Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi all, this is in the context of a 55 400 but I think everything here is the same for all 55 and 56.

- How is the trunk light supposed to work? I don't see a switch in the schematic or on the light, but surely it is not always on?

- It says that there is a "33 DK.G. + W TCR" (dark green with white stripe?) wire spliced to the heater blower wires off the fuse box, that goes to power the reverse lights. Why would they fuse the reverse lights with the heater? Also, my reverse lights work even with the heater wire disconnected from the fuse box. Need to figure out why this is...

- Neither of my blower fans work. The front I believe does not have a good ground because the grille is off (the bolt holding an arm for the grille also has the fan ground, and is loose), but is the underseat heater not working a common problem? I haven't poked around a ton yet for this in particular because it seems the electric fuel pump is hooked to the heater fuse in replace of that wire (I swapped them temporarily to test the heaters). I'm going to re-do the fuel pump to go thru a modern inline fuse later.

The trunk lights have either a mercury switch or a rolling ball switch at the base of the bulb. Not quite sure when they made the change but think maybe around 51. When the lid is raised the switch completes the contact. The factory switch is in a small glass cartridge and was not a factory available part for replacement as far as I know.

Apparently something causes some kind of coating to cover the contacts to the point they can no longer make a connection. Some have had limited success shaking the **** out of the assy to knock the coating off but that is at best short term, usually not too successful and a lot of work.

I have had luck hiding a modern commercial switch in the lid space above the light. I did a mercury switch because it was easily available but rolling ball switches are out there too. Typically this type switch is used for motion sensing with car burglar alarms.

Here is a photo of the stock mercury switch arrangement posted years ago. This is a 22-23 series housing. Don't remember who posted it but later model assys work the same but are a different shape. Also my 47 assy showing the added switch.

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Thanks Howard I will take a look at that tomorrow.

On the reverse light fuse, I also wondered why they show if off the heater fuse and thought it might be a mistake. I don't have a V8 column shift car to examine. Packard did it several ways over the years. Early it was the same bulb as the stop light and a separate transmission switch turned it on, later it became part of the tail light circuit and only came on when the lights were on, after that it was off the aux breaker or body feed fuse, and with the pushbutton trans they came off the fuse powering the PB control circuitry. If you can positively figure the 55 out please let us know.

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Do 1955-1956 Packards and Clippers have a fuse box? Although I've not worked on my 1956 much yet, I don't recall seeing one in it.

Yes Don, they have a fuse panel under the dash.

HH: Yes, I'll be investigating that. For dealer installed reverse lights, you can expect that there's a wire attached to the Acc terminal, thru the trans switch, then under the car, as that's how it is on my Clipper. But they were standard on the Seniors so it should be part of the factory harness on my 400.

Don: here's a tip, if you're doing a fair amount of electrical work, just remove the glove box. That gives you much better access to the fuses, and the right side of the dash switches.

Another annoyance I have with the schematic is that it looks like 4 of the fuses are fed by nothing. In reality, the red wire appearing to feed the Clock feeds those 4 also, with a common strip on the fuse block. They are all fed from Bat. The Radio is powered by Acc, and the instrument cluster only by Ign. See reply...

Also, on the topic of "confusing schematic things", here's what the "body feed" fuse powers. Brake lights (but not the running lights), rear cigar lighter(s), rear reading lamp(s), trunk light, side courtesy lamps (but not the running lamps), and the glove box light. So if you blow the fuse by overusing your cigar lighters, the brake lights stop working. Nice.

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Playing around with the fuse panel today I realized that the fuses fed by BAT, IGN, and ACC are grouped. (Obviously ACC is powered when the key is set to IGN too). As far as I know this is explained nowhere... I had to voltage test the contacts while turning the key to different positions. Here is the (hopefully final) diagram of what on the fusebox is powered by what.

Also, I wasn't able to see where the reverse light wires go yet as they are part of the omnibus wiring harness thru the wirewall, but I confirmed they are on the ACC circuit somewhere.

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