Under dash courtesy lamps in my 78 F-150 Ranger Lariat

[Big Jim F150]

I am thinking about putting under dash courtesy lights in my 78 F-150 Ranger Lariat truck, I understand that they were an option on these trucks, and I presume that I had them in my truck, being a Lariat, but I didn't have them, maybe someone might have taken them out. So I had checked the local car dealers here in Ithaca NY, and also a couple of local junkyards, and I couldn't find them, and then my luck had changed, I had found a set of those lights, as a friend and his father have a small used car lot here in Ithaca NY, and they have a mid to late 90's Jeep Grand Cherokee that they were going to scrap. So I had spoke with them and told them what I wanted and what I was looking for was the under dash courtesy lamps, and they told me to check out that Jeep, so I did and I had found a set, so I grabbed them for the great price of free, and then I had seen that the pigtails on them weren't that good, and I had seen that they were replaceable, so I had went to the local Jeep dealer and ordered a new pair of pigtails for them, then I am going to have another friend who is a mechanic wire them in and install them for me, so that they would look like they were a. factory installation, ah another little project getting done while my truck is in storage.

 

[fatherdoug]

Good deal! Those are very handy. They would have originally been tied into the light switch on the door.

 

[bucks77ford]

Nice. I like those lights. I didn't put them in my 77, but I have them in my 75 supercab and they are nice to have.

 

[Beach66Bum]

I was lucky one day to come across an XLT Lariat and took every option from it, my truck is an 83', but it still is plug&play if you take all the wiring harnesses. Ford is great in these old trucks, everything is there to just plug in for the upgrades.

 

[m78]

I looked in my 78 for the plugs for the courtesy and glove box lights , but couldn't find them.

 

[Big Jim F150]

The donor car for my lights was a mid
90's Jeep Grand Cherokee so they may have to be hard wired

 

[Beach66Bum]

I looked in my 78 for the plugs for the courtesy and glove box lights , but couldn't find them.

the harness is one complete package with a feed to the glove box light and feeds to the left and right courtesy lights. Had to take dash and dash pad apart to install the new harness. I would have never found the plug in if I didn't take pic's of the donor harness before I removed it. I had to unplug the harness in my truck and discard it. Then the new donor harness plugged into that connector.There isn't a separate plug.

 

[Mil1ion]

 

[thatsrealnice]

underdash courtesy light wiring

I picked up some underdash courtesy lights from a Bronco in the pull and pay a couple weeks ago and now I'm attempting to install them. I've started on the passenger side, and took out the door jamb switch and removed the glovebox for easier access.

The courtesy light only has one wire, and it's not obvious to me which wire I should splice into for the courtesy light to work when opening the doors, or turning the headlight switch all the way counterclockwise to turn on interior dome light. There is a pigtail in the dash that has the cigarette lighter plugged into it, and has 2 empty slots.

Would I use the 2 empty slots for the courtesy lights, or can I just splice into the door jamb wires? Which wire should I splice into, the green/yellow wire, or the black/blue wire, or both?

I'm already looking at the 1979 Electrical and Vacuum trouble shooting guide so kindly posted by DNFXDLI. Thanks guys.

 

[Beach66Bum]

it should plug into the pigtail connector behind the cigarette lighter and ash tray location. The courtesy lights from the Bronco should have the harness with the plug that will go into the one behind the dash (at the cigarette location)
no splicing into wires is needed

 

[thatsrealnice]

it should plug into the pigtail connector behind the cigarette lighter and ash tray location. The courtesy lights from the Bronco should have the harness with the plug that will go into the one behind the dash (at the cigarette location)
no splicing into wires is needed

Okay thank you. Only thing is, when I got the courtesy lights from the Bronco, I didn't get the whole harness. Just the assembly, and about 6 inches of the wire. I'll probably just find some male connectors and see if they will fit the harness where the lighter is plugged in and solder them to the courtesy lights.

One other question. If someone had the glovebox light, the ashtray light, the underhood light, where would the courtesy lights plug into then? there's only 3 possible choices at that harness.

 

[Mil1ion]

Actually the courtesy lights are wired in series and are powered by a hookup above the headlight switch on the PROPER factory harness.

 

[Mil1ion]

The drivers side CL has two connectors ..one is for hooking up the passenger side

 

[DNFXDLI]

Series?...as in each gets 6 volts...so when one burns out the other goes out?

 

[Mil1ion]

Obviously i meant parallel but for some reason my mind thought series.

Doh
Thanks for questioning me.

 

[thatsrealnice]

Got the courtesy lights installed. Fished the wire through the wiring tunnel on underneath side of dash, and then twisted the driver side wire, and passenger side wiring together. Removed the spade terminal from the wiring harness for dome light and soldered the wires to the spade terminal and replaced it in the wiring harness.

Lights come on when door is opened, and when I turn headlight switch all the way counter clockwise.

Thanks for the help.

http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx278/thatsrealnice/IMG_20141006_231624_0.jpg

http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx278/thatsrealnice/IMG_20141006_231550_0.jpg

 

[fatherdoug]

Look kinda bright! The original courtesy lamps were mounted to point down so they didn't distract the driver.

 

[m78]

bright lights bright lights

 

[Beach66Bum]

Look kinda bright! The original courtesy lamps were mounted to point down so they didn't distract the driver.

Yes, they have a plastic shield

 

[thatsrealnice]

I could probably bend the bracket a little bit so they're pointing more downward, the plastic shields are there, and I also had my halogen worklight shining in through the back window too. Should have taken the pic with the worklight off to give a truer impression.