Hi all, I just bought my dream car, a 1962 2-door sedan Ford Falcon. She's in pretty good shape mechanically and body wise. The electrical is a nightmare though... This is my first project car and I'm hoping it can be my daily driver while I work on fixing her up. I am just getting into wrenching on cars and am hoping to do most of the work myself! She's been converted to a 12v system at some point and I already had to replaced the alternator, regulator, and the battery... Now i have no break lights or tail lights... only blinkers and very dim headlights... *sigh* Guess I'm not driving her to work yet.. Hope to gain some valuable info from all you gear heads out there! Thanks! </a>[/IMG]
W E L C O M E now we can barely see the car because there's a woman in the picture... na j/k C? nice car ...
Very cool, welcome to the H.A,M.B! Congratulations on living your dream! My super cool little sister cruses in her own XL Falcon here in Oz, Doc.
Congrats and welcome. We had our Falcon down to your town last year, you live in a beautiful place. And you have great taste in cars. Get yourself a test light, it is like a pointed screwdriver with a light in it and is very handy when you are learning electrical repair. You clip the wire on it to any metal surface on the car, then you touch the probe to the electrical contacts to determine if there is power there, fuses blown etc. Falcons are a great car to learn mechanics on, very simple, yet modern enough to drive daily and keep up with traffic. Have fun cruisin the beach to Duke's and Ruby's on the pier!
Welcome! I am a falcon fan, here in Australia they are one of the smoothest cars that came out of the 1960s
Thanks stillrunners and modeleh... This car was made to cruise the Pacific Coast Highway! I got me a test light already. And I checked the fuses... None of the filaments look broken, but I didn't test them with the test light or try and clean the contacts...the fuse box itself (after I finally found it behind the headlight switch) is pretty dirty, so I probably should clean it up. I also replaced the brake light switch on the master cylinder along with new bullet connectors. The old one was pretty gross and using a test light I was getting power from one of the prongs, but then I read somewhere that I should get power from the other prong only when the brake pedal is pushed. After replacing the switch, I still only got power from one prong - nothing from the other even when the pedal is pushed. She came with a stereo, amp, and alarm which I removed when I was having battery/alternator issues to avoid any extra draw on the battery. I think the brake/ tail lights still worked after, but honestly I don't know for sure. Could a past owner have wired the tail lights through the stereo or alarm system somehow? Still clueless at this point...
You are on the right track. Good for you for getting in there and figuring it out! It was a real ****py design to put the fuse box on the light switch like that, not one of Ford's better ideas but they put it in a better place in '65. I believe you should be getting power across the switch you replaced when the pedal is pushed. Try putting a temporary jumper between the two terminals on the switch, then go to the back of the car to see if there is power at the bulb sockets. I see in the pic of the light switch, someone has used marrets (typically found in household wiring), not to be worried about them, they will work, but it is often the sign that someone who wasn't real great at automotive wiring has been in there before
Haha... Like I said, the electrical is a nightmare... Somebody basically m***acred it. I've been researching re-wiring the whole thing but don't want to spend $500+ on a kit.... I will try your little trick on the brake light switch tomorrow after work... Hopefully! Thanks so much for all the tips, guys! Keep em coming! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Hey Modelh, I just tried running a temporary jumper between the 2 terminals on the brake light switch. And nothin... Taking it to a mechanic tomorrow. We'll see what he says. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I just checked my shop manual for the wiring diagram. Do your turn signals work at all? The circuit for the brake lights goes thru the turn signal switch. Perhaps there is a problem with the turn signal switch in the column. My diagram shows: circuit starts at fuse box on light switch, wire is green with yellow band. at stop lamp switch on master cylinder it shows the wire as all green going into switch and all green on other side. from the brake switch the outgoing green wire goes into the turn signal switch. It comes out of the turn signal switch as two separate wires orange with blue band for right rear light and green with orange band for left rear light. The taillights and license light all share a black wire directly from the light switch. I just re read your first post and it says you have blinkers and dim headlights. Often times, dim lights can be the result of ground problems. Remember that all the electrons in a circuit have to eventually end up on the negative side of the battery. They get back there through the metal in the car, all connected to ground. If the ground connections are corroded, you won't get the full current flow through the circuit, it may work partially, like someone with their foot on a garden hose. Some electrons can get thru, but not all, hence the dim lights. Clean the ground connections and the current can flow thru again without resistance. An electrical circuit in a car can be compared to a fountain in a fish pond, The pond is the battery and the water (electrons) flows thru hoses (wires) and ends up back in the pond. Do your front park lights or tail lights work when you pull the light switch out to the first notch? If the front ones come on but not the rear, then you know the switch is ok but the feed to the rear of the car is suspect. If nothing comes on front or rear, the problem could be the light switch.
So yeah, my turn signals do work. I've Been googling like mad the last few days and I read something about the turn signal switch. I know it is located in the steering column, but not sure how to get to it... Yet! Thanks again, you've been so much help! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Welcome from Long Beach......like modeleh said, check & clean all grounds. How are your high beams (no pun intended???), you may have to cycle through the high beam switch a few times, sometimes the contacts get a little corrosion also. Good luck. Oh yeah, nice car.
Look under the dash at the steering column tube, there is a hole in the side of it under the dash where the wires come out. There should be a plug to disconnect it from the under dash wiring harness. You should also find the green wire and orange/blue, green/orange wires. When you jump across the brake switch, you should have power at the green wire going into the column. I'm not sure why you are only getting the test light to light on only one of the terminals of the new brake switch when the pedal is depressed. Sometimes you really need to stand hard on the pedal to make the pressure switch work. By 65, most Ford cars had changed to a switch on the pedal under the dash, which required less pressure to activate. So if you have a helper pressing on the brake while you are under the hood with the test light, tell them to press HARD.
Good luck on your Ride . I had a 61 Falcon years ago . Bought it from the poolhall owner for $50.00 , certified it for another $50.00 and drove it for two plus years . Quit driving it because of a starter and left it sitting for years after . Sadly my Dad sent it off to the wreckers . I think I can still dig up the ownership . John
UPDATE! Ok, so... I fixed the brake/tail light issue...(with a little help from a mechanic) it was the fuse box after all. One of the fuse holders was loose. I cleaned it up and its working great. I knew it was gonna end up being something simple.. duh! But now I have a different problem... *sigh* The mechanic used a voltmeter and found out that the brand new battery is not charging... the alternator and regulator are brand new, so I'm pretty sure it's not that. Thinking its a bad wire somewhere? I replaced the battery cables and the ground wire from the battery to the body, and the ground wire from the alternator to the negative battery terminal. There is another ground wire from the battery to the engine block which I didn't replace but I did clean it up. Are my grounds correct? And should there be any more? Ran over to Pep Boys and borrowed their voltmeter... battery still not charging.... Oh, and my headlights are still dim... Any ideas guys? Super appreciate all the help!
Start with the headlight plugs, give them a wiggle with the lights on and see if that does anything, they can corrode from sitting Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Your car was originally configured with a generator. Someone upgraded it to an alternator and there is a good chance they did some hokey wiring. Having pulled my hair out before with alternator charging issues before, the most important thing to remember is that the alternator needs power applied to its field windings for it to begin charging. This is known as exciting the field. The I terminal on the regulator needs to be fed with a supply of power when the key is turned on. Put your test light on the I terminal of the regulator with the key on to see if there is a source of power. If not, you will need to feed a wire from the keyed source to the I terminal, but you must have some kind of resistance in the circuit. The factory used a light bulb on the dash in their circuit. When the key is turned to the on position before the engine is started, the light bulb would come on, should be a spot near the speedo that says GEN. This would illuminate initially, then when the engine is running, that circuit excites the field windings, then the alternator starts charging back, so the light goes out. If something happens to the charging system while you are driving (such as fan belt breaks) the GEN light will come back on. If you can trace the original circuit from that dash light and make sure it is connected to the I terminal on the regulator, I think you will be in business and have bright lights and happiness. google search "1g alternator wiring" for a simple color diagram that should get you on the right track for tracing your wires.
Wow that's a beautiful bird you got there! Wiring is fairly easy and a good way to learn your way around the mechanicals of a car. I would suggest buying a kit and having at it. ...and forget spending $500+ for a full kit. Get a RebelWire 9+3. their tech support is great! and you will know it's all good then. Nothing worse than chasing electrical gremlins.
Thanks again modeleh and RatPin. M- I'm gonna try your tricks tonight after I finally invest in my own Volt Meter. R- I looked up the RebelWire 9+3 and $169 sounds MUCH better then $500! Seriously, thanks for the tip! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's an update for you all: I'm giving in and taking her to a mechanic today... After fixing the brake/tail light issue... And still not being able to figure out why my battery is not charging... yesterday she decided not to start! She turns over but doesn't start. She's got a full tank of gas but haven't actually checked the spark plugs... Either way I decided to take her in and get her running. There is still PLENTY of work left for me to do on my own. I will be sure to give you all an update as to what the problem was once I know. Thanks again for all the tips!!
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