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Correct L320 brake light bulb/wattage?


KFunk740

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Anybody know the proper brake light bulb/wattage for a '65 L320?

 

I guessed and bought one off the shelf that looked right, and it fit right.  Later when I had the headlights on, I hit the brakes, and blew the L fuse and had instant darkness.  My only guess is the one I bought had just a tad bit too much wattage on it.  It seems like a stretch, but its really the only thing I changed.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yeah, you're right.  I was hoping it was only the bulb for some odd reason, but nope.  It's not the housings either (disconnected both and it still blew fuse).  Looks like its a short somewhere between switch and back of truck.  I guess time to get under the truck with a flashlight.

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Definitely brake related.  All lights work fine until I touch brake pedal, then fuse is blown.

 

I even pulled the harness leading to back of car from brake light switch, killing all the tail lights, and fuse still blows.  

 

There is a frayed wire with missing insulation on the switched side of the brake switch.  It's not touching anything at all though, so not sure how that could cause the problem.  I still may try cutting/splicing a new female connector on to test it.

 

It's looking like the switch could be working, but grounding out somehow to blow fuse (suppose I should test this theory with multimeter).  This sucks since it looks like if I remove it for fiddling then I'm going to have re-bleed the whole brake system.  Yaaaay.  

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You don't need to remove the switch to test if it's shorted.  It has 2 wires, one goes from the fuse panel, and should be hot all the time.  The other goes to the lights.  Disconnect the one that goes to the lights and press the pedal.  Nothing should happen, but if the fuse blows, it's the switch itself. 

 

But it likely won't be.  So, with the multimeter set to ohms, leave the wire to the lights at the switch disconnected and test for continuity to ground.  With the bulbs out, it should read nothing.  It will read almost zero ohms with as few as one bulb in, but it it reads ANYTHING at all with all the brake light bulbs out, you have a short in the wiring or in the rear housing.    So, time to crawl under the truck and find it.  Disconnect the tail lights at their plugs (don't forget where the wires go!) one at a time and repeat.  If you disconnect all the taillights and STILL have continuity to ground, the problem is in the wiring harness.  If it goes away when you unplug one side, that's the side with the issue so time to examine the housing and contacts inside.  That's probably the most likely issue.

 

320s don't have combined brake/turn lights (at least mine doesn't) so usually there will be no effect of the hazard switch or turn signal switch position. 

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I already tested with either and both rear housings disconnected, and with completely disconnecting the wires from engine bay. Fuse still blows. I haven't done it with wire disconnected at switch itself yet. Running low on fuses and free time in garage.

I expect fuse will blow though with wire disconnected at switch itself. I like your idea wayno, mechanical is certainly better way if switch is failed. Did you have to drill a new hole though? I do like keeping my truck near stock.

I also don't know of a source of stock switch if mine is bad, and was hoping to just take mine out and clean it up and refurbish it somehow and put it back. It might just take some rust removal, since it is immersed in brake fluid and all.

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I already tested with either and both rear housings disconnected, and with completely disconnecting the wires from engine bay. Fuse still blows. I haven't done it with wire disconnected at switch itself yet. Running low on fuses and free time in garage.

I expect fuse will blow though with wire disconnected at switch itself. I like your idea wayno, mechanical is certainly better way if switch is failed. Did you have to drill a new hole though? I do like keeping my truck near stock.

I also don't know of a source of stock switch if mine is bad, and was hoping to just take mine out and clean it up and refurbish it somehow and put it back. It might just take some rust removal, since it is immersed in brake fluid and all.

 

There was a nut/bolt already there for the rubber bumper, I just removed the nut, put my home made bracket over the stud sticking out and put the nut back on and tightened it again.

I did have to make a Z bracket that put the switch closer to the pedal arm, you can see in the photo that it was easy to go down with the bracket, and hard to go up like I would have preferred to do to keep it totally hidden and out of the way, but it's not in the way there either and works great, I just ran 2 wires from the switch wires in the engine compartment to the switch inside the cab, I didn't do anything that could not be completely reversed, I can still plug the original wires to the switch that is still there, but it doesn't work.

DSCN3011.JPG

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I believe the switch is a fairly standard brake line pressure switch.  320s aren't metric.  My 520 and my Mom's '64 Ford Falcon used the same switch.

 

I also acquired a new hydraulic switch for our 320 when I first started driving soon after retrieving it. As I remember, it was an early 60's Ford switch. When I carried the old switch into the parts store, the young desk-hand immediately began the 'Year, Make, & Model' inquiry. I began telling them that "You won't find my vehicle in any of your books (hardbound, loose-leaf, or online included) when an old hand parts guy behind the counter told the kid to go back and get 'such and such' switch and even stated that it was early 60's Ford. Appeared to be a dead-ringer for the original. It worked fine for the nearly year that I drove the 320 before tearing down to refurbish numerous systems. 

 

During the refurbish, I did total replumb of the front half including changing to disc brake front and worked a pedal switch in. I used the same switch that our 620 pickup uses.The brake switch updates are included in my rebuild thread on this page;

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/64874-mighty-mouse-engine-rebuild-upgrades/page-9

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Ohhhhh, duh, yeah I see what you mean now wayno. I was looking at it wrong. Still though, I think I'm gonna try for the stock switch now that I know it's so easy to get one. I just like minimizing junky things that I fab up myself, poorly.

I went ahead and looked up ford falcon brake switch in Amazon, found what looked similar, and ordered one for $8 incl. shipping with prime. Even if mine cleans up fine, good to have one on hand in future. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012OZO1I/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

While you guys are here, I'm not sure if my tail lights are wired up properly, nor have they ever been. What's the proper way they should light up? I don't see that specified in the manual. My inner single filament bulb lights up for the flashers, which seems odd for the turn signal to be inside instead of outside, but that's the way the wire colors match.

On the dual filament bulbs on the outside, both wires look the same green/yellow color, even though one should be green/white. It must have yellowed over time. The brake light should be the brighter filament of the two, right?

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You can use the switch as the stopper. You don't need to make a separate bracket.

 

I had to use a bracket, I would have had to drill the threaded hole out and cut the stock bracket threaded part that has the bumper threads, and it still would not have been in far enough to have the pedal be the same height as it is stock, and I will not do anything that is not reversible to this truck.

DSCN6247_zpsugllzr69.jpg

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Wayno's bracket is super simple and makes-it-happen. No new holes and reversible without leaving evidence. Real close to a 'Perfect Crime'.

 

I don't think that I'd use the switch for a pdtal stop. Might prove to be a little tough on the switch over time.

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While you guys are here, I'm not sure if my tail lights are wired up properly, nor have they ever been. What's the proper way they should light up? I don't see that specified in the manual. My inner single filament bulb lights up for the flashers, which seems odd for the turn signal to be inside instead of outside, but that's the way the wire colors match.

On the dual filament bulbs on the outside, both wires look the same green/yellow color, even though one should be green/white. It must have yellowed over time. The brake light should be the brighter filament of the two, right?

 

On the 320, it's the INNER light that's the turn signal.  In non-US markets, that lens was amber.  They weren't wired differently between markets, just different color lenses. 

 

Yes, the brake is the brighter filament of the combo light.

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On the 320, it's the INNER light that's the turn signal.  In non-US markets, that lens was amber.  They weren't wired differently between markets, just different color lenses. 

 

Yes, the brake is the brighter filament of the combo light.

 

 

Great, thank you.  That's what looked to be the case, it just seemed odd.  

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A lot of vehicles have the switch as the stop. Most Datsuns (70's on) and most other new cars (Toyota, GM, Ford, etc)do too.

 

Datsun (or maybe Toyota) had a long switch that would probably work for that application, unless the threads are different. Now that I'm thinking about it, I bet the Toyota is 10x1.5 and the 320 is probably 3/8-24.

 

I almost understand where you guys are coming from with the "irreversible changes" mantra. Almost but not really. If it's a mod made in the name of modern convenience and safety, I have no problem getting into it. Tasteful mods are totally acceptable in my book. And besides, why would that be irreversible?

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I almost understand where you guys are coming from with the "irreversible changes" mantra. Almost but not really. If it's a mod made in the name of modern convenience and safety, I have no problem getting into it. Tasteful mods are totally acceptable in my book. And besides, why would that be irreversible?

 

I'm not really doing it to preserve some kind of value myself (doubt that the truck will ever have real value, and wont sell it if it does).  

I just know that whatever I do to 'mod' something probably isn't going to have the long-term reliability or functionality of what a bunch of engineers at a company decided was best.  It's a slippery slope going toward a hobbled together unreliable truck.  The few non-stock things I have on the truck are already some of my biggest issues.  

My '74 BMW is a bit too far down the modded route as well.  It's arguably far faster and more fun, but I kinda want one that's pure stock again.  

When it comes to going toward modern convenience too, well its also a slippery slope toward driving a modern car.  If I wanted to drive a modern car, I'd drive my wife's Subaru.  It's fast, comfortable, and efficient.  But I don't drive it if I don't have to, because it's boring as crap.

As for safety, then yeah I'll do some things different.  I drilled holes to put 3 point belts in the truck, and when I'm on the highway at night I put magnetic trailer lights on the side of the bed because stock tail lights are way too dim.  When I have to haul my 10 month old son, we take the Subaru, because no way it'd be safe in truck or BMW.

I doubt a mechanical switch that I hook up myself is going to be more reliable than the hydraulic switch that did last over 50 years (maybe).  

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No argument from me as to what people think is acceptable when modifying their own vehicles. Do what suits you.

 

One last point on the switch, the pressure switch only activates the lights when there is pressure applied to the brakes. Simple, right? Well in actuality, the pressure to activate the switch can be higher than you think, sometimes causing the switch to come on only after more than adequate braking has already been performed.

 

I have owned many vehicles with pressure brake switches and the lights often don't even come on during light braking.

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A lot of vehicles have the switch as the stop. Most Datsuns (70's on) and most other new cars (Toyota, GM, Ford, etc)do too.

 

Datsun (or maybe Toyota) had a long switch that would probably work for that application, unless the threads are different. Now that I'm thinking about it, I bet the Toyota is 10x1.5 and the 320 is probably 3/8-24.

 

I almost understand where you guys are coming from with the "irreversible changes" mantra. Almost but not really. If it's a mod made in the name of modern convenience and safety, I have no problem getting into it. Tasteful mods are totally acceptable in my book. And besides, why would that be irreversible?

 

Yea, that is me talking here about not doing anything irreversible, I am talking about my 1962 Datsun U320, I have been down that road here, I totally changed a 1966 Datsun 520 and was told that a few were bad mouthing me on another site(facebook?) about destroying a rare survivor, the truck didn't have a straight panel on it, but it looked pretty good in the photos I took of it when I picked it up, I made a kingcab/Ranchero type out of that one.

I suppose when someone else owns this truck someday that they might want to put it back to completely original being how rare it is, so I have not done anything to it that would necessitate fixing/repairing it to install the OEM parts that I have removed(and kept) and replaced with non-OEM parts.

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My '57 Land Rover is a fine example of what would have been...

 

I get some criticism for heavily modifying such a rare series 1 Rover, but I don't care. If I had never come along and turned it into what it is now, it would probably still be lying as a frame and body in the dirt. Someday maybe I'll have the luxury of owning an original one.

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