Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

My recently purchased patrician has interior water damage including some stiff knobs I dont want to damage.

Anyway here are 3 questions..

Is the only knob that has a pull feature for the headlights, are all the others only supposed to turn?

Also The side (courtesy lights?) On the rear doors are always on when the headlights are on and my tail lights arnt working, but the brake lights do. Are the side door lights always supposed to be on? Maybe something was just wired up wrong?..

I dont have a picture of it but what is the air cylinder looking thing on the inside of the driver side fender behind the wheel well used for?

Thanks for any help

Congratulations on your recent purchase.

All knobs are rotary except the headlight switch and the power antenna option. If your car has a radio the Patrician will usually have the pwr antenna also.

The side courtesy lights are two function. There is a dimmer bulb that is always on when the headlights are on and another bulb which comes on and is much brighter when a front door opens.

Like the side courtesy lights, the tail lights and license plate lamps should also be on anytime the headlight switch moves out of the off position. The headlight switch push/pulls and turns. The first pull notch on the switch turns the parking lights and tail lights on. The second notch turns the parking lights off and the headlights on and keeps the tail lights on. Dash lights are fed from the tail light terminal so will also be on unless the switch and dash light dimming function in the rotary section of the headlight switch has turned them off. Rotary section has essentially 3 positions. All the way to the left turns the front courtesy lights on. A little to the right in the second detent turns courtesy and dash lights off. Third position is a rheostat section and continued turning dims the dash lights. The working range until the lights are too dim to see is about 1/2 turn maximum. Oxidation buildup just from lack of use in sitting cars causing the dash lights not to work is an issue with the headlight switches.

The tail and license lights are powered from the same wire that controls the side courtesy lights. Since the courtesy lights work I would look for a disconnected or broken wire in the loom coming into the trunk from the passenger compartment. Poor grounds via corrosion in the pot metal housings are fairly common and can lead to many interesting light issues but since brake lights work and use the second filament part of the same bulb doubt ground is the issue.

I believe you are speaking of the vacuum reserve tank under the left fender. The tank stores and provides vacuum for a couple of assisted brake stops if the engine is not running -- provided the hoses and valves in the brake booster and the main check valve at the rear of the carb or intake manifold are functioning properly so the residual vacuum does not leak.

If you have not found them already, in addition to almost all factory service bulletins, service manual, and parts manual there is a 55 wiring diagram and an owners manual in the literature archive section of the website. All are available for free download.

Welcome to the forums.

Packards of your era have an electromechanically complex lights switch that pretty much will never work quite right unless restored by a previous owner. I have a '55 Clipper Deluxe (the dash is basically identical) and my headlight switch won't light my license plate lights or IC at all, not sure what the issue is. Just a pervasive problem on these models due to wear and age/corrosion.

As Howard said, I highly recommend you check out the literature archive (link on the left sidebar) as many basic questions and technical data are covered in those documents. For example, here is the owner's manual for your '55.

The wiper knob turns on by turning it to the right. The lever is for the wiping range (left-ish is full, down is reduced for higher frequency). If you have a radio, the left knob is power/volume, and the lever on it is for tone. On my Packard it was actually installed a bit wrong, with the jam nut UNDER the bezel. The bezel should be flush with the trim.

Quote:
The license plate lamps are powered by the same wire connecting to the tail light terminal on the headlight switch that powers the side courtesy lamps (on the senior models) and the tail lights.

Out of the headlight switch tail light terminal, a black wire goes into the main loom and a short black jumper wire also goes to the rheostat section of the switch to power the dash lights. A few wires exit the main loom and head to the area under the drivers side kickpanel and go thru a round plug where they mate with the body loom going to the rear of the car. Sometimes the pins or sockets in the plug oxidize or work loose so if all rear lights have issues that would be one place to look for problems. There may also be one or two individual inline connectors in that area for options or other functions.

At the Left rear corner in the trunk, the body loom splits and feeds the left tail light with another section heading to the right side by laying in a narrow trough like area at the rear of the trunk floor. Somewhere before the middle of the trough is a hole where the license light feed and gas tank sender wire exits. Under the rear bumper splash panel or in the concave part of the bumper itself is another inline connector for each wire. For the license light there may be a dual wire type inline connector with a single wire feeding each license light or the wires from the license lights could be spliced together and go into a single wire inline connector. Have seen both ways. Check that connector because moisture and oxidation can do a job on them and also check for damage to the loom in the trough or at the hole. The hole grommet could be gone letting the wire get cut or many times something has fallen down in the trough and laid against the loom where eventually the constant vibration can damage a wire.

Here is a photo of the headlight switch showing the various connections.

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  headlight sw 55-6.jpg (63.41 KB)

Thank you Howard, I've not actually removed my headlight switch yet so this is very helpful.