Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I acquired my 53 clipper last week only to find out the headlights, blinkers, gas gauge and clock don’t work. I took the dash out and seen all the wires are connected to the light switch and the rear of the sash, tinkered a little but can’t find what may be wrong, any tidbits would help, thanks.

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As long as your temp gauge DOES work, all of those are separate problems:

Headlights - probably a faulty headlight circuit breaker
Blinkers - need to replace the flasher (they are cheap)
Gas gauge - maybe a bad sender or bad tank ground but you should do some diagnostics. It varies based on the model, but usually you can ground the wire coming from the sender and the gauge will show full. Then you know it’s the sender or an electrical connection in that area.
Clock - ignore it, but if you REALLY want it to work I can help you out. But I suggest doing other things first.

Check out the Literature Archive. There’s the service manual for your car there. I HIGHLY recommend hitting the schematics section before doing any electrical work on your car.

And this is all assuming that wiring has not been F’d with in the past. Not a guarantee since previous mice and moron damage can cause untold problems even in an otherwise nice car.

Feel free to come back with any more questions

Second the suggestion for getting the service manual and wire diagrams. Here is the link to the stand alone 53 wiring diagram. The manual can be downloaded from the service, shop and training manual section

The temp gauge and fuel gauge voltage in terminals are connected in parallel and both get their power via voltage coming from the instrument voltage regulator located on the back of the cluster. If the temp gauge is working, chances are the issue is with the connecting wire or the fuel sender at the tank. This is a rather frequent issue and new senders are available. If the car has never had a cutout made in the trunk floor for access, the tank will need to be dropped to check or replace the sender. If using an ohmmeter to check, the sender should read approximately 70 ohms to ground at empty and about 10 ohms at full. Once caution if you need to drop the tank. If you try to remove the drain plug to empty the tank and it has never been out -- or not out in a long time -- there is a good chance you will find that the steel plug has rusted. Use some penetrating fluid first and make sure to use something to hold the tapered connection the plug threads into at the tank side from turning when trying to remove the plug. The tank fitting is only pressed and crimped to the tank metal and if it turns when trying to remove the plug there is a good chance a very hard to fix leak will be the result.

The stock turn signals are very dependent on having the correct resistance in the circuit. If the value is very far out of expectations they will fail to work. Sockets can be an issue particularly if they have been wet and Packards are well know to have issues with rust and corrosion developing in the ground connections between the fender sheetmetal and the pot metal housings that contain the bulbs. I would suggest as a first step to go thru and clean any areas where the bolts and studs holding the housings are making contact with sheetmetal. On the front parking light assys, corrosion has also been found in the crimp area where the socket is fastened to the reflector. It that has happened it often requires adding a separate ground wire directly between the socket shell and a good sheetmetal connection.

Headlights could be the circuit breaker but can also be caused by an issue with the dimmer switch or a dirty headlight switch. The switches can be taken apart and cleaned but the dimmer switch is relatively inexpensive and will most likely be easier and quicker to just replace it.

Thank you for all the good information, I will follow what you told me and see if I can get the bugs out. Thanks again

Howard if you pull out the switch halfway and see both pairs of running lights light up, wouldn't that indicate sufficient conductance in the circuit for the flasher to work (assuming things like the flasher bulb socket are not themselves corroded)?

On the clock, it has its own inline fuse holder that is probably blown. It usually blows as the points inside the clock the runs the winder stick. So you can try to put another fuse and see if it magically starts working. If not, you have to pull the clock and clean the points. Also it probably needs an oiling. If someone tried to jam in a larger fuse, that can create an overheat situation then the fail safe soldered strip inside the clock melts and breaks the connection. So that will have to be re-soldered.

Generally most of us have a battery disconnect switch of some type when we are not the car. So the clock would never me correct anyway.

**TOPIC MOVED TO POSTWAR FORUM**

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Not necessarily. The headlight switch only feeds the parking and tail lights which use the small filaments in the park and tail light bulbs. (As a point of consistency with Packard terminology for postwar models, what was called running lights is the mid body light feature only available on 55-6 senior models. Those were single filament bulbs wired in parallel with the tail lights so also controlled by the headlight switch.)

23rd series and later turn signals use the large filaments in the park and tail light bulbs but have different feeds from the small parking and tail light filaments. Because of flasher needs an issue with any of the grounds or any of the sockets and connections can affect turn signal operation as can any issues in the turn signal switches.

The stock flasher used in those years is a thermal type and design characteristics require a specific range of resistance and current flow to allow the thermal section to operate. That range varies by flasher type but the type used by Packard generally requires a resistance of at least one filament of a certain size to a maximum of two filaments. There is a cushion to the range but in most cases too low or high a resistance or current need and the flasher will not start or will operate very erratically. Because of the way both the park and turn signal bulb filaments use shared connections in the bulbs and wiring or the way the bulbs can be connected together by the turn signal switch a bad connection or poor ground anywhere in the circuit can force odd path combinations and the current will be out of range as it tries to find a way to ground.

Congratulations on your 53 Clipper! I have a 53 Cavalier and I love it, so fun to drive and work on.

I agree with most all of the comments already provided, other than ignore your clock! LOL It certainly isn't a priority, but if you want it working and you already have it out, this is the TIME to fix it up. I like everything working on my car and fortunately all my clock needed was a fuse and a tap and away it went and has been running since I got my car a year ago. Ran all winter while the car was in storage too.

Fuel gauge. My float had a hole, so that could be your issue. Also the fuel gauge does not have it's own ground wire and sometimes the tank doesn't ground well to the car and can stop the fuel gauge from working. I added a ground wire on the advice of others. I also took my sending unit apart and cleaned it up, carefully!

In my dash I found that the contacts for my dash lights were a bit dirty, not always making good contact with the bulbs. I gave them just a little rub with some very fine sand paper. Might as well replace all your bulbs too, it will brighten up your dash a bit.

Careful not to scratch the paint on your dash or steering column while working on your instrument cluster.

Grounds in general can be a problem, especially if the car has been parked for a while. I found my front signal/park lights had grounding issues, which were solved by taking them apart and cleaning them up.

Have fun, and remember you car is 71 years old, be gentle!

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