ever have one of them days

John ED Renstrom

PCS Member
Super Site Supporter
you know the kind were you swing you legs out of bed and it drops to the floor and you step on it before you can pick it up.

that the kind I had today it 4 deg f, light snow falling with a gentle breeze. a cold walk with the dogs this morning. but the heat is one the 58 is inside so my goal for today was to get the licence plate on and the light working. then get the over the glass trim on. but first, I needed to get a couple more lights converted to LED. that went smoothly enough.

then we headed for the Eureka. dug threw the machine screws and found the two licence plate bolts complete with square nuts I thought was in that jar. the licence went on easily. with a bend or two the right directionn to straighten it up.

then I picked up the wire harness. some how the 58 year home made rubber insulator was not in the same shape as it was back then. I resorted to my stand by and got a drywall screw holder. drilling a 1/4 inch hole in one of them was sensitive to say the least. but we got it. polished up the brass bolt so it will make good contact and trimmed the rubber off enough to still use it so it looked right. I'm not going threw what I did to make the front dome light work. I broke out my trusty multimeter and I'll check it for current flow.

the meter would not adjust to 0 on the ohms setting. hugh just used it yesterday I had this one since at least 1980 and only fixed it once. the original jap battery must be dead. so replaced that. still no work. noticed tat the slow blow fuse was a little big for the holder. pulled it out and half of one clamp fall off. soldered the fuse in. still no work. darn went and got the other one that's missing the leads. swapped the leads off old reliable but my one other fix was to solder the + lead in the holder. so found a peg from a steel pop rivet laying on the bench. that worked. tested the wire going threw the door. it was isolated from the body.

tested the button on the door jam and there was no power there. hugh I know I tested it when I put it in and it worked. now mind you, I did this some time around last january. so I may have forgot a few things. trust me I remember them now..

fumbled around in the right tail light hole and found a wire that was taped and one that was open. the taped one was hot. my mind says OK I just didn't connect them when I had the door off. I never even questioned why that wire was hot. it was in the light harness and I had the light switch on.

I twisted the set togather and started closing the door. as the contacts came togather the light comes on as it should. but when I close the door it goes out. hugh. now what. I move all the junk scattered in the back up on the gurney so that I don't bend or break something and shut off the lights grab my flashlight and crawl back there. again as the door makes contact the light comes on every time you cycle it same thing. you can just see it. but as I changed the switches, just maybe as you close it the contact slides off onto the rubber.

so back out, lights back on. I make sure the contact is OK, take it out of the game and while looking everything over as luck would have it, it grounded out. sparks flew I got it back up but it back togather and shut the door no light. checked the wire no power wiggled my ground still no power. this thing is about to exceed the limits of my medication.

ok blew a fuse been there done that. headed up front to see which one. I can't find any power at the fuse block checked the ground and still no power. turned the key on still no power. ok last resort. went to the battery and tested the light. the bulb has burnt out. darn cheap harbor freight tool anyway. this thing only lasted about 4 years I gave a whole 2 bucks for it. junk. went to replace the light. it comes apart easily enough found a small bulb and of course it's a bigger globe modified the spring, soldered it to the base and put it back togather. I can't get it to work.

Just about to go out to get the other one when Kandy came in and invited me to supper. as I was standing there confessing how little I had gotten done it hit me. three switches - three switches the top one is the load light on when the door is open. it's hot when the door is open, off with the door closed. thats right I had hooked the licence plate wire to the load light switch. as the contact was a little higher it came on just before the the other switch cut the power. tomorrow will be better trust me.

remember folks don't do this at home leave it to a professional.. here are the pictures
 

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Last edited:
Ed

You had a fantastic day I'd say.

You learned a lot and so did we. Sure glad it was you figuring it all out.

I would have blew a fuse a lot faster than you ! It wouldn't have taken all day for my fuse to pop.

Great work and photos... thanks for sharing.


By the way, just what was it you flung out of bed that hit the floor and you stepped on it ? Sounds like you are a lucky guy. Maybe we should call you "RON" instread of Ed !

Darren
 
will mama said there would be days like this. but I never had so many things fall apart over so simple a task. Mike got me a deluxe tester that works great. you hook it to te battery and you can power up test for ground all kinds of stuff. but the car is 20 ft long and the leads are just about 6 ft.

but one more piece on the car.
 
Richard said:

Ah look at Ed's little helper...



Did you mean Kandy or Mookie ?

I'd say Kandy is a much better helper.
Mookie would be a fantastic dog to have around keeping Ed company.


Darren
 
that's the new hound his name is Jack. mookie is standing under me in this picture. we picked up Jack in the street in from of the house and we could not find anyone to claim him. I decided to call him Jack because I know jack about him. mookie has taught him all the bad habits he can. Kandy now she is a lot of help.
 
Tester

Just ask Dan Scully what to do to extend the leads if you need to. I was sold on the tester as a gift for you after learning about all the things that Dan does with it. I thought that I ordered it with the optional longer leeds? Now you got me curious and I will be checking their website.:confused:
 
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