1954 Series 62 Coupe Dome Light

[Cadman-iac]

Nicki,
I just checked my harness and I told you wrong about the dome light harness being part of the rear body harness.  It does pass through the body harness,  but at least on a 56, it has a connector just below the rear package shelf inside the trunk, and right above the rear wheel well. It's a 2 wire connector,  with one red wire and one black wire. Mine are red, not orange,  but that shouldn't make any difference.
Check this connection and make sure that you have a good contact. This is where the ground wire in the roof is connected to the wires going to each of the door switches.
From what you have described so far,  it sounds like this connection is bad.
Let us know what you find out.

Rick

[Cadman-iac]

Nicki,

I just looked again at my old harness from my 56 coupe, and here's what I've got.  There is a ground wire going from the drivers door to a 6 pin round connector behind the dash just to the left of the steering column as part of the rear body harness. From that connector,  it goes into the main dash harness to the map light switch. At the switch,  it splits, and then goes towards the passenger side of the dash.  Just behind the speaker approximately,  there's another connector for one wire. At this connector,  there's another wire that goes back to one side of the map light bulb.
But also  from the connector behind the speaker, it then goes to the passenger side door jamb switch, and then down the door post and rearward about 12 or so inches, cuts across the floor and back into the rear body harness, and then towards the rear of the car. At the top of the rear wheel well, there are 2 single wire connections. One red, one black. The red one also continues on to the trunk lamp. But at the rear wheel well, the dome lamp harness goes up the roof post into the top and splits off to each of the dome lamps just above the rear window.
At least this is how it is made for the 56 model. I'm not sure if it is the same for the 54 or not, but it should give you something to work with.
HTH,
Rick

[Cadman-iac]

Clay, or Jose,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the headlight switch doesn't control the dome light does it? I'm not finding any wiring or a schematic that is showing wiring that goes between the two. The only way that the light can come on is when you open the doors,  or use the switch on the dome light itself.
Is this right?

Rick

[J. Gomez]

Clay, or Jose,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the headlight switch doesn't control the dome light does it? I'm not finding any wiring or a schematic that is showing wiring that goes between the two. The only way that the light can come on is when you open the doors,  or use the switch on the dome light itself.
Is this right?

Rick

Rick,

You hit the jackpot…! 

Correct only the door switches and/or the one at the dome light for the coupes the sedans have it at the left side center door pillars.

Also, the ’54 hardness layout for the ’54 sedans shows the wiring going towards the trunk area and up the rear quarter panels both sides for the dome light(s). So you have a double jackpot on this as well.   

[Cadman-iac]

Thanks Jose,
  I kept trying to figure out how the headlight switch was supposed to turn on the dome lights,  and then it dawned on me that there's no ground wire going to it. And I checked both harnesses for both the coupe and the 4 door parts car.
I don't get why they ran the ground wire around the inside of the car like they did though. It would have made more sense to just tie in at the driver's door switch. That would have saved them about 8 feet of wire or more per car.
Oh well,  as long as it works,  who cares, right?
Thanks again,

Rick

[Nickl]

So finally have found the problem..... Removed the back seat and all interior from the back of the car.... followed the cables of the door switches and one of them was brocken near the connector inside the main wire harness where the 2 cables where connected together and going from this point to the trunk and then to the roof.... fixed the cables and the light works as it should be ..... strange connection that the cable from the rigth side runs through the whole car to the back.... but finally it works

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Congratulations on finding the problem.

Were there any signs of the interior being removed and incorrectly replaced?

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

Glad you finally found the problem. I was surprised by the routing of the ground wires too. Like I mentioned earlier, they could have saved 8 to 10 feet of wire if they had just routed it down the left side of the car instead of all around the passenger compartment.
Well at least now you know where your wiring is at. Be careful not to run a screw through it now when you're re-installing the interior trim.

Rick