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My 55 Pat has both the auto leveling and manual override switch. A few weeks ago, the auto leveling quit working, but since I had the manual control and have been working on the header project, I didn't take the time to chase down the auto leveling problem. But all of a sudden the manual control "rear down" side of the switch became very intermittent. So, today I went into diagnostic mode to fix these two problems.

1) Auto level not working. Also not working were rear brake lights. Normally this means that the 20A fuse for those circuits is blown, but this was not the case since the courtesy light on the side came on when the door was open (same circuit). Also, checking the fuse showed it to be good.

I have the Gary Russel Packards Intl NW Region brake light switch conversion which lets one use a 2-prong hydraulic brake switch instead of the original 3-prong switch. This conversion entails a Radio Shack 900-2394 relay and some additional connectors. I had mounted the relay inside the driver compartment instead of down by the 2-prong switch just to protect it from exhaust heat.

After some multimeter chasing of a lack of 12V to the relay, I found the culprit. The connection from the battery positive aux lead had broken, but was hidden inside the plastic conduit (tubing). I reconnected it using a separate connector and that fixed that. Here's a pic of the new connection on the battery with the relay 12V wire and connector readily visible (it wasn't before). The larger wire is for the hidden stereo/CD/subwoofer power and was the previous connection for the T-L relay 12V wire.

Oh yeah, brake lights now work again too.



2) Manual control "rear down" intermittent. This was as I suspected: the Radio Shack DPDT internal contacts were getting burnt and not conducting all the time. I just switched the connections to the other (previously unused) side of the switch and that fixed it.

T-L now working per spec plus the manual override.

Add this to the "knowledge base" for future reference.

Craig

Craig,

dealing with ARC, Points, as with the clock,

they say to put a capacitor across the points (contacts), to keep them from arcing.

Riki Quote:

I think it needs a relay, but since this switch was good for 12 years before it started to fail, it should be good for another 12 years on the other side.

Craig

12 years is a good run...that clicked off and on,, many times...

what about this?

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Craig, I also have the Gary Russell 2-prong brake switch on my T/L system, but some reason I've lost the wiring diagram as how I converted it from the 3-prong switch. Do you by chance have the wiring diagram?

Also, what do I need to do to install a manual override control switch?

Hot rod

Dpdr toggle switch...or seperate switch s leds to see up or down. .if you want

Is the switch connected in parallel with the under dash T/L switch?

Hotrod Quote:

There was no wiring diagram per se provided with the 3-prong to 2-prong kit from Russell, but between what was provided and my testing of the operation of the relay at the time:

On the relay:
30: 12V pos always on (this is what had become disconnected on mine)
87a: normally closed (torsion level normally on; Lt Green wires from underdash switch output side)
85: brake switch power (Dk Green wire)
87: to brake lights (Dk Green/Black; comes on when 2-prong has pressure)

The stock underdash on/off switch has Lt Green wires and is unchanged.

The 2-prong switch has the Lt Green wires that are normally there.

Craig

Also, what do I need to do to install a manual override control switch?
.

The original factory kit for the manual override seems to be in reasonable supply so perhaps it's easiest to just buy the kit which includes the small wiring harness. Otherwise just make up your own version of the kit. Here's the page from the Service Counselor on the kit.

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