Yellow switch on dash?

[Rock Creek]

Hey everyone, so I've been working on getting a '79 J20 shipshape, and the wiring has been giving me all sorts of trouble. There is a yellow pull switch located on the lower left of the steering wheel (next to the horn and driver side foot vent) which seems like it might not be stock. It has had no apparent purpose until I pulled it yesterday, which caused it to turn on the drivers side footwell/courtesy light. The problem is that now that light doesn't come on with the other interior lights. The yellow switch will turn it on, and the AC fan dial turns it on instead of the fan. Also the radio no longer saves presets when the ignition is turned off. I think this is probably the result of some shoddy wiring on the part of the PO, so if someone could let me know if that yellow switch is supposed to be there or not and what it might do that would be phenomenal.

[Ristow]

Originally Posted by Rock Creek

(next to the horn and driver side foot vent)

well,your horn is not on the wheel either so you have creative wiring going on.

[joe]

Originally Posted by Ristow

well,your horn is not on the wheel either so you have creative wiring going on.

x2
Don'tcha just love PO's and their "improvements?

[vacaisle]

Originally Posted by joe

x2
Don'tcha just love PO's and their "improvements?

I put my horn button on the outside of the truck so if I hit somebody it goes off automatically.

[jamesdart]

This reminds me of an f150 I had. The horn button fell off so I tek screwed a push button from the auto parts store right to the steering wheel where the factory button fell off.

[serehill]

You can only dig into it. There's several things at issue no doubt maybe a blown fuse. There are 2 + wires that go to the radio one is a hot all the time for memory & the other is from the ignition to turn it on & off. It's a matter of tracing it all out. We could all guess until next year.

[Pavementsux91XJ]

Wow, Please don't take this the wrong way but I do not envy you. My painless wiring harness that I have to get to work with the Howell EFI harness now doesn't seem so bad.

GOOD LUCK! I'd buy you a beer for your misery if you were closer

[Rock Creek]

Thanks for all the advice! After realizing that the bumper mounted lights were not stock (they looked perfectly in character) I was able to trace the wires to the problem source under the dash. I won't describe the unsafe and horrific nonsense I discovered there, but after much rewiring I was able to disconnect the switch and hook the ac back up to its place in the fuse box. It is now working great and I no longer have a lurking fear of an electrical fire. Thanks again!

[vacaisle]

Originally Posted by Rock Creek

Thanks for all the advice! After realizing that the bumper mounted lights were not stock (they looked perfectly in character) I was able to trace the wires to the problem source under the dash. I won't describe the unsafe and horrific nonsense I discovered there, but after much rewiring I was able to disconnect the switch and hook the ac back up to its place in the fuse box. It is now working great and I no longer have a lurking fear of an electrical fire. Thanks again!

Glad you got it.