Please read and help serious safety issue

to start, I did search. I found only one thread that helped, but not enough. 1950 ford shoebox, still 6v, all original wires. Just had to run new wires for the tail lights today due to the previous owner cutting them. Used 16g wire and its all secured nicely. Tail lights are working great, so I decide to go out for my first night cruise. Im about 20 minutes in and in the middle of nowhere on a courty road and all the lights in the car just shut off. I hear a CLICK, like a circuit breaker or fuse popping. I nearly die from not being able to see at 50mph. I creep in to a lit parking lot and start investigating. All of a sudden they come right back on. Weird. I high tail it back into town, and it does it 2 more times on the way back. I read that there may be a circuit breaker in the headlight switch, but why would it kick off? I reached under the dash and the switch was HOT, I mean I could barely touch it for more than 5 seconds. Im really worried about this and I would love to rewire it, but I lost my job and am newly married and a new step dad. When I say "budget" I mean 7 dollars in the bank. Please help me before someone hits me or run over an innocent animal

 

Sounds like the switch is shorting out. If it has a small short it could simply heat up and at some point trip the breaker?

 

You have a short..it don't cost anything to look for a wire touching where it shouldn't.
the tape to fix it costs a buck though...

Take your time and look over the harness..I'm sure you will find something.

There is a self resetting circuit breaker in your light system, which is a good thing. Buy another and keep it in the glove box, along with a flashlight.

 

do you think it could be the switch itself? I looked over all the wires that I just ran and also to the front. Behind my dash is a mess, but it looks like there may be a wire missing from the headlight switch itslef.

 

Sounds like you have something going to ground somewhere. IF you just replaced the tail light wires that should be your first place to check. You may be able to tell with a meter but sometimes it wont be solid enough to show, so check out any place that could of got pinched or cut. The breaker is made to protect the circuit from fire but allow you to limp home semi safely without catching on fire.

 

Is it just me or does 16 ga for the 6 volt tailights a little thin?

I use 14 ga on my 12 volt system. I thoight 6 volt wires are spsed to be thicker than 12 volt? Just sayin.

 

I have found in many of my own and customer's cars that the likeliest place to look for that short which pops the circuit breaker is the harness where it jumps from the left side of the trunk to the deck lid for the license light. Check at the clip where it takes off from the main harness and any point from there into the lid, being sure to check for bare wiring especially near knife edges.

Fords had this safety feature with the self-resetting circuit breaker starting in 1940 or so.

 

Hey there, Shainerman. Sounds like you had a scary night! There IS a circuit breaker just to the right of the gauges as you face forward. If it's popping, you have a short somewhere. While you have the car safely in the driveway, fire up the lights and get the car to repeat the failure. Then, systematically disconnect circuits: tail light bulbs, parking lights, headlights, etc until you no longer get the popping. If you still don't have any luck, start inspecting the wires and connectors, themselves for breaks or worn insulation.

The good news is that a shoebox has pretty simple wiring. Here are two drawings you MUST have if you don't already:

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/...cs/Flathead_Electrical_wirediagram1950car.jpg

and

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/...pics/Flathead_Electrical_wiring1949-50car.jpg

PM me if you are still having trouble and I'd be happy to let you pick my brain further.

-Stefan

 

I think Johnny might be rite that the wire to the tail lite is too small. disconnect it and see if that solves your prob.

 

I guess I could try that. The factory wire is 16 gauge so I read and the size is almost dead on the same. Now an issue is the decklid is shaved, so that jumper from the main wires to the plate light isnt even connected, but when I did connect it, the tail lights went out. Would that be an issue? And would the breaker pop for any other reason than a live wire grounding out?

 

Bingo.

 

The breaker could pop if you are pulling too much current through a wire that is too thin. Keep in mind that even if you are matching the same sized wire as the original harness, it is possible that your new battery has a different current rating.

 

It would only go off if you are drawing too many amps through the circuit, or a short to ground.

Eventually these wear out and will trip off for less of the above.

Look at what you just wired up, look at what was already there too.

From what all you guys did to that car in the last bit of time..I'd bet some weld slag caught the wires in one of the pillars or somewhere not so obvious.

 

so what do I do there. Do I completely remove that wire? I havent gone back out to look at it, im doing that now. One moment please...

 

could this be the gremlin?
its hard to see, my phone sucks, but it was in one of the clips running from driver o pass side from the main tail light harness

 

If I see it correctly, looks like bare wire? could be it. Tape it up and see what happens.

Keep looking. That insulation does not stretch well, so if someone was yanking on it, it could be open everywhere.

Those clips don't like to let loose of the wire at all.

 

If the yellow wire has a bare spot in that blurry picture, then, yeah it could be the problem! Separate it from the rest of the harness and see what happens. I sorta disagree with Desertratrodder: I wouldn't patch a bad wire even for a test. It should be replaced regardless.

 

Where does the dome light circuit get its power from?

The car had no roof, now it does. where are the wires for them?

 

Good point! The dome lights would have gone up and over the pillar just like the tail lights.

 

there is only one wire to the dome. Its capped off right under the dash with a rubber nipple and some electrical tape. Thats the first thing I checked too, haha.

 

yea use # 14 or 12 wire stranded for that, 16 is way too small. anything that looks bare tape it. also a loose connection will cause a wire to heat up and pop a circuit real fast. make sure you dont leave any loose connections! trust me, im an electrician, loose connections on any voltage is no good.

 

Theres one dome light on each side. Last time I cut a roof off there was a wire in each pillar.
Maybe you got it capped off at the source.

Probably not it, but an easy "what if"

 

If it not the wiring and you have to look a little deeper check the light switch and the dimmer switch. I had the same problem in a 64 T-bird that was driving me nuts. It ended up being the dimmer switch.

 

The size of the wire does not matter that much, those bulbs do not draw a lot of power like a fan motor would, so I would check the wires for bare spots that are grounding and causing the breaker to cycle. Disconnect each wire at the switch and turn it on until the breaker stops, then follow that wire or replace it. KISS - keep it simple stupid.

 

okay, well I took it out for a VERY LOCAL cruise, haha, and it happened again. It took a little longer this time, but still happened. So I have 2 questions. 1 - someone told me the voltage regulator could be getting hot and the connections are touching from the heat swell. 2 - could I just run new wires from the headlight switch back to the tail lights, that way I know there are no bad wires?

 

come on late night guys, help a young pup out! Haha

 

I'm afraid there's no substitute for you getting under the dash and tracing out the whole system -- you have an intermittent short, no one across the internet is going to be as good as your eyes on the system. You may even have more than one problem. A short that starts a fire is an ugly thing -- take care of it right!

 

Same deal here. I had it in a ford truck. The dimmer switch was making the light switch heat up and kick out, few minutes it would come back on.
I was on back country roads doing 55 mph.

 

x2 hes right, there is no easy way out of fixing electrical. i do it for a living, and you wouldnt believe the shit i run into from people just looking for the easy way out. just trace it out. shouldnt take too long, now imagine having to get up in an attic or under a house to trace out a line. at least in a car every thing is out where you can get to it.

 

ok..... electrical circuits will only get hot when the connections have resistance. Power (heat) is equal to the current (amps) times the resistance. A good switch has zero ohms of resistance and should never get hot unless you are putting excessive current through it. Wires will get hot when they are too small for the current. 16 awg is too small for headlight wiring IMHO.

I would guess that your switch is very dirty and is heating up. Replace it.

Bad grounds have resistance as well. Typically a bad ground will cause a light to shine dimly. A bad ground will also heat up.

If a breaker is kicking off/on, it means that it's break current has been exceeded or it is faulty. A bad ground or switch will not cause that. Having more resistance will cause less current to flow.

I assume the breaker is kicking on/off because either it is bad or you have a resistive short in your power wiring to ground.

Your headlight(s) could also be bad cause them to draw excessive current as well.

My guess is that you have multiple problems. The first thing I would do is put an ammeter is series with your battery and turn on the headlights to see how much current they draw. I would unplug one light and see if the current drops in half. Reverse the processs to see if the headlights draw the same current.

With both headlights unplugged you should draw no current. If you are, you have a short in your power circuit.

Using an ammeter, it goes in series with the plus lead of you battery. Put it in a 10A setting. You usually have to put the meter lead in a special plug on the meter to do this or otherwise you will burn-out your meter.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions......

Doug