36 wiring picture

[zoegrant]

Could someone please take a picture of their 1936 Ford drivers side electrical connections that come out from the light switch at the end of the steering column. I am meaning the wires that run to the tail lights and interior lights.
Also the drivers head light connection to the cross over harness would be helpful.
My wire colors are too faded to fully determine their placement. I can see some of the colors but not all.....you could either post them online or email them to me at [email protected] all lower case ….Thanks in advance....John

[JSeery]

Is there a reason you are wanting a photo vs the wiring diagram? I would think the diagram would be more helpful.

Some general inputs. The tail lights and gauge lights connect to the buss that is hot in every position except off.

[Bob C]

This is from vanpelt's

[JSeery]

I reread your original post, I was thinking inside the switch, but believe you are talking the outside connectors. It really shouldn't make a lot of difference, turn the light switch to any position other than off. Then use a meter or just a simple current tester and find one that is hot. Both the tail lights and the gauge lights connect to the same buss inside the switch, so shouldn't matter which one connects to which outside connector.

There are three groups of three terminals inside the switch. The first group of three are connected to each other with a buss strip and connect to the power in and the brake lights. This buss is always hot.

A second group of three terminals are also connected by a buss and are wired to the tail lights and gauge lights (the dome light is wired directly to the fuse block). This buss is only hot when the control switch is out of the off position; hot in parking, high beam & low beam.

The final group of terminals are separate, one for parking lights, one for low beam headlights & one for high beam headlights.

You should be able to figure out the crossover wiring by trial & error. Turn the switch to say high beam and then find which wire is hot at the end of the harness. Connect it to the different wires in the crossover and see which connection lights up the high beam. Then select the low beam and repeat the process. Etc.

[zoegrant]

This info is helpful.
QUESTION.....am I right when I say that the internals of the light switch can only fit one way in order to get the metal cover to close ?
I don't believe that it can be put together improperly as the circular buss piece has a notch in it that fits into a bumped in section in the metal cover and the outer metal cover has a bumped out section on each side that allows the covers to slide into one another and then the wire bail holds the complete module to the end of the steering column. At least that is how I remember it.
I will keep you posted to how I make out....thanks to all.

[JSeery]

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The plate the wiring connects to is keyed and will only go in in one position. Here are a couple of photos of a Model A switch (they are all very similar). You can see how the wires are all connected together at the plate.

[Don Rogers]

Here are some diagrams that should help you.

[JSeery]

Don, great post! That should about cover it.

[terry]

As to your question about the switch fitting only one way; my 36 has the V8 emblum upside down at the center of the steering wheel. Is this why i get the high beams coming on first? Or is this another issue. Maybe the wires for high and low beam were mixed up when attached to light control at the base of the column. Terry

[JSeery]

Terry, I don't think the steering wheel switch position (right side up or inverted) would have anything to do with the light switch control function (order of positions).

[cas3]

to get your v8 upright, just unhook the bail, slide the whole light switch off, flip the v8 around and put the switch back on. only takes a minute. now the high beams, must have the wires reversed in the switch, or reversed where the light harness plugs into the wire harness

[zoegrant]

I now have the lights working...the lights would work sometimes and not others...turns out that the fuse holder under the dash did not have enough tension to make a good connection even though it held the fuse in place. I basically just squeezed the ends of the fuse holder together and everything lit up....took sometime to find that problem.
ONE LAST PROBLEM...the horns do not work, I did check the horn wire but cannot tell if it grounds out like it should once the light cover switch is in place.
There is power going to the horn but nothing happens when depressing the horn button.
I did notice that the tail light flickers slightly when the horn is depressed.
I was leading towards a ground issue with the horns, what do you think ?
Where should I look for a ground issue ?

[Tinker]

In my opinion, take the horns off and run them through a straight battery source. Won't hurt them and will let you know if something else is wrong. Guess you could do the same with jumpers, but once off the car you can open them up and clean also. If they work off the car then maybe look at wiring then.