Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Also a good idea to mark the wheel and hub to put the
wheel back on in the same relative position.

I have purchased a replacement direction indicator switch but I am unfamiliar with the terminals already soldered to the ends of the wiring loom, being a plain cylindrical form, approximately 1/8" diameter by 1/2" long. I have not seen this type of terminal in th UK. Are they intended to fit into some form of terminal block fixed to the main loom or are they common in the US for general purpose joining of cables? I do not have easy accesss to the car as it is in storage so cannnot check what's already there conveniently, so am trying to get all things necessary to complete the job in order before I take it out of storage.

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I believe the proper name is a Douglas connector but more commonly are called bullet connectors. They are still used in many modern applications and come in several sizes. Packard for the most part used the .156 diameter size.

The pins fit into a keyed two part plug with one side being a permanent part of the main loom. The pins pull out of the other side so the switch can be changed but must confess I do not remember how the pins are retained.

The photo shows part of the plug. Note that unless your car has factory AC the fuseblock will be on the firewall and completely out of the way so the plug will be easy to reach. AC cars suspended the fuses in the underdash location because the evaporator box takes up almost the entire firewall.

Here is an extracted part of the wiring diagram showing the plug and brake light/turn signal circuit as it passes thru the switch. The photo is of a 49-54 switch. 55-6 is the same electrically but is of different construction and looks. There is also one extra wire in the center of the 55-6 plug which is for the horn. Website no longer allows most photos to be expanded so can't enlarge your photo to get a better view. I think I see an extra wire with a ring terminal near the switch so that is probably the horn wire which would go on the contact ring clamped around the center insulator piece.

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Thanks Howard. My car does not have AC. I believe you are correct about the horn wire having the single ring connector, I spotted this last time I had the steering wheel off. I will check out the male/female plug once I get started on the switch replacement.

I downloaded your photo and was able to expand it a little. The connectors look odd -- not quite like a Douglas which has a concave holding section -- but more like a straight pin tube socket plug. They do appear to be very oxidized. If they do replace those in the existing plug they will need to be cleaned. In the back of my mind I remember some years had non removable pins molded into the rubber or bakelite housing. On those I believe the pins were hollow and old wires had to be unsoldered and pulled out. The new switch wires were resoldered into the old pins.

Today I've had a go at fixing the stoplight problem. Before removing the original turn signal switch I compared its behaviour with the new one and could find no difference so I am now thinking the turn signal switch is ok. Simply checking the operation of the indicators and stoplights revealled the indicators fine but now both stoplights don't work. Checked for power at the stoplight switch and all appears ok but nothing on the output to the turn signal switch so I suspect this is faulty but not sure if this could have been the reason for the original faulty single stoplight ?
Can the stoplight switch be stripped and contacts cleaned? If the switch is replaced do the brakes need to be bled after, I.e does removal break into the hydraulic line?

Can the stoplight switch be stripped and contacts cleaned?

No.

If the switch is replaced do the brakes need to be bled after, I.e does removal break into the hydraulic line?

Never had to bleed after replacing the hydraulic switch. If your switch is bad, I recommend you go with the PNR kit which uses the very common and inexpensive SL-134 switch. Pix below.

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Thanks for your advice, would you mind giving the contact details of the company that provides this replacement kit. I live in the U.K.

You can order through here.

pnwpackards.com/styled-2/index.html

The link should bring you to a parts list, just use the contact us section to ...you know...contact them lol

I have to say they were very helpful with my questions and I just did this very repair myself. I'm a total novice so if I can do it anyone can.

I do recommend

1. PB blaster to get at bolts which may not have moved in decades as,
2. a lot of pre work stretching
3. definitely disconnecting the fresh air duct and moving as far forward as possible.
4. turning the wheels hard to the right before turning off the car. You'll understand in the directions.

It totally solved my brake light problem. Best of luck!

Thanks to all for your help.