Home 1954 m37.
Thanks, Tim
lights quit working.
Moderators: Cal_Gary, T. Highway, Monkey Man, robi
lights quit working.
Havn't had time to look into it yet but I lost all of my lights. No head / tail / dash or even brake lights. Any of you know where I should start looking?
1954 m37.
Thanks, Tim
1954 m37.
Thanks, Tim
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anthony manzella
- SSGT
- Posts: 292
- Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:08 pm
- Location: Crestwood Il
NO LIGHTS
MINE did the same thing a while back it was in the light switch , But I have a cive switch in it from when I bought it , try there and work to the power source by using a test light to see where the power STOP'S n Start's Good Luck with her !! 
Hit Duh Ground Runnin
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MSeriesRebuild
- 1SG
- Posts: 2832
- Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:35 am
- Location: Norwood, NC
- Contact:
First check to see that you have power going to the light switch. If you have power feeding the switch & nothing going out, you have found your problem. The circuit breaker that feeds the switch is the only 1 related to lights. The spider harness under the dash has nothing to do with lights at all, its purpose is to feed power to the gauges.
Charles Talbert
www.mseriesrebuild.com
www.mseriesrebuild.com
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Caldwelljj0
- PVT
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:17 pm
- Location: Chesterfield, VA
A similar thing happened to me once. Chased it for a week. Then realized I had a short somewhere in the system and it blew out every bulb in the truck. Switched bulbs and things came back just fine. You might take a quick look to see if the fillaments are in tact in a bulb or two.
Jeff Caldwell
1962 M37
1962 M37
Not to beat a dead horse, but ...
Did you fix your problem?
You may have a bad ground. Whether the problem is in the + side or - side is easy to track without a voltmeter.
WARNING: even though the M wiring system seems innocent enough, it packs enough of a whallop to do some serious damage. Be safe, and ask questions if you are unsure.
Equipment you will need: a very long hunk of shielded (coated with rubber or plastic) braided (more flexible) 14 ga. (or heavier) wire with an inline fuse of 5A or less. I use one that has the Douglass connector pins on each side. Alligator clips will work too, but be careful not to short anything out.
That said, check your ground (-) side FIRST. IF your wiring is in good condition, the ground is your most likely problem, and easiest to check. Hook one end of your wire to the - side of your battery. With the truck NOT running, but light switch on, (you may have to have the ignition switch and kill/disconnect switch on, depending on who last wired your truck) touch the other end of the wire to the shell of one of the bulb sockets with the other end of the wire. If the light goes on, your problem is the ground. If this is the case, go backwards along the shortest path through each connection from the shell of the bulb socket to the - of your battery. At some point, the bulb wont light anymore. In theory, your whole truck should be ground. That's why we start with ground first - if you drop the test wire on the truck, it won't short out.
If this doesn't work, do exactly the same thing with one end of your test wire on the + side of your battery bank - after disconnecting the wire from the - side first. Starting from the pin of the bulb socket follow the same procedure. If the bulb lights when you touch the pin, the problem is somewhere along the battery to bulb path.
Using this method, you can at least isolate the problem an then figure out how to attack it.
Just now that when you complete the circuit, you will get a small spark.
If you do all of this, and nothing works, it is your switch or signal unit (if you have one).
Of course, using a voltmeter is much more elegant method, just as simple. The volt meter will help you diagnose the problem more specifically.
Post with questions and let us know what you find.
You may have a bad ground. Whether the problem is in the + side or - side is easy to track without a voltmeter.
WARNING: even though the M wiring system seems innocent enough, it packs enough of a whallop to do some serious damage. Be safe, and ask questions if you are unsure.
Equipment you will need: a very long hunk of shielded (coated with rubber or plastic) braided (more flexible) 14 ga. (or heavier) wire with an inline fuse of 5A or less. I use one that has the Douglass connector pins on each side. Alligator clips will work too, but be careful not to short anything out.
That said, check your ground (-) side FIRST. IF your wiring is in good condition, the ground is your most likely problem, and easiest to check. Hook one end of your wire to the - side of your battery. With the truck NOT running, but light switch on, (you may have to have the ignition switch and kill/disconnect switch on, depending on who last wired your truck) touch the other end of the wire to the shell of one of the bulb sockets with the other end of the wire. If the light goes on, your problem is the ground. If this is the case, go backwards along the shortest path through each connection from the shell of the bulb socket to the - of your battery. At some point, the bulb wont light anymore. In theory, your whole truck should be ground. That's why we start with ground first - if you drop the test wire on the truck, it won't short out.
If this doesn't work, do exactly the same thing with one end of your test wire on the + side of your battery bank - after disconnecting the wire from the - side first. Starting from the pin of the bulb socket follow the same procedure. If the bulb lights when you touch the pin, the problem is somewhere along the battery to bulb path.
Using this method, you can at least isolate the problem an then figure out how to attack it.
Just now that when you complete the circuit, you will get a small spark.
If you do all of this, and nothing works, it is your switch or signal unit (if you have one).
Of course, using a voltmeter is much more elegant method, just as simple. The volt meter will help you diagnose the problem more specifically.
Post with questions and let us know what you find.
You can trust your mother, but you can't trust your ground.