77 Courtesy & Lighter wiring

[Erkenbrand]

I'm trying to reassemble my center dash, and of course I don't have photos of how it was all setup. And I swear the wiring diagram has little to nothing to do with what I have.

Can anybody tell me which wires are the courtesy light? And the cigarette light and lighter? The Hazard appears to be all there, but isn't functional. That one I'll chase later.

Thanks for your help!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Here's how I believe it should be for a '77 spider:

Cigarette lighter: Power comes in through a red wire and a red/black wire attached to the same point on the lighter. The ground for the cigarette lighter is a black wire. +12V for the illumination light for the lighter is a yellow/black wire to the bulb, and the ground is that same black wire as the lighter. This yellow/black wire ultimately connects to the dashboard gauge illumination lights.

Courtesy light: Two black wires goes to the door jamb switches on either side, so those provide the ground when either door is opened. A white/black wire goes to ground which is for the switch to turn on the light when the doors are closed. The +12V for the courtesy light is a violet/black wire that connects to a violet wire on one of the terminals to the hazard indicator switch.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

Thanks! I'll dig into it. I've seen the V/B called out in the wiring diagram, but I do not have a V/B wire anywhere. Although I do have a V/W wire that I think was used in place of the V/B.

Also, I'm pretty sure there's now a bulb out in the turn signal circuit. I'm hoping to track that down and it magically addresses the hazard problem. The big clue - the right turn signal doesn't work. Left works fine. I just need to find some time!

If it wasn't for the New York State inspection I probably wouldn't be going this far.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Thanks! I'll dig into it. I've seen the V/B called out in the wiring diagram, but I do not have a V/B wire anywhere. Although I do have a V/W wire that I think was used in place of the V/B.

I wonder if this is a typo on the wiring diagram I was using? Reason being, most of the diagrams I have use the Italian color names, and white would be bianco. So, someone may have translated V/B as violet/black when in fact it should be violet/bianco, in other words violet/white.

And, at no extra charge, you actually gave kudos to your state inspection system. Might be a first.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

I have no problems with the state inspection system. I grew up in Ohio with no inspection, and both drove and knew of all sorts of scary crap that tried to pass as motor vehicles - I once knew a gentleman who drove a Chevette that only had front brakes, and had no glass anywhere. He wore cheap safety goggles to combat the wind.

In NY it's inexpensive to get inspected, and, to me, it just makes sense. Here, it's mostly a safety inspection. Lights / brakes / suspension / steering components / tires. They make sure the exhaust components that are supposed to be there are all there, and there are no idiot lights on the dash.

I know other places have different standards, but I appreciate the approach here. YMMV

[Erkenbrand]

As an update - I was able to power up the light so it works with the switch. I can't get it to work with the door switch, but I've decided that what I have is a victory, so I'm going to stick with that. For the door switch it won't turn off the light. But that's just fine with me. I just want to start driving the car.

[spider2081]

I can't get it to work with the door switch, but I've decided that what I have is a victory,

Its quite common for the door switched to corrode to the point they become inoperable. I like to remove the switch from the door pillar
and touch the wire on the back of the switch directly to the car metal to see if the light lights. If it does the cleaning the switch usually cures the issue. The switch in the courtesy light suffers from the same corrosion.