As mentioned, it's possible for one of the diodes in the alternator to go bad, and it will allow the power to backfeed through the idiot lights when the key is off.
the power for gauge lights should come off the headlight switch terminal marked "dash lights" or something like that . the ignition switch should have nothing to do with it.. as it is battery power and not switched through the ignition switch . some wires must be wrong . do you mean the gauges them self, or the lights in the gauges?
i've had a switch go bad , so yes it is posssible the switch may also be slightly out of adjustment...the two mounting screws on the switch are slotted , maybe they are loose and it moved. in switch itself , if you look inside with a magnifying glass you will see terminals marked: B for battery , I-1 for the ignition circuit , I-3 for things that need power when the ignition is on , A for accessories , S for start with the key in the off position , check to see if there is any power with a test light at I-1 or !-3. maybe an adjustment will fix it, as 325w suggested
Sure they wear out. Unless the switch was new when the harness was installed, well, who the heck knows how old it is? When I put in a new harness, I want the whole thing new, including switches and plugs, so I know what I have and everything is up to snuff. I just looked on the 'bay, a new switch is around $20, I'd do it if for no other reason just to eliminate it as a possibility. If R. Francis thinks it may be at fault,then I'd listen. JM2C
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