[69AIRCAT]

1) I have Tilt steering where the steering wheel tilts up 45 degrees when the ignition is shut off and you open the door. The steering wheel is not disengaging and and tilting up.
2) When iginition is on/car running My Door Ajar light is lit, neither door is ajar.

I noticed that fuze #2 carries both these systems, and it appears I have no other systems or options running through this fuze.

The #2 fuze looks OK, but I have not pulled it out yet. If this fuze is bad could it cause my problems?

Thanks in advance for any help I can get.

 

[Zen Dog]

The issue is most likely the dome light switch. The switch should pop out and you can disconnect the leads, and see is the light goes out.

 

[69AIRCAT]

It is a Convertable

 

[69AIRCAT]

Also there is a seperate plunger for the interior lights and that plunger is working fine.

 

[MrEos]

I don't think the problems are related. If the door ajar light is lit, the fuse is passing current.

Did your tilt work until recently? Do you hear a relay click when the driver's door is opened/closed? There is a relay that operates a vacuum valve that controls the vacuum motor, that pulls the cable to make the tilt-away release. If you can hear the relay clicking, then my money would be on the vacuum motor needing refurbishing.

 

[James C.]

It sounds like two separate problems to me, and not caused by the fuse. One or both door ajar contacts are out of whack most likely, but one of the wires may be shorting out some where inside one of the doors or under the dash pad.

As far as the tiltaway goes, it could be several things causing it, both electrical or vacuum related. For electrical problems,t he door jamb switch is poorly made and could be crusty along with the two leads that plug into the back of the switch. The solenoid valve switch attached to the plate under the dash could be bad. There is also a relay attched to that plate that can be bad but the solenoid is a more likely culprit. For vacuum, the canister in the right front wheelwell could be leaking, or the vacuum motor attached to the plate under the dash might be shot.

Another possibilty is that the old grease in the column has turned to peanut butter and nothing is moving freely.

JAMES

 

[69AIRCAT]

I just noticed something this morning while I was playing around. The tilt steering normally disengages when you turn off the engine and open the door. What is happening now is that you shut off the engine and open the door and it DOES NOT disengage. However if you have the door open and then shut off the engine it will disengage. This coupled with the door ajar lit while the car is running seems to me to be just opposite of normal operation. I'm going to pull the door ajar switch and see what I have going on.

 

[69AIRCAT]

Cleaned up the door ajar switch, no change? I wonder if the switch could be bad?

 

[MrEos]

...if you have the door open and then shut off the engine it will disengage.

This is correct behavior. The door jamb switch is open, which tell the vacuum solenoid to pull the cable that operates the swing-away. I'm guessing here, but suspect you are losing your vacuum between when you turn off engine and then open door. Could be the reservoir (located under battery tray inside the fenderwell area) or the motor under the dash. The reservoir attaches with two nuts, so is easy to remove and check.

Editing to add - I had another thought that makes more sense than my first notion... There is a check valve in the vacuum lines near the rear of the engine compartment. I'm thinking yours is toast. It should allow air to pass thru in only one direction. I bet if you remove the hoses, you'll find that air goes both ways. Thus, when you have door open when turning off car, there is still enough vacuum to operate the tilt, but wait just long enough to open the door, and the vacuum is already gone with atmospheric pressure coming thru the check valve.

You can get a new one from WCCC.

 

[69AIRCAT]

OK, maybe I do have 2 seperate problems. However its funny that they both started at exactly the same time. I guess I need to work on one first so I'm going after the Door ajar problem. I pulled the lower switch at the drivers door, cleaned it, no change light still on, so I removed the switch from the two wires, I tried touching the wires together, thinking it would close the circit, no luck, light still on? So I'm assuming the switch is still good. I guess I need to take a look at the other two switches. Although they appear to only function for the interior lights that come on when you open the doors........

 

[69AIRCAT]

By the way, thanks for all the help, I need it!

 

[MrEos]

The plunger switches on the door jamb do not control the door ajar light. The door ajar switch is inside the door at the latch. It has one wire going to it, which is a ground wire. There's a little blade that is lifted (to interrupt the circuit) when the door is fully latched, otherwise it makes contact and completes the circuit. You can see it in this picture - the contact "blade" goes out from that red thing near the bottom.

 

[69AIRCAT]

Thanks MrEos, I have the door apart anyways, so I will take a look in the Morning, THANKS!

 

[69AIRCAT]

MrEos, Based on your picture I found the Door ajar switch and I think I understand it operation. The tang you pointed out rides on part of the latch , when the door is open the tip of the tang touches the latch and closes the circuit alowing the door ajar light to come on. When the door is closed (latched) the part of the latch on which the tang rides moves just enough to have the tang ride on some sort of pad moving the tip of the tang up off the latch breaking the circuit (no light). If I'm understanding this correctly, if the ground wire was not connected or the switch was bad then there would be no door ajar light (no completed circuit). I found the driver door wire disconnected. I cleaned the terminal and connected the wire. I also cleaned up the tang and latch. I made sure the door was latched, started the car and the light was still ON. moving to the passangers door tomorrow.

 

[69AIRCAT]

BY the way, when the car was running and the door was latched, I lifed the tang well up off the latch (making sure the circuit was open) and the door ajar light was still on. I hope the passanger door is the problem.

 

[69AIRCAT]

Now I'm really stumped. The passenger door ajar switch looked ok. So I shut both doors, inserted a piece of plastic under the tabs to make sure I broke the circuit on both doors, started the car and the door ajar light was still on???????? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Unplug the spade from the switches in each door and tape them, see if you still have the light. If you do, you are looking for a short in one of those two wires going back into the harness. The next place to disconnect would be where the door harnesses plug into the underdash harness, look for the same thing until you locate the short. If any of the above yields something, plug back in one side in at a time so you can isolate to one side.

Hope this helps.

Bob

 

[69AIRCAT]

I will do as you suggest this evening when the temp gets back below 100! Just a note. At the time the door ajar light problem started I had just had some repainting done on the rear or the vehicle, they removed the bumper and the tail lights. Don't know how that could be related, but I guess you never know????

 

[69AIRCAT]

I unpluged the spades from each switch and taped them up. I still have the light, so I guess I dive in under the dash tomorrow.