RE: IML: Headlight Switch Removal
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RE: IML: Headlight Switch Removal



To add to Elijah’s comment, do what he says at night, with the parking lights on, so you can see the brief flashes of instrument light as you pass over the tiny areas of clean metal as you sweep the control back and forth.  When you see a glimmer of light from the dash lights, work around that spot, back and forth, back and forth, slowly expanding the area of good contact until finally, you have the full range of illumination that Mother Mopar provided 43 years ago.

 

We drive these cars for years, never adjusting the dash lighting, until the rheostat windings get thoroughly coated with dust and oxide, and when the day comes that we bump the control, or some other disturbance occurs, suddenly the dash lights won’t work at all.  If you can remember to do it, once every few times you drive your car, grab that knob and turn it all the way to the left (courtesy lights come on, on some cars), then all the way to the right, then back to wherever you like to set it.  You’ll have no more trouble.

 

I don’t know whether the 64s still used the electro-luminescent instrument lighting, but if so, it is possible your problem is elsewhere.  Even in that case the control exercise is still a good idea, but your problems could be in the high voltage converter, or other electronics associated with the electro-luminescent system.  The most UNLIKLY cause, however, is a failed headlight switch (other than the dirt/oxide buildup).

 

Dick Benjamin

 


From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Elijah Scott
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:08 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: Headlight Switch Removal

 

mrs954@xxxxxxx wrote:

Can anyone tell me the economical way to remove the headlight switch on my 64 LeBaron?  I have to replace my switch because the instrument panel lights do not work. The fuse is good, and the lights worked intermittantly, but since the trip to Carlisle last week, they just stopped working. I don't think the whitewalls have anything to do with it.

Mark -- before you replace the switch, spend an hour or two turning it back and forth fifty-bazillion times.  The spring and contact for the instrument lights both tend to accumulate corrosion over the years.  If you rotate the knob a BUNCH of times, you can probably clean it well enough for the dash panel lights to work again.

Hope this helps!

Elijah


Imperial Power Window Switch Repair - http://home.comcast.net/~imperial1971/

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1965 Imperial LeBaron
1967 Chrysler Newport Custom Sedan
1970 Imperial LeBaron
1971 Imperial LeBaron

 


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