Parking lights inop when headlights on

-

DA69RT GT

South Florida Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
1,376
Reaction score
57
Location
North Palm Beach, FL
1969 Dart GT vert
Parking lights work fine when on... but when I turn my headlights on- the parking lights go out. All blinkers work fine on or off.
Cleaned bulkhead connection while back and installed new turn signal switch but dont know if it was doing this before as well. My wife brought it to my attention recently.
Any ideas or suggestions? Any help appreciated...
 
normal operation for 1969. had a 68 and a 69 charger, as well as a 68 barracuda and a 69 dart. parking lights in the front on all of them go out when headlights are switched on. having working front parking lights with headlights were not required per the DOT back then.
 
normal operation for 1969. had a 68 and a 69 charger, as well as a 68 barracuda and a 69 dart. parking lights in the front on all of them go out when headlights are switched on. having working front parking lights with headlights were not required per the DOT back then.


Someone else had mentioned that to me... but if you look at my pic taken a couple years ago- my headlights and parking lights are both on.
69 dart.JPG
 
I believe that's normal for 68, but NOT 69. Did you get a 68 switch at some point?
 
It was SOP for GM vehicles to switch the front park lights off when the headlights came on up until '68 when side markers were mandated. I always assumed it was the same for Mopar because they use the same headlight switch. My '64 wagon does this, my '65 El Camino did also. My '73 Scamp leaves the park lights on when the headlights come on, as does my '70 Nova.
 
if this is the case, i may use and early 70s headlight switch in my 67

...or you can retrofit your '67 switch by installing a jumper between the "P" and "R" terminals on the switch....

From "valiant.org"...Chris North wrote: Until 1968, the parking lights on US cars normally went off when the headlights were turned on. The early Plymouth Barracuda put a jumper between the tail light terminal and the parking light terminal on the plug that attaches to the headlight switch, to make the parking lights stay on when the headlights were turned on. For your Valiant, you can remove the headlight switch and solder a jumper wire between the "P" and "R" terminals on your headlight switch to keep the parking lights on with the headlights.

67A-Body H-LightSwitchModDiagram.jpg
rsz_img_1354-jpg.jpg
 
Last edited:
You have had someone replace the headlight switch with one for an earlier model.
 
-
Back
Top