Headlight switch wiring question

[iufan71]

Hello everyone,been fixing little things wrong with my truck,and have replaced the dash bulbs,and rewired the courtesy lights and door pin switches. I have everything working,except for the ability to turn on the interior lights,using the headlight switch, without opening the door. What two wires off of the headlight switch do i need to tie into,for this to work correctly? There is like 6 or 7 wires coming off the headlight switch itself,and i dont want to cut the wrong one. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[blink32]

This is on a 71 i guess from your screen name? And what do you mean by "tie into"? I guess your running new cables? At any rate, I can only give accurate info for 73+, but if the switch is any like mine, there are 6 total wires and this should work just as well for you as it did for me. If you use a test light 3 will be hot at all times and 3 will be cold with nothing switched on. Through process of elimination you can determine what the last 3 do, pull the switch out to make the dash lights come on and one more wire should go hot. Pull it out one more notch and a 5th wire should go hot turning on your headlights. The last wire should be the interior light switch. Rotate the knob to engage it. If the wire does not go hot then you have a bad switch. If it does go hot then you have a break in the wiring or another problem somewhere or you now know where to wire in your new setup.

[iufan71]

My truck is actually a 78 GMC. I would think wiring should be the same as yours.

[iufan71]

So to use the headlight switch to turn the interior lights on ,i just need the single hot wire? I have ran all new wire for both interior lights(under the dash,and the dome above the rear window).So I just need one hot wire and tie that into a lead for each interior light? Sorry,im not an electrician,just dont want to burn my truck down...hehe, I was actually hoping someone would tell me what color wire to use out of the ones on the headlight switch.

[blink32]

Originally posted by iufan71
So to use the headlight switch to turn the interior lights on ,i just need the single hot wire? I have ran all new wire for both interior lights(under the dash,and the dome above the rear window).So I just need one hot wire and tie that into a lead for each interior light? Sorry,im not an electrician,just dont want to burn my truck down...hehe, I was actually hoping someone would tell me what color wire to use out of the ones on the headlight switch.

Yes, You only need the one single hot wire and that controls the dome light as well as the Courtesy light in the footwell. Its no problem. And its seriously super easy to figure out the correct color on your own using a test light in the manner I described. I mean I could look at my notes and post maybe tomorrow the color it was on my 76. But you'll get it on your own real fast.

I didn't trace down that portion of the curcuit on my truck so I can't say that the two wires connected to the single headlight switch wire at point X, but it should be fairly easy to find. I had problems with the cluster lights, everything else worked fine.