I have a dark sider '52 F6. With the headlights on (without any problem there) the running and taillights flicker dim and out randomly. I ran my fingers long the wires behind the dash from the headlight switch upwards and found a hot pole on a breaker to the left of the guages and believe I felt loose wires to the breaker. It seems that the lights flickered in response to my giggling the wire at the post which also became too hot to touch.

What is the significance of the hot pole where the loose wires attach?
Might those be wires that feed only the running and tail lights?
How do I access the breaker to tighten the connection?

As for that last question I notice a few bolts holding a plate to the engine compartment side of the fire wall. Might that be an access to the back of the dashboard?

Any help for this electirically challenged novice will be greatly appreciated.

 

Wow lots of questions!

Usually the hot pole is related to poor electrical flow - a poor connection or bad ground somewhere in your system. I have a theory about your problem but I'll get back to it.

The best way to access the breaker to check the wires is to drop out the gauge package. They are mounted on it. Your power for your running and parking lights is supplied from the same wire and attaches to the headlight switch where my drawign below has the pink box that says "hot bus" on the left side. (the other hot bus connection powers the running lights and headlights when the switch is pulled out to the next detent). A loose connection on th ebreaker or the switch will definately cause flickering and high heat.

As far as wiring is concerned, the running (tail) lights and Parking (front small) lights are both run on wires and posts on the headlight switch that are different than the headlights. Here is a diagram of the switch if properly wired:



I had the same problem with the light flickering that you have and it was cause by three things: First I had an inadequate ground out in my front clip because I have a full front tilt hood - grounding stap from hood to frame salved that. Second my wiring was a mess with lots of loose connections both at the screw down posts and in the connectors - rewired, but if you just tighten up the screws, recrimp the connectors and tighten the plugs that's ok.

But lastly, it sounds to me like your headlight switch contacts colud be loose inside the switch if tightening th ewire connections doesn't solve the problem. There is a square copper plate inside there that slides withthe **** when you pull it. It slides onto and contacts small metal **** on the bottom of the rabs your wires are screwed onto. If the plate gets hot, it warps and makes the contact worse. Also, the headlight switch bakelite piece the wire mounting tabs are cast into melts and the tabs come loose - also negating a firm contact withthe slide inside the switch.

So, here is what I would do: 1) take out the instrument cluster and check all the wires and connections on the breakers for the lights; if that doesn't do it: 2) remove the headlight switch and check that. Look for firm connections and make sure none of the mounting posts can't move or are corroded. Test the switch function with a meter to make sure it isn't intermettently making contact inside (causing the flickering). I might have a replacement switch available. 3) make sure all of your lights have good grounds. But if the front and back running and parking lights all flicker together, it's the headlight switch or the wire connections on the switch or at the breaker.

Feell free to send me a PM if you need help troubleshooting - or with anything for that matter.

J!

 

Thank you Julie for the complete and informative reply. I will start with the instrument cluster and go from there. I've read your posts on other subjects and appreciate all that you are doing for me and others.

Eric

 

I know I probably don't need to mention this but disconnect the battery before pulling the luster loose. Its very easy to start doing some unintentional arc welding inside the old trucks with metal dashboards and poorly insulated wiring.............(I'd rather not get into how I know this....lol)

Good luck, it sounds like a bad connection to me

Bobby

 

Hey Bobby thanks for the tip. I am not an electrician and I am a worse welder. Unintentional arc welding was not what I had in mind but I did worry about something bad happning when I had my hand up the back side of my dash fishing amongst the wires.

What I know in life comes from bad experience....mine, if not someone else's.

 

Well I reached up behind the dash, found the loose screw on the right side of the cluster, tightened it up and have cured the problem. No heat and no intermitent blinking of lights. Thanks for the help! Fortunately I did not have to remove the cluster to do that - especially since I had no idea how to get it out of there. I'll guess I'll need to figure that out if and when I decide to remove, repaint and rebuild the cab.

I do really appreciate the assistance you all give! What a great resource.

Eric

 

Great! Outstanding!

Julie

PS to get the cluster out (52 right?) there are two studs welded to the dash top and bottom. The cluster has two tabs that mount on those and then a nut goers on top. Not hard to undo but your wiring will probably make it tough. I'd leave it alone unless absolutely necessary.

In this picture it is on it's side! Turn it clockwise 90*


Here's the back. And I think it's upside down (yes, the gauge with just the loop on it is the AMP gauge and it goers to the upper right when installed). There are two square things under the paper where it is marked "H" and "A." Those are your circuit breakers (you can see the hook ups for them), and they go on the left as you are sitting looking at the gauges. You can see the mounting tabs here too.




Julie

 

Julie have a question about your ground strap. I too have a full front end tilt and I have a grounding strap from the hood to the frame. But that is the only grounding strap i see. The problem i am having is ground related it seems but going nuts trying to track it down. Just installed a new gauge set of electric gauges on my 54 F100, don't recall this happening before with the under the dashe gauges i had before.

When my turn signals are on , my volt gauges flickers down along with it. If i put the brake lights on, it almost goes to almost 0 . Engine off or going down the road same thing. Also when i turn my lights on, my LED highbeam light stays on all the time. Hit hi beam id does get brighter, but low beam it stays on.

Trying to find proper grounding strap spots so i can verify all that. I have read Neg direct from battery direct to engine to as close to starter as possible, from that same ground point, run another ground to frame, from taht same point to body and to firewall. Not sure about my bed could not find anything on that.

Any ideas would be appreciated, i would rather over ground than under ground. Also what TYPE of ground wire to use. Neg battery 4ga, 12g etc?

Thank you
Len

 

Sorry Len - Julie aka Dan has been banished from FTE land for a while.

I noticed you asked the same question on another thread - guessing the answers weren't enough to solve your challenge.

 

Oh shoot did not realize that. Hopefully someone else will see my post then. No i have not resolved it yet driving me nuts. Any thoughts fire away.