66 C10 AAC Wiring Questions

[Afirehawk1]

Starting to test out the circuits;
Headlights shift between low and high which is great
Issue is the Bright Light on the cluster comes on either way

What is wrong?

[wfojon]

It sounds like the hi beam indicator is wired before the dimmer switch and it should be after the switch on the hi circuit. It sounds like it is wired to the light switch and is on when the lights are on. As a side note where is the hi beam light in the cluster? My truck never lights up and I haven't really looked for it.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by wfojon

It sounds like the hi beam indicator is wired before the dimmer switch and it should be after the switch on the hi circuit. It sounds like it is wired to the light switch and is on when the lights are on. As a side note where is the hi beam light in the cluster? My truck never lights up and I haven't really looked for it.

This

[wfojon]

Thank you, the DPO of my truck cut the wires off at the fuse box and rewired everything under the dash with one color of wire, white, and spiced everything together, a total nightmare.

[Afirehawk1]

Ok
Another issue

Turn headlights on....brake lights come on
No bearing on the pedal being depressed or not

[The Rocknrod]

Just a guess, but I'd say off hand that you didnt wire it correctly.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by wfojon

Thank you, the DPO of my truck cut the wires off at the fuse box and rewired everything under the dash with one color of wire, white, and spiced everything together, a total nightmare.

On the wiring everything is new using AAC Harnesses.

Everything is labeled; plug and play
So what could this be??

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Just a guess, but I'd say off hand that you didnt wire it correctly.

Has to be something else
AAC prelabeled harnesses

[Afirehawk1]

In what situations should these turn and off;

Do these only come on with turn signal switch engaged?
I tried that and nothing

[jayoldschool]

What did AAC say?

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by jayoldschool

What did AAC say?

I haven’t asked them
Assumed someone here could help

[wfojon]

The hi beam wiring would probably wire into the dimmer switch and be on the hi beam side of the switch so it would only be hot when the hi beams were on. Perhaps you wired it to the hot going to the switch which would light every time you turned the lights on.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by wfojon

The hi beam wiring would probably wire into the dimmer switch and be on the hi beam side of the switch so it would only be hot when the hi beams were on. Perhaps you wired it to the hot going to the switch which would light every time you turned the lights on.

Hhm ok
So another question then.

Does the key have to be engaged for the headlights to turn on?
Right now, i can turn them on wo the key.
Which means its tied to the battery and not the ignition Switch? Yes?
Is this correct ?? or have any bearing on the issues above?

[norcalcap]

Originally Posted by Afirehawk1

Hhm ok
So another question then.

Does the key have to be engaged for the headlights to turn on?
Right now, i can turn them on wo the key.
Which means its tied to the battery and not the ignition Switch? Yes?
Is this correct ?? or have any bearing on the issues above?

Im using AAC harness as well. Did a complete rewire....My HL's activate with key off.
About your brake lights coming on with your HL's, are you sure they are your brake lights and not just your taillights? When they are on, and you activate the brake, what happens? Brighter lights or no change? If it is truly your brake lights, then maybe they are simply reversed at the tailight socket or wherever you spliced them together. I did that by accident with my rewire. Just swapped the 2 wires and it worked.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by norcalcap

Im using AAC harness as well. Did a complete rewire....My HL's activate with key off.
About your brake lights coming on with your HL's, are you sure they are your brake lights and not just your taillights? When they are on, and you activate the brake, what happens? Brighter lights or no change? If it is truly your brake lights, then maybe they are simply reversed at the tailight socket or wherever you spliced them together. I did that by accident with my rewire. Just swapped the 2 wires and it worked.

See if this is correct
May not be
I have 3 brown wires labeled “park lights”.
Do i have it correct or do all 3 wires get tied together??
And slot does it go into?

I do see now i ran the double brown to front parking lights then split side to side

The single brown i ran to the rear lights

If i reverse these at the light switch would this correct my issue

When you look at the AAC diagram i just noticed they have tail light lead and the park light lead reversed in order when u follow the diagram

I will swap these tomorrow and see

Side note. On the hi/li beam switch i still dont see what went wrong; suggestions on this;

[notsolo]

The single brown wire on the rt is parking lamps are on in front stay on when headlights are on, factory I think was they were off when headlights were on. Split the 2 brown wires 1 front 1 rear for parking lights. don't use the single wire, unless you want them on in front. Brake wire should be separate color, Light blue. Good ground wires from body to frame and motor? What number is this kit?

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by notsolo

The single brown wire on the rt is parking lamps are on in front stay on when headlights are on, factory I think was they were off when headlights were on. Split the 2 brown wires 1 front 1 rear for parking lights. don't use the single wire, unless you want them on in front. Brake wire should be separate color, Light blue. Good ground wires from body to frame and motor? What number is this kit?

Kit 500560
My brake wires are brown, just like the parking.

Lite blue is 3rd parking which im not using
Dk green is right
Yellow is left
Both combo with the brown

[ACK]

Attached is the '64 light schematic, the light switch harness doesn't look like it's matching your harness. Also, here's some things to try ...
1. Disconnect the light harness at the dimmer switch on the floor. Turn on the headlights, if the brights indicator is on, I'm betting a bulb behind the dash is in the wrong position.
2. Pull the orange wire at the brake lamp switch. If the brake lights are still on, double check the wiring.

Good luck and give updates as you go along.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by ACK

Attached is the '64 light schematic, the light switch harness doesn't look like it's matching your harness. Also, here's some things to try ...
1. Disconnect the light harness at the dimmer switch on the floor. Turn on the headlights, if the brights indicator is on, I'm betting a bulb behind the dash is in the wrong position.
2. Pull the orange wire at the brake lamp switch. If the brake lights are still on, double check the wiring.

Good luck and give updates as you go along.

The AAC Harness is definitely different then stock; the original schematic wont help. I checked the bright light location. It is correct

I will check the brake switch

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by Afirehawk1

The AAC Harness is definitely different then stock; the original schematic wont help. I checked the bright light location. It is correct

I will check the brake switch

Ok
I removed the floor dimmer harness from the switch And the brake switch harness

1.the head lights will not work and the hi beam indicator is off
2. Rear lights now act funny
A. Driver brake light bright
B. Passenger not on; ground issue? I can take a screw driver and touch the rear socket to one of the housing studs; light comes on very bright like driver side
C. I ohmed the rear wires and everything is ok
3. Could dimmer switch be bad even new with the kit?
4. Dimmer switch connector appears correct?
5. Parking lights i have hanging on the hood but not grounded yet; when I manually ground they turn on

Explain how the orange wire works on the brake switch?
Appears orange runs from fuse panel to switch and also powers the glove box light
the white wire is the 12v from the brake switch

Reminder. My column harness appears to resemble a 63 not like 66
I attached photo of column harness
In this order
Yellow, blue, white, dk blue, pink, purple
Black for horn
Grey for light

So is my steering column harness causing these issues?
Worth replacing?

[ACK]

Originally Posted by Afirehawk1

Ok
I removed the floor dimmer harness from the switch And the brake switch harness

1.the head lights will not work and the hi beam indicator is off
2. Rear lights now act funny
A. Driver brake light bright
B. Passenger not on; ground issue? I can take a screw driver and touch the rear socket to one of the housing studs; light comes on very bright like driver side
C. I ohmed the rear wires and everything is ok

Explain how the orange wire works on the brake switch?
Appears orange runs from fuse panel to switch and also powers the glove box light
the white wire is the 12v from the brake switch

Pressing the brake petal completes the brake light circuit. If one or both brake lights are on with the orange wire disconnected, recheck the wiring, something isn't right. Glove box could be part of the circuit if it's further upstream.

From the looks of the AAC diagram, the brights and the indicator split at the dimmer switch, one light green going to the lights wiring harness and the other to the dash lights. There shouldn't be any other intersecting wires, including at the harnesses, if there are, that should be the culprit. Also can't hurt to check continuity at the dimmer switch just to eliminate the possibility of it being bad.

I'm curious about the 2 brown wires coming out of the "Rear Tail Lamp" pin on the lights harness in the earlier photo. Where does each go, should there be only one wire coming out of it (can't tell from the diagram)?

To combat my ground issues at the bed, I cleaned away paint and rust in a small area on the frame and ran a 12 gauge wire from the frame to one of the bed studs. I also removed both tail light lenses and ran a 4" length of 14 or 16 gauge wire from the bed body to the tail light buckets. Haven't had a tail light issue since.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by ACK

Pressing the brake petal completes the brake light circuit. If one or both brake lights are on with the orange wire disconnected, recheck the wiring, something isn't right. Glove box could be part of the circuit if it's further upstream.

From the looks of the AAC diagram, the brights and the indicator split at the dimmer switch, one light green going to the lights wiring harness and the other to the dash lights. There shouldn't be any other intersecting wires, including at the harnesses, if there are, that should be the culprit. Also can't hurt to check continuity at the dimmer switch just to eliminate the possibility of it being bad.

I'm curious about the 2 brown wires coming out of the "Rear Tail Lamp" pin on the lights harness in the earlier photo. Where does each go, should there be only one wire coming out of it (can't tell from the diagram)?

To combat my ground issues at the bed, I cleaned away paint and rust in a small area on the frame and ran a 12 gauge wire from the frame to one of the bed studs. I also removed both tail light lenses and ran a 4" length of 14 or 16 gauge wire from the bed body to the tail light buckets. Haven't had a tail light issue since.

Single brown goes to the parking
Double brown to the rear tail; i will verify
I did ohm the wires to verify from light switch to each end run For both park and tail

Odd the LED brake lights are bright
No change with the brake switch plugged or unplugged

Best way to check continuity on dimmer switch?
The hi-lo beams work when engaged.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by Afirehawk1

Single brown goes to the parking
Double brown to the rear tail; i will verify
I did ohm the wires to verify from light switch to each end run For both park and tail

Odd the LED brake lights are bright
No change with the brake switch plugged or unplugged

Best way to check continuity on dimmer switch?
The hi-lo beams work when engaged.

I also noted this
Back of light switch marked rear lights i have a double Brown park light;
1 of these goes to instrument harness but i didnt run anything from this. This note says park light for dimmer function; only used for digital dimmer

[ACK]

Originally Posted by Afirehawk1

Single brown goes to the parking
Double brown to the rear tail; i will verify
I did ohm the wires to verify from light switch to each end run For both park and tail

Odd the LED brake lights are bright
No change with the brake switch plugged or unplugged

Best way to check continuity on dimmer switch?
The hi-lo beams work when engaged.

Most multimeters have a continuity function, it's the symbol below. Unlikely, but possible, the switch has the brights on in both positions and it's just turning the low beams on and off (in effect, you have brights and even brighter brights). If one of the poles has continuity when in both positions, you have your culprit.

For the tail lamps, if you haven't, I suggest disconnecting the harness under the rear bumper and take voltage readings from each of the wires as follows:
1. all lights off
2. all lights off and brakes on
3. running lights on and brakes off
4. running lights on and brakes on
5. running lights and head lights on and brakes off
6. running lights and head lights on and brakes on
If they all check out okay and you have decent voltage readings, you know the harness coming out of the cab is good, so the issue is definitely at the back half of the harness, which makes it much easier. If that's the case, most likely it's one of the following: the wiring and connections to the tail lights need to be reconfirmed; need better grounds to the tail lights; the LEDs don't want to work with 50+ year old technology.

As a side, I'm in the camp of not using LEDs on the truck, with a few exceptions. LEDs have requirements that don't mix with older vehicles, so they have a habit of doing some very odd things.

[Afirehawk1]

Originally Posted by ACK

Most multimeters have a continuity function, it's the symbol below. Unlikely, but possible, the switch has the brights on in both positions and it's just turning the low beams on and off (in effect, you have brights and even brighter brights). If one of the poles has continuity when in both positions, you have your culprit.

For the tail lamps, if you haven't, I suggest disconnecting the harness under the rear bumper and take voltage readings from each of the wires as follows:
1. all lights off
2. all lights off and brakes on
3. running lights on and brakes off
4. running lights on and brakes on
5. running lights and head lights on and brakes off
6. running lights and head lights on and brakes on
If they all check out okay and you have decent voltage readings, you know the harness coming out of the cab is good, so the issue is definitely at the back half of the harness, which makes it much easier. If that's the case, most likely it's one of the following: the wiring and connections to the tail lights need to be reconfirmed; need better grounds to the tail lights; the LEDs don't want to work with 50+ year old technology.

As a side, I'm in the camp of not using LEDs on the truck, with a few exceptions. LEDs have requirements that don't mix with older vehicles, so they have a habit of doing some very odd things.

Update on the Hi Beam Bright light staying on—-
The green and ground were flipped backwards which caused current bleed over.
Lesson on this one
Pix to illustrate