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My 1955 Desoto Fireflite 2dr has two A-post switches on the passenger door--one black and one silver. There is only one on the driver's side. I've never seen this before. I thought one might be aftermarket, but upon removing, there was factory red paint in both holes. Also the wiring is the same 16ga yellow for both switches.
Apparently one lights up the roof rail lights while the other lights one and possibly both map lights on the dash. Does anyone else have this on their 55-6 Desoto ?
Ron
I can only speak from experience on the '56 2 door hardtop....
The '56 has 2 door jamb switches in both doors. It seems weird that the '55 has one in the left side and 2 in the right.
On the '56, the dash map light has a switch above the speedometer that turns the light on over the speedo and over the glove box door. On the rear seat left side arm rest, there's a switch that would turn on the rear lights in the right and left sail panel in the headliner.
Because the map lights and dome lights are individually switched, they each require their own pin switch in the door jamb. If there was only one pin switch, then both the map light and the dome light would be sharing a common ground in the circuit, and when you switched on either of the lights from the switch (dash or armrest) then all of them would come on, rather than just one or the other.
Clear as mud, right? Electricity is voo-doo, and I really have to study the wiring diagram for the courtesy lights do have it make sense when we're wiring the car. When the door is open, the pin switch completes the circuit.... when the door is closed, the interior switch completes the circuit. Two different ways to complete the same circuit that need to be isolated from each other.
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
Hey, you don't happen to have an open hole in the left door jamb? Maybe a switch is missing? I'm going to lay awake nights wondering how in the heck they wired that system with only one on the left and 2 on the right....
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
Great explanation, Tim. And, yes, I follow it.
I'm becoming very familiar with the electronics of this car, as I am rewiring the entire car (correct gauge/color, but modern vinyl primary wire). The old cloth wire is a fire waiting to happen. It's unbelievable how much bare wire I'm running into. I even found evidence of a decades-old short between the blower motor wire and the inner speaker grille. Even modern repro cloth wire is not safe, IMHO.
Ron
So I got curious about whether there's a second switch on the driver's side. The car is situated in my garage such that opening the driver's door more than a little bit is difficult. I just went out there, and yes, there is a second switch, also black plastic like on the passenger side. It's situated right next to the standard A-post switch. Something that threw me was the lighting schematic in the 54-5 shop manual, which doesn't show both switches. But I guess that's because it's a schematic for 4dr sedans.
Ron
