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Hello Again,

Thought I'd get all my questions out of the way in one afternoon.

On my 49 deluxe 22nd, I also discovered a wire coming from the brake switch off the master cylinder that ends in a ring terminal connected to nothing. The switch otherwise appears to have wires coming from both pins, making this a third connection. Any ideas what this is or where it's supposed to connect? I've attached a very poor picture lit from underneath, but you can see the wire hanging over the master cylinder cap (which is shiny because it's a brand new MC). Possibly related is the fact that my tail lights otherwise worked until a bulb was broken (running lights, turn signals) except for the brake lights and the backup light.

Sorry for multiple posts, possibly of a basic nature. I'm new to Packards, and any car even close to this age, and probably in over my head budget and time-line wise.

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Nothing stock would be attached to the brake light switch via a third wire. Normally the brake switch has only 2 wires connected - a red wire for power coming from a circuit breaker mounted on the top of the instrument cluster and a green wire which goes to an inline connector also under the dash which then connects to the rear loom and provides the voltage to the brake lights. Both of those wires end in female bullet connectors which plug onto the pins of the brake switch. Your wires are probably very faded to see colors but could you tell which wire the ring connector is connected to and is that a fuse holder in the wire? Depending on whether the hanging wire was supplying power to something or supplying a brake on signal might help to guess what it might have been doing. Do you currently have power at one of the wires at the brake switch?

It does have that plastic fuse holder piece. I don't think the brake switch seems to have power, though I haven't tested it specifically with any type of meter, when I touched the two wires (which I understood to be a test that would light the lights if it was just the switch) a whole ton of nothing happened. The previous owner did install a button under the dash which I think originally bypassed the starter switch, so it's highly possible that this was some other home wiring attempt maybe to deal with only powering the brake lights when that button was pushed... or a hack solution to non working brake lights?

If touching the two wires at the brake switch together did nothing then it is possible someone was bringing power to the brake lites via that ring connected wire and fuse from somewhere besides the circuit breaker. I can't think of anything in that area that would have power all the time that the brakes need other than the starter solenoid or, if the car has an R9 overdrive, the reverse light and OD safety switch that should be at the bottom of the steering column. How large is the ring terminal and how long is the wire?

I would determine for sure if there is any power coming via the red wire from the normal CB feed before trying to hook up the wire to anything -- particularly if that original feed is the wire the fuse and extra wire connects to. Hooking it up could provide power or short something if the original wire is still connected at the originating end.

So I think the previous owner was trying to bypass the brake wiring, I'm thinking because there was a pretty big short I found a little farther down the line. Their inclination seemed to be "if it's broke... bypass it" since they bypassed the ignition, bypassed the fuel tank, bypassed the carburetor!

I'm hoping that if I go past the short and put in some healthier wires up to the brake switch (which won't come out of the block by the way) maybe that will fix this until better overall wiring can be bought. The car won't start now, I'm hoping because of this serious short stealing all the juice.

Any special wire needed from the parts store?

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It is truly hard to say what is going on. I believe the 49 has the same type loom layout the 47 does in that the body loom section to the brake and tail lights consists of 5 wires in a partially wrapped loom and maybe 1 or 2 separate wires. The wires start at an opening below the L side half of windshield and go thru a channel in the A pillar to exit above the headliner. They follow another channel above the doors to the package shelf area where they drop down and enter the trunk. Nothing was under the car except at the very back where wires for the license light and fuel sender drop out of the trunk. A wire for the reverse light and overdrive wires are under the car if it has those options. A short distance away from the opening below the windshield the body loom connects to the main loom via inline Wade connectors or on a couple of wires, terminals directly onto a switch. The two wires connecting to the brake switch are part of the main loom, 1 is power from the breaker and the other goes to the Wade connector and body loom.

If you don't have the factory wiring diagram it is on this site and the 48-9 22nd series diagram is one of the better ones -- good quality and easy to follow. It is laid out more or less like a birds eye view.https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/wirediagrams/48-9%20%2022nd%20Series.pdf

The short would not be stealing the juice but possibly did blow a fuse. When you say won't start, will the engine turn over and just not start or not turn over at all. Both wires involved come from the ignition switch but off different terminals and if there is an OD, there is the ign cutout circuit which if a wire is shorted could be causing issues.

Any quality automotive wire will work. Most wires involved will be 16ga although if the OD or an accessory power circuit is involved at least 1 will be 12ga.

I went with a 12 ga wire and after pulling out that added third wire I just connected the two ends to the brake switch. The brake lights and all indicators now work!

Based on the wiring diagram and the posts, I'm inclined to re-check the rear end wiring anyway. It's not an OD model, but there is an optional reverse light which is still not working. From what I remember, old P.O. Bypass may have been at it again because the fuel tank sender wire seemed to be running under the car rather than dropping out of the trunk as described here. I thought it might be either broken or need better grounding because it's not working either, which is still possible, but based on the brake lights I'd like to do more investigation now. The wiring diagram is very helpful for this, thank you.

Car still doesn't start though. It turns over and over, at a strong rate too, but not even attempts. I'm going to check the fuses and also probably give the ignition system another run through in case all the movement impacted one of the coil or other wires in the area.

Power for the reverse light would probably have come from the same aux circuit breaker as the brake lights on a 48 and that may have been what that extra wire with fuse was for. If it was the original power wire for the brake lights that had the fuse and short wire spliced on then going a short distance to the reverse light switch at the bottom of the steering column would make sense. Instead of running the reverse light power wire all the way back to the CB they may have spliced on to the brake wire instead. If the car has the dual function 4 terminal OD safety and reverse switch, do you have two wires on the pair of terminals most distant from the plunger? If the earlier reverse switch was used then just two terminals and two wires.

In the trunk look carefully around the left tail light for the tank and license wires. The body loom comes down the left side to the tail light area and ends in several inline connectors. In a stock car there should be some 3 or 4 position connectors for the stop and tail lights and some singles. The wires for the license light and gas tank should exit thru rubber grommets at the back of the trunk pan and I believe fairly near the area of corner of trunk lid and L tail light. The gas sender may be rusted which is a common problem so the wire or a poor ground is not the only reason the gauge might not be working.

Assuming no fuel issues, verify you have voltage at the coil. On one coil terminal should be 6v any time the key is on and on the terminal going to the distributor should be 6v if the points are open and near 0v if the points are closed. Start cranking the engine and check both voltages again. If the constant 6v terminal voltage drops down and is closer to 5v when the starter is cranking then either the starter motor is pulling excess current or a dirty connection or too small battery or cables could be dropping the voltage to the coil and the spark is too weak to do much. The terminal going to the distributor should have significant movement as the points open and close. If it never changes or only has a minimal change there is a problem at the dist or wire connecting. If voltages are OK it might be a good idea to pull the plugs and check condition. Sometimes lots of cranking without starting will foul the plugs so badly they just cannot emit a decent spark.

Looks like I just have the two wire/terminal brake switch. Picture attached


Arrived to find the tail lights on today... bad brake light switch after all? It's really on there, hard to get off without loosening the whole brass block, is it a bad idea to try removing it with the block on the car? I have a replacement but I'm worried about hurting that brass piece. I do have play in the pedal.

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That is the reverse light switch and would be correct for cars without the R9 OD or cars without OD at all. It mounts to a bracket at the base of the steering column and the plunger is pushed in by the lower lever only when reverse is selected. Were you able to trace the power wire and see where it is fed from?

It could be a bad brake switch keeping the light on or there could be pressure building up in the brake system from expansion if there is a clogged bleed port in the master or not enough freeplay to allow the piston to clear the bleed port when the piston is in the home position.

If you remove the brass block from the master you will need to bleed the brakes whereas typically just changing the switch does not need that done -- as long as no air enters the line when you remove the switch. If you can't access the switch and do not want to remove the block an option on the brake light -- as long as the switch is not leaking -- is to leave it alone and just add a universal mechanical switch that is actuated by the pedal arm. Run the wires to the new switch. Some who have converted to silicone fluid use the mechanical switches because silicone does not seem to like some hydraulic switches and shortens their life. It is a few dollars more expensive than just getting another hydraulic switch.

Here is one universal mechanical switch but there are other styles that may be easier to mount or adjust to work with the pedal arm. Amazon has a few as does Summit and other stores.

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