Headlight switch pin description

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
1

1970 cougar. The headlight switch has letters next to each electrical pin. A B P D1 D2 H R I.

Can anyone tell me what each pin is wired to??

Thanks

2

WCCC has free down loads of the electrical schematic that should be able to answer your question/

3

The following is true for most domestic Automobiles:

B - Battery
R - Rear Taillamps
I - dash illumination (rheostat controlled)
P - Front Parking lights
H - Headlights
A - Brake Switch feed? (Hmm, looks like it connects to B)
D1 - Courtesy Lamp Fuse
D2 - Courtesy Lamps

Coach Jack

1 Like
4

Thanks a bunch Jack

5

Next question.

1970 Cougar. I am requiring entire system with AAW universal hyway 22 wiring system.

Any way of incorporating the sequential tail lights into it???

Thanks again.

6

Rewiring not requiring.

7

When I rewired my Cougar a few years ago none of the aftermarket ā€œUniversalā€ wiring kits supported the sequential turn lights and other Cougar signature features. What worked for me was sending my OEM harness to Midlife wiring for repair/check over. Fee was reasonable and plug & play install. Beats building something from scratch.

8

Thanks mr580. Unfortunately a lot of the new harness is in already.

Guess we will just have to go without sequential tail lights.

9

At some point someone made a kit to convert Shelby mustangs to sequential lights . Try a good mustang supplier

10

If you reuse the original taillight harness, it would be a matter of determining which OE wire provides which function and hooking it up to the corresponding aftermarket wire.

Link to WCCC free wiring diagram download

Free Resources at West Coast Classic Cougar :: The Definitive 1967 - 1973 Mercury Cougar Parts Source

11

Thanks fellas. Iā€™ll look into that.

Iā€™ve left messages with WCC but canā€™t seem to get a call back.

12

I believe they were closed until yesterday. Holidays vacation

13

Is this an XR7 or a standard. I realize you are into this a bit but what ever you do donā€™t toss the original harness. If you are extremely competent with 12 volt electronics and reading schematics what you are doing is possible. Not easy but possible. If this were a ā€˜70 Chevelle I would tell you to go for it. Keep in mind the first step of using a rebuilt original harness is pulling it out of the car and that means you are half way there. The original will have all of the right connectors, every thing will be cut to the right length, every required ground will be in place. When you go to sell the car it wonā€™t be molested and every one will be able to tell you how to trouble shoot any problem you might have. WCCC doesnā€™t sell the AAW kits so they are not going to be able to help you, and in reality they would send you back here. The down load is free you really need to start there and see just how different the wiring strategy is.

Given all that you can wire it like a hot rod. Ignore everything about the way the factory did it and follow the AAW schematic. Ignore things like the sequential signals for now at least and skip past the ammeter and the low fuel, door ajar, belts and other warning lights. Once you get the basics working you can build auxiliary harness for that stuff.

14

I think I found a simple solution.

BTS Lighting make a sequential module system specifically for this generation classic cars. You just wire it into the system at the taillights. Supports 3 lights on each side and comes with 2 modules.

Only supports LED lights though.

Signal lights override brake lights

Brake lights flash once then stay on steady.

Signal lights are sequential.

Seems like a pretty easy fix if you have a non cougar wiring harness.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

15

BTW. American auto wire makes a modual that converts the ammeter into a voltmeter and comes on once your battery voltage drops below 11 volts.