Interior light switches

[m240]

I was changing the interior door light switches today in my '73 and I ran into a problem. The drivers side went well, but when I started the passenger side I found that while the switch that was in the body had one wire coming from it, the switch that I got from MSA had two wires on it. I didn't see any loose wire hanging inside that might have pulled off. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if a) I got the wrong switch from MSA, or b)its the right switch and I just have to hook it up differently, or c) keep looking for a loose wire that pulled off the original switch. The car was made in 6/73.

Thanks for any help on this!

Mark

[Zs-ondabrain]

Most of the door switches are the same on the 240's

there should be a small ( couple of inches) pig tail soldered onto the switch.

If there is no wire what-so-ever, then dig for a (most-likely) black or dark colored wire w/ a raw end and a possible solder joint on it.

if you have any other questions, be specific and i'll do the best I can to answer them for you

I hope some of this helps.

Dave.

[lordbiotree]

I'm sorry for my ignorance but when did Nissan add door lights. Late 72-73?

Mark, As Dave Try to find a dark colored wire (Black or any variation of Black) Black is your Positive Lead. Look for White or a light color wire. That'll be your Negative lead (natural) Green is Ground.

That's how it works in Homes. A switch is only hot-hot, like an Auto Fuse Box. Do your best to find 2 wires. Then Trial and Error.

-Brandon

[m240]

The switch that is on the car has one wire soldered onto it and it plugs into the harness. The new switch has a wire soldered onto the rear of it( maybe to go onto the harness where the other one went) and one wire soldered onto the outside of the switch( the part that is going to contact the metal of the body). Do i disregard the wire soldered onto yhe outside of the switch(because it is going to touch the body anyway) and just use the wire soldered on the rear? This does not make sense unless the switch breaks the ground going to the light.

Mark

[26th-Z]

It sounds like you have an extra grounding wire. Does it have an electrical end for the harness or a grounding washer? And, if you just disregard the "extra" wire, does it work?

The door switch mounted in the forward jamb operates the cabin light in my Z and I think both have a single wire. I'm a little rough with electrics myself!

[EScanlon]

The Z has always had interior light switches on the doors.

I can't recall ever seeing a Z without the switches.

The switches could also operate an extra set of wiring leads that were meant for a set of lights on the door / kick panel. I have heard of but never seen the door panel step light. The picture in the microfiche isn't distinctive enough to discern.

The earlier cars had the switches without the grounding strap wire. The problem with these was that due to the nature of dissimilar metals when in contact with each other, AND the addition of electrical current through the contact point, the switches would corrode very quickly. Adding a grounding strap to the body of the switch helped diminish this tendency.

The driver's side switch has two wires plus the grounding strap, since one actuates the light and the other actuates the key-in reminder buzzer. Personally, unless you are going for the Smithsonian School of Restoration, no one will notice if you used the strapped one or not.

Enrique

[kmack]

lordbiotree,

Houses are wired different than vehicles. It's an AC vs DC thing. (Rock on!)

Anyway, on any car, red will be positive and black will be ground. Just follow like the connections on your battery. There is no nuetral either. Make sure you don't have any black wires connected to red wires on your car, otherwise you may need a lot of new fuses.

[Daniel]

Electric tips, AC like house wiring will switch BEFORE the device it is controlling.DC as a car,will switch AFTER the device.If before it will shorten the life of the switch.Notice your points are on the neg.side of your coil ?Your horn button goes to ground.etc.So does your door switch etc,etc..I seem to remember replacing the door switch and found the same thing.Either will work the light.Just Tape off or cut the other.I wired mine to a passenger side floor light(junk yard tag light) I installed.

[m240]

Thanks for the replies! When I saw 2 leads on the new switch and only 1 lead on the old switch it made me pause and think it was the wrong switch but it makes sense now. By the way I have another question. I just painted the car and already got a couple of small chips in it. The chips were through my new paint actually coming from under the paint underneath it. Does this mean that it has been repainted to many times. This is the second time it has been repainted.

Thanks,

Mark

[billcapp]

m240

the paint not peeling is normally a function of the preparation done to the old paint. If the paint under the new paint is in poor shape and already peeling, without removing all of it, your new paint will just do the same. It's not the problem with the new paint, but still the problem with the old paint. My car has been painted over two old paint jobs but it has never peeled or flaked off because the prep work was done properly. One of the other members, perhaps mperdue or hmsports could enlighten you more. In my case I would not paint over the three already on the body but rather strip it and start over again.

[m240]

I was afraid that you would say that. It seemed odd that it would chip like that(the old paint and not the new paint) being that I just painted it about a month ago. I think i'll do some work on the other parts of the car and save up some money to get it stripped and repainted.

Thanks,

Mark