My 57 F100 does not have a switch on the door pillar for the dome,came that way from the factory.Were do I get power from? The diagram shows the it is powered from the A post of the light switch but that is always hot,light would be on.The dome light should turn on by turning the **** all the way to the right but I cant find a post or wire that turns on and off with the ****.Could it be that my switch is defective?

 

You are correct that the wire is always hot but the door buttons and the switch are what turn it on and off so the only time the lights are on is if the door opens or you turn the switch. That's how they got the light to turn on when you opened the door before inserting the key and turning the truck on.

 

I had to do a total rewire (everything interior and headlight tail light was cut - only thing left was under the hood). Painless kit said to run fused continuous hot to the dome light, and then do NOT ground the dome light itself, instead run from the light to the switches (all in parallel), and from all the switches to ground - that way either the door post switch or dash switch would complete the circuit to ground.

Is this how Ford did it, or no? Is it safer to do it that way then some other way? Is there any other good reason to do it one way or the other?

 

I would follow their instructions then.

The factory had the hot wire coming off the back of the headlight switch and going to a three way split where one wire went to each of the door buttons and the dome light providing power to all three. The door buttons had wires coming from them to a common point on the dome light that was separate form the power lead from the headlight switch. The dome light was then grounded to the cab.

Here's a link to Earl's world. There you will find a truck wiring diagram for a 56. I think they are similar.

http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/Re...iring Diagrams

 

There is NO door switch from the factory.

 

OK. No door buttons. Got it. I knew you didn't have them from the first post. Only trying to explain how the switch worked if you were not aware of it or how it was wired.

Looking at a wiring diagram on "Earl's World" shows the hot lead from the light switch coming off the end of the switch, not neccessarily from the 'A' post.

When you rotate the headlight switch clockwise do the dash lights dim? The old headlight switches rotated clockwise to dim the dash lights and counter clockwise to brighten them. Rotating all the way counter clockwise would find a spot on the rotation where there would be a detent and going past the detent is when the dome light would turn on. Is your switch in the position past the detent? If so, rotate the switch clockwise past the detent and check if the wire is still hot.

 

Yes the dash light dim and turn off.Turning the **** counterclock wise turns the dash lights off and and the wire is not hot.Some were there a wire or lug thats hot with the **** turned all the way but I can't find it.

 

Last year,the dome light function on my headlight switch failed, and I installed a door jam switch in lieu of it.The first one,from NAPA, was made of plastic and was a POS.I returned it,made the guy scrounge the shelves till he found an old dusty metal one of high quality.Who knows what it's for?

Within a month,the entire headlight switch bit the dust.I changed that,but left the dome wired as is,I like it.

 

I guess I'll go that route.I'm old enough to remember these trucks when they were new and I can't remember any with door jamb switchs.
Thanks guys