512TR Parking Light Indicator Lamp (Green) - Confirmation of functionality

Trieu,

The light in your dash is working correctly. It is the parking light switch that is malfunctioning. As you have theorized, on is out, off is in.

The switch is fairly easy to fix. The hardest part is getting it out of the center console, it just snaps in, but you might have to remove the center part of the console in order to access the wiring connector and push the switch out.

Once out, if you look at the back of the switch, you will see that it is made up of two parts that are held together by little barbed tangs. I take a few pocket screwdrivers and lift the housing over the tangs, in order to separate the two parts. It's a little bit of a pain, but you can carefully work your way around the switch and get it apart.

When you get it apart be careful not to lose the spring inside. There is a pot metal arm with a pin that rides in a track in the switch. Over time the arm bends and allows the pin to pop out of the track, causing the switch button to not stay in. Just bend the arm back with some pliers until the pin is positively located in the track. Put the spring and button in the housing, lock the button in the off postion and snap the housing together.

You have fixed the switch. This fix works for the hazard flasher switches as well.

Brian Brown
Patrick Ottis Co.

 

Ooops, forgot the picture! I'll see if I can get it right this time. Ron
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Hi Trieu,

Thanks for the pictures and further explanation of the switch. Mine does not stay in when I push it nor does it ever light up. It actually does nothing and acts like a momentary spring loaded push button like switch. It probably needs the repair that Brian described.

I've had no need to turn the park lights on with the key off, but might need to sometime so will mess with it on a non-priority basis. The parts book lists the switch as #149763 and says it's only on 512's without ABS brakes. The only other switch listed is for some foreign spec cars.

The owners manual and workshop manual are woefully inadequate in describing operation of and repair of the car. A mechanic at a Ferrari dealership told me they have to rely on the same manual I had and it takes a lot of imagination to get some things disassembled and repaired. The parts manual is much better but there are some translations to English resulting in words that don't describe a part very well.

Ron

 

different spec to the uk car

 

OK new light question. The parking light switch on my 512 works fine, lights up, etc, but I cannot figure out how (if possible) to keep the fog lights on. Criminy, I am not sure I even know which switch to push. I put a main transmission shaft in this car, first gear, clutch, timing belts, seals etc. within one month of ownership, and I still cannot figure out how to set the friggin fog lights. Anyone know how?

Rod

 

The fog light switch is up in the roof in the overhead console. The OM shows it as #51, Page H3. Along side it is #52 which activates the heat element in the back window. Illustration shows #50 as rear foglights but my 512TR doesn't have these. Maybe the euro versions do??

The park lights must be on by turning the light stalk on the steering column and then the push button actuates a relay energizing the fog lights. And they stay on until the ignition switch is turned off or the park lights are turned off. Starting the engine again brings on the park lights (unless turned off) but not the fog lights. The button will have to be activated again for fog lights.

With so many electrical problems and overheating of bad connections around the fuse and relay box of the TR series, I installed heavier relays at the fog lights themselves with heavy wires going through circuit breakers direct to the battery. The fog light relays built in the car only serve to activate my relays and only a miniscule amount of amperage is drawn through the fuse box.

I run the park lights and fog lights nearly all the time on the open road just as a safety measure.
Ron

 

Trieu, and other 512 guys, thanks for the response. I think I may have a switch issue with the fog lamp switch. Here is what my car does, let me know if yours is similiar. Key on, no lights activated, pull back on the light stalk and the fog lamps flash (euro signal to pass style). Parking lights on, pull back on stalk, fog lights flash again. Headlights on low beam, pull back on stalk and high beams flash, and when in high beam mode, pull back on stalk and fog lights flash. Each time the fog lights energize, the dash indicator lights up showing the fog lights are on (whic they are in fact on). However, when I push the overhead button, no indicator, no lights, nothing. Further, the overhead switch does not lock/unlock when pushed (kind of like pushing a brick). So, my question is two fold. First, is the activation sequence using the stalk the same on all 512TR's, and second does any one know if the switch repair, if necessry, is the same as the other switch repairs indicated in this thread above ( parking and flasher switches).

Thanks for your input.

Rod

(BTW, I have given up on trying to decipher the OM, mine inciates that #50 on H3-H4 is the fog lamps when it is actually rear defrost (which works fine) and I have no rear fog switch so I must assume that # 52 is my fog lamps switch (labeled rear defrost).

 

Has anyone rsolved this issue as to , How to get the Fog lamps to stay on?
I'm in the same boat..........infact I am wondering if the switch and/or wires running to the switch are bad in some way. Does anyone have any specs on what the electrical values/measurements of current/volts/amps/ohms what ever the inputs or outputs are. If so I can then trouble shoot the switch to see if indeed it is faulty. I have posted a pix of the switch....looking at it it from the top/back. What might each of the four teminals be responsible for and what type of reading on a meter should I be seing? Thanks in advance for any and all input. Kerry
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Kerry,

Can you be more specific about which switch? (edit: The jpeg shows an '86 US interior -- so switch #12 = fog light switch). Can you also give the colors of the 4 wires that connect to the switch in question?

The way these combination "self-latching relay+switch" gizmos work is described in this thread (but ignore the various wire colors and terminal names -- yours may be different):

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92623

and that one has 5 terminals (it's got an extra one for internal illumination when the ext. lights are "on").

The bottom line is that if you've got +12V on the terminal that powers the internal relay mechanism and the ground is present, but the relay+switch gizmo doesn't connect the main +12V power terminal to the terminal having the wire going to the thing that the switch is running when pushed, then you can conclude the relay+switch itself is frazzled.

I'm don't know if you can make impedance measurements on the just the relay+switch itself and conclude goodness vs. badness.
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Switch is in overhead console.
Middle position.


#1 is two yellow wires
#2 is two red wires
#3 is two blue wires
#4 is two white with black "dots" wires

Switch illuminates (led)
Can hear switching in the switch it's self

Thanks for the heeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllppppppp......Kerry
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When you say that you can "hear" things working, does that mean that as long as you hold the switch button depressed it does turn the fog lights "on", but when you release the button they don't stay "on"?

 

No, fog lights will only illuminate if the "flash" stalk on the steering column is held..............

When I say I can hear the switch operating is that there is an electronic "click"................Kerry

 

OK Kerry -- First, are you aware that the TR front fog lights are designed to work ONLY if you have the exterior lights (either the running lights or the headlights) "on"?

If not having the external lights "on" isn't the "problem":

I don't have the TR wiring diagram for your exact TR (mid US), but for the three that I do have (WSM = early US, late US, and late Euro) things are consistent enough that I think I can make some educated guesses about that fog light switch:

The BN (white/black) wires are ground for the switch mechanism and the internal light,

The S (pink, and maybe you're calling these red) wires should be +12V power for fog lights (but only when the external lights are "on"),

The SN (pink/black -- are you calling these "blue"?) wires go directly to run the front foglight bulbs, and

The G (yellow) wires are the +12V source to run the internal light when you have the exterior lights "on" (and may also be the +12V source to run the switch itself -- since the external lights must be "on" for the S wire to be +12V, these G wires will also be +12V).

So the things you should do (with the switch unplugged):

1. With the external lights "on", measure the voltage between the BN and S wires in the wiring harness -- should be +12V.

2. If the S wire is +12V with the external lights "on", touch a jumper wire to connect the S wires to the SN wires in the wiring harness -- should make the fog lights go "on".

3. With the external lights "on", measure the voltage between the G and BN wires -- should be +12V.

If you "pass" all these tests, but the switch doesn't turn on the fog lights when the external lights are "on", you can be fairly sure that the switch is frazzled. If you don't pass some of these tests let me know which ones and we can go looking at things further upstream.

(But I'm guessing that you didn't realize that you need to have the external lights "on" for the fog lights to work -- I didn't recall that either 'til I looked at the schematics )

 

Well..................................Steve and everyone that has been involved in this "project"..................guess what?

So I go back out to the garage after calling it a night, with Steve's very precise instructions from his last post in hand. First I check incoming voltage on the red wires (which they are definitely red)...........13.74 volts. Next I put a jumper from red to the blue wires (and they are blue) No fog lights , but the clock comes on......what the hell? I then figure I must be jumping the wrong terminal in the plug and so I jump red to yellow.............rear window defroster indicator light on the dash illuminates............again what the hell?

But then a brain cell comes alive and I get an idea...........Could these 2 switches in the overhead console be reversed? Out comes the mini-maglight and what do I see?.............pink and pink/black wires on the other switch (the switch for rear defroster) No way, could the problem be that at some point when in possession of previous owners that the plugs got reversed to the inappropriate switches? So I pull out the defroster switch and and notice that it is a 5 terminal switch , as Steve had mentioned that the fog light switch might be. I switch the plugs from the fog to de-frost and vice versa..........touche'.............fog lights work.............de-froster for rear window starts functioning!

PLUGS REVERSED TO THE WRONG SWITCH!

All is now well, fog lights work, defroster works (it has not since I have had the TR and was my next project, after the fogs were fixed and the HVAC fan rotary knob were addressed (felt it may not be the best idea to start asking to many questions at once).

So Steve thank you very much for your detailed troubleshooting instructions, without your knowledge and step by step instruction I would have been lost..........but thanks to you I finally saw the light.....fog light that is!!

So now that I have given you the hug (no kisses), a big pat on the back and a couple high fives...........I do have a couple more questions..........

How do you remove the HVAC fan rotary control from the console and how do you remove the overhead console (I want to hard wire a radar detector in and also replace the bulb(s) in the overhead rectangular dome light)?

Again many thanks....................Kerry

 

I guess all's well that ends well Kerry -- after ~20 years there probably isn't an "unmolested" TR out there (regardless of mileage).

However, you need to start two new threads rather than just tacking unrelated stuff into one endless thread (or perhaps start a thread "Fixing Kerry's TR" ). The TR fog light stuff was maybe close enough to this 512TR thread to be included here, but your TR center console and TR overhead console questions are not.

Please also try using the search function some, I don't think that anyone's yet posted a perfect step-by-step with pictures manual for either (and I'd want a significant raise if you want me to make them ), but I believe both have been described in words previously. Sorry to be a little gruff (and, of course, in the long-term we'll do what we can), but don't expect a quick response (at least from me) on so many issues.

 

I've studied the comments/posts on this repair. I've removed the parking light switch (that doesn't latched), and now I want to open up the switch itself, to adjust the clip inside.

But I don't know how to open up this switch.

I've attached two pics. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

thanks!
chris
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Read posts #2,3,4. Use a few small screwdrivers to lift the plastic catches over the tangs while you are prying the two halves apart. You have to work around the switch and it will slowly come apart. Try not to push a screwdriver through your hand.

 

Hi, just to resuscitate the thread about the fog lights switch and connectors: my euro TR 1989 fog lights work as flash lights no probs but the switch does not work/click even on crossing lights. I have run Steve’s tests and no 12v on the S wire. What should I look at next ? Many thanks in advance