[NikiSpider]

Hello Friends,

First, I'd like to thank Roadtrip for all of his help. He has made a few things abundantly clear but my correspondence with him also exposed a couple mysteries.

Alright, so most of my console lights aren't working, i.e. when the hazard flasher is on, the hazard light in the console does not light up.

Upon seeing a picture and an explanation of a schematic from Roadtrip, I know that there are supposed to be four wires hooked up to the hazard switch. A blue, blue/black, a black/white and a connecter with two black wires in the back of it.

This matches up with my 1978 Spider wiring schematic which shows a black/white wire in place of the blue/white wire I have exisiting in my loom!

However, my four wires are blue, blue/black, blue/white and a connector with two black wires. All other wires in my console have been accounted for and properly connected. I plugged the blue/white wire where the black/white cable is supposed to go and the hazard switch works fine, but no hazard light in the console.

So my questions to all of you are, is this blue/white wire a normal replacement for the black/white wire?

and if so, where on earth can I trace the console lighting wire to. I've studied the schematic and it shows the black/white wire going all the way over to the flasher switch mounted to the steering column, but there is no black/white wire leaving the console loom to the main harness which plugs in behind shifter. If this is not a normal replacement...I'm at a loss because the wire is woven into the loom and has a stock connector on it.

The schematic shows the black/white wire connected with the black, a blue/black wire and a red wire connected to the flasher. I looked under the dash and sure enough it is wired as described in the schematic. So, according to the schematic, this black/white wire is supposed to run all the way into the console and plug into my hazard switch (which it does not). A blue/white wire does.

It should be noted that the parking brake light, the throttle light, the exh. temp light and the fasten seatbelt light work, (I haven't checked the exh. temp in a while, unplugged the bulb a long time ago), but none of these lights have the black/white wire of mystery connected to them. All of the other lights that don't work (such as the defrost light, wiper light, heater control light and hazard warning light) have the black/white wire of mystery which is woven through the console loom but does not go up and connect to the harness.

Going nuts here, Friends. I am not usually this much of a stickler, but after all of the trouble I've gone to get this thing looking like new...a few light bulbs have become my archnemesis.

I have included some pictures for reference and thanks for your time in reading this and helping me out.

Warm Regards,

-George

 

[NikiSpider]

The first picture beneath the schematic is Roadtrip's hazard switch. Thought I would throw that in there for reference. Also, is my hazard flasher even wired correctly (supposing that the blue/white is a OE replacement for the black/white wire)? I have the blue/black wired on the L prong, the blue wire on the R prong, the blue/white on the 49a prong and the two black wires connected to the center prong or prong 31 as it's labeled.

Thanks again,

-G

Note: Checked another schematic which shows wire to prong connections and the hazard is confirmed as being wired correctly aside from the fact that it's a blue/white wire on the 49a prong instead of the black/white as shown in schematic. Also checked continuity from white/black wire at flasher to white/black wire at console harness. Looking at the consoles matching harness, I see that the blue/white wire does indeed match right up to the black/white wire. No idea as to what was behind the color change, but its 100% the right wire.

So if my flasher is getting 12v, then shooting off power through the white/black wire which is good and then connecting to the blue/white wire which is also good....why on earth isn't the hazard light coming on when the hazard switch is activated? Why doesn't the heater control light turn on with the headlight switch? Writing this out has helped me a little, but I'm not much closer to getting the answer. And yes, before you ask the light bulbs are all new.

I wonder if it's a short inside of the hazard switch, but that still doesn't explain why the wiper/def lights and the heater control light do not work. Just thinking aloud at this point. Sorry.

And after even further examination, I'm wondering if my exh. temp and fasten seatbelts light housings have been switched at some point. The schematic shows a pink going to fasten seatbelts but there is a red and black wire connected to that instead. The way the console came to me the fasten seatbelts was below the shifter and the exh. temp was above the shifter with the throttle, brake and hazard light housings. Is this correct? If so, what the hell is a red and black wire doing connecting the fasten seatbelts light when the schematics clearly shows a pink wire. Even if I tried to wire it the way the schematic shows I would then be left with a red wire???


Will add pics to illustrate. Thumb will be pointing to fasten seatbelts and pinky to exh. temp. Just trying to get this all figured out, Guys.

Thanks Again,

-George

 

[papajam]

....why on earth isn't the hazard light coming on when the hazard switch is activated?

If we're talking about the rectangular hazard light on the console, it isn't flashing because it isn't supposed to. It is only to indicate the location of the hazard switch at night when the parking lights are on (just like the DEF & WIPE lights).

 

[NikiSpider]

Papajam,

"I see", said the blind man who picked up the hammer and saw!

Hah, ok. That's one mystery partly solved.

Now as to why none of the above-mentioned lights in your post don't work at all - I'm still at a loss.

I have continuity from the black/white wire at the flasher unit all the way to the harness. And, not to cause confusion I will say that the black/white wire turns into a blue/white wire which plugs into the hazard switch. This blue/white wire then has continuity with all the black/white wires connected to the lights throughout the console.

So, if there is continuity throughout, then all of these lights should kick on when the parking lights are activated, right?

If the lights don't kick on, then is it a short in the hazard switch which is as old as the car and does not stay pushed down? I have to "encourage" the red button to stay pushed down.

Also, why on earth does the schematic show a pink wire going to the fasten seatbelt light when it is a stock, loomed red wire here? And there is no continuity between the pink wires which connect to hazard, throttle, brake and exh. temp and the red wire which connects to the fasten seatbelts light.

Should I disconnect the red wire and daisy chain one of the pink wires over to it?

Another question, are my fasten seatbelt and exh. temp housings located in the correct places. The schematic looks as if it is showing the exh. temp below the shifter and the fasten seatbelts above it, but my fasten seatbelt light is below the shifter and my exh. temp is above the shifter.

I've had the console out of the car for a few days as I've been going over and rewiring to factory specs (someone has been back there before, the wiper switch was missing the jumper cable between prongs 2, 4 & 6, etc.) so I will have to plug everything back in and test it all once more for the latest results.

Thanks for your time, Papajam and sorry if I'm being dense here. Wiring is not my best area.

-George

 

[papajam]

The hazard, Def, Wipe & heater lever lights are known as 'lamps under rheostat'. This means that their brightness is adjustable by means of the dimmer switch. This is the knob between the def and wipe lights. If by turning the knob (with the parking lights on) these dash lights don't work, check for voltage at the yellow wire with the parking lights on. Is there voltage?

The position of the lights on the wiring diagram are the same as depicted in the 78 owner's manual.

More later...