Well my left brake light on my '65 Dart has stopped working. The turn signals works just fine, the running light work just fine. The right brake light works just fine. I have changed the bulb, traced wires and everything checks out. The only commonality is the turn signal indicator switch. The local Shucks say they don't carry one for a '65. Does anybody now if a later years' one will work?

Yep, it's probably the switch at fault. I've got new switches. See here and here.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks Dan, but the $80 is a little steep. How about one from a later model? Or is the this the only one available?

I order a SM-102 from Shee-Mar yesterday, $71.13 with shipping. Hopefully it made it out before the latest blizzard.

Recieved the new switch. Does anybody know how to get the connector off the old wires?

Wow, they had an SM-102 for you? That's not one they were stocking any longer, last time I checked. Is it a reproduction or does it bear a Chrysler P/N? If the latter, which P/N?

You remove the nylon connector block by releasing each individual wire from the block, one at a time. This is achieved by means of a Terminal Extractor Pick (or, if you're in a hurry and don't want to spend money, a darning needle), inserted into the slot at the "front" (connector) end to depress the terminal's lock tab. Then a careful tug of the wire pulls it out the back of the connector block.

Draw yourself a diagram of which wire goes to which slot in the connector block.

Once you've released all the terminals from the block, tie a long piece of string or twine round the bundle of wires at the very end near the terminals. Withdraw the old switch, which will pull the string up the column. Untie it, tie it round the wire bundle on the new switch, then pull the string to guide the new wire bundle down the column without any of the wires snagging and refusing to show themselves at the bottom.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Well, I had a productive weekend.

Swapped out the old turn-signal switch for the SM-102. Dan, FYI. The SM-102 looks nothing like the stock part, no chrysler part number and I had to slightly modify the switch to make it fit. It sounds like they might have shipped a SM-106 in place of the SM-102. Only one real grip about the kit. I wish Shee-Mar had made all the wires the same length. A couple of them were a inch or so shorter then the rest. It would also be nice if the sent a new connector and a extractor tool. The hardest part of the entire swap has changing the connector. For the record, a fondu fork with one tong broken off makes a suitable extractor for the pins. Insert fork, twist, repeat on other side. Out slides the pin.

Anyway, the brake lights are now working. I also have momentary turn signals and they both self cancel now. Yeah! I did the swap the hard way. Removed the column and disassembled it. That was fun, the second time I have done this. But it is now nicely painted.

While I had the column out, I decided to fix some electrical problems in the dash area. My wiper switch is only on/off and I had to jiggle it to make it work. So I got brave and took it apart. Well, after 40 years the brass plates had worn and corroded. So a little sand paper, some solder and viola. It now works as good as new. It is quite a comfort to know that I can now turn the wipers on, and they will work.

For the past 4 years, at the beginning of the rainy season, the gas and temp gauges would stop working. So, since the steering column was out. I pulled the instrument panel. I tore it down, cleaned up the gauges and tested each one with a multimeter. They tested out fine. So I cleaned up the traces on the circuit board. After 40 years, some of them are starting to lift, especially around the thru holes for the gauges. I believe there could a market for replacement circuit boards. Anyway, I reassembled the panel and started testing with the multimeter. Everything checked out except the trace marked "I" to the gas gague. This was dead. So I soldered on a "jumper" and everything is now working again.

So, a very productive weekend...