1950s 1956 ignition switch illumination

[56Fleetwood]

Recently drove my Fleetwood during the night and was reminded that the ignition switch doesn't illuminate when the headlights and instrument lights are on (never  did before either). Checked the bulb and the ground and all OK. The bulb works in its housing but the light  does not show through to the front of the switch.

I assume the light is supposed to show through the two small holes at the front of the switch (see attached pic) but they are completely dark.

Would really appreciate any ideas or comments as to how I can get this to work.

Thanks
Mike

[J. Gomez]

Recently drove my Fleetwood during the night and was reminded that the ignition switch doesn't illuminate when the headlights and instrument lights are on (never  did before either). Checked the bulb and the ground and all OK. The bulb works in its housing but the light  does not show through to the front of the switch.

I assume the light is supposed to show through the two small holes at the front of the switch (see attached pic) but they are completely dark.

Would really appreciate any ideas or comments as to how I can get this to work.

Thanks
Mike

Mike,

The light actually goes through the ignition key hole, it just shines the hole.

The hole you see in your picture is the one use by the ignition switch tab to hold it from rotating while the rotating the switch with the key. The key hole should aligned with the tab hole when is off/no key.

HTH

Hope my reply gets posted I've notice the site is been up and down most of today. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

There is one hole to much...the upper one is correct, the second one not. You will get a difference if the slot from the switch is vertical and the matching support at the back is correctly oriented.
I have some picture from my '56 dash, but none clear enough from the ignition switch...

[56Fleetwood]

This is interesting; in complete darkness last evening I saw just a tiny dot of light, not enough to illuminate where the key should go. The fact that I have two holes in the ignition switch makes we wonder if at some point a different ignition switch was substituted and the switch needs to be re-oriented.

Ps - thanks Jose and Roger