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The headlights and turn signals of my desoto diplomat 1955 do not work. Does anyone have documentation on the electrical system, and the location of the fuses?
Is your car 12 volt or 6 volt? I'd assume 6 volt because of the year, but I don't know for sure.
If you can't find a shop manual or wiring diagram specific to the diplomat, you might try getting the shop manual for a 1955 Plymouth, which you can likely find on eBay. Since the Diplomats were largely based on the Plymouth, I would think a lot of the wiring diagram would likely be the same. With the converted engine, that might mean you have some non-original wiring to trace as well.
As far as fuses, there are not really any fuses to speak of in this era. If my memory is correct, the clock (if equipped) and radio (if equipped) would be the only items to have an inline fuse.
It would be helpful to post a photo of your car as I've seen '55 Diplomats that resemble '54 Plymouths while others resemble the '55 Plymouth. Once determined, your best action would be to seek documentation for the correct year Plymouth as I'm not aware of any specific service manuals for the Diplomat.
Mark, this one resembles the '55 Plymouth. They just posted some photos and a video of their car here: https://desoto.org/community/general-discussion/new-member-from-thailand/#post-13734
It would be helpful to post a photo of your car as I've seen '55 Diplomats that resemble '54 Plymouths while others resemble the '55 Plymouth. Once determined, your best action would be to seek documentation for the correct year Plymouth as I'm not aware of any specific service manuals for the Diplomat.
only the Australian manufactured versions carried over the 54 body style up into 1957. His is a Detroit built based on the 55 Plymouth. He should be able to find a 55 Plymouth wiring schematic online somewhere.
This is what I found:
wiring plymouth 1955 lights and turning signal
wiring plymouth 55-56
Tomorrow I'm going to a car electrician. I'm a mechanical engineer, I don't know much about car electrics.
@annetaarts I can relate - electrical stuff is not my strength. Best of luck getting that figured out!
That's fixed again. There's enough craftsmanship in the automotive field here in Thailand. I've also been restoring a Pontiac LeMan 1970 for a year. Everything here is going slowly, but is well done.
for the headlights the previous owner had made a separate switch. I don't know why because the lights already have a switch on the dashboard. I had seen that switch, but if you don't know what it is for, better to leave it alone.
The turn signal switch for the turn signals turned out to be broken.
The electrician had to search a bit for a car that was completely unknown to him.
The switch you are showing is the floorboard dimmer switch to go between low beams and high beams. If I am understanding you correctly that you eliminated this, you won't have high beams now. A bad dimmer switch can cause headlights to not work properly. The turn signal switch being worn or broken is a common occurrence.
