Wagon rear light run-down

[Insubordination]

Evening

My 79 Cutlass wagon living in Norway have the original US tail light lenses, but the back-up lights on each side has been converted into turn signals, and an orange lens glued on the outside of the b/u lens. What an elegant solution to make them comply with the law here...

I have a plan to wire the rear lights back to US original with a switch and a couple of relays to change them into EU on the fly.

The 79 service manual has wiring schematics for Supreme, Calais and Salon but none specifically for wagon (why?), and since I've never seen the original setup I actually don't know how the US rear wagon lights operate. They've been cutting some wires under the column as well, so I need to identify what they did exactly, and how!

So how do they all function? B/U light is a given, but not the three red ones. One big bulb/red light next to b/u light followed by two small bulbs/red lights. Are the small ones ordinary driving/park lights? And the big bulb/red light stop/brake and blinks as turn signal? Or the other way round? Or a different combination? Heeeelp!

 

[Blake442]

Are the small ones ordinary driving/park lights? And the big bulb/red light stop/brake and blinks as turn signal?

You got it.
The large (#1157 I think?) bulb is your run/brake/signal.
The two small (#194 I think?) bulbs are just running lites.
Simple as that!

If you need more help with the wiring but are having trouble finding Cutlass-wagon specific info, '79-'87 El Caminos are the same and should have abundant info available.

 

[Insubordination]

Thanks for verifying Blake. On to the wiring then!

 

[Longroof79]

Of course, the '78 taillights are different than the '79+ taillights.. Different bulb/ lense configuration. I currently have the Euro lenses on my wagon now, which are configured in the '78 format. I had to run a separate wire from the brake switch to the red bulb position. It required having to move the orange lead from the brake switch. I did see this on a wiring diagram for Chevy Malibu wagon. The European configuration uses the red lense for running light and stop light, where as the amber is used for turnsignal and warning lights.

On the '79 and later lenses, it uses the larger 1157 type bulb for the brake and turn signal and the small 194 type bulbs for the running lights...and of course an 1156 bulb for the backup lights.

If I owned a scanner, I'd be able to scan and send you a copy of the taillight wiring diagram. It sounds like someone tried to convert yours to Euro spec lenses. I can try to take a picture of the diagram and see how it comes out.

I assume your laws require you to have the Euro lenses on your wagon. Much like France, Switzerland, etc.

 

[Insubordination]

If I owned a scanner, I'd be able to scan and send you a copy of the taillight wiring diagram. It sounds like someone tried to convert yours to Euro spec lenses. I can try to take a picture of the diagram and see how it comes out.

I assume your laws require you to have the Euro lenses on your wagon. Much like France, Switzerland, etc.

Yeah the law require amber blinkers. But b/u light aren't mandatory. No need for EU lenses when you can just hack it up it seems.

I haven't starting my search for what exactly they did yet. They somehow removed the turn signal from the run/brake/signal and sent it into the b/u lamps. Aren't the brake and turn signal the same wire - as in lighting up brighter for brake and turn? In combination with the column wire snipping and a trailer harness hacked into place it's all one big mystery.

Please take a picture if you can. Those diagrams are a true resource. Just love how they look like spaghetti art, but when you consentrate on one wire at a time it's a revelation.

 

[Longroof79]

I will try to take a photo of the wiring diagram. Did they also hack up the taillight harness, besides trailer wiring? It sounds like they rewired the turnsignal circuit to be used in the backup position. It probably can easily be rectified.

Is it currently working properly...as they modified it? The way the USA lenses work. The brake light is the same as the turnsignal, where as the Euro lens uses a separate amber lens for the turnsignal and hazard lights only. ..and like I said, a separate (circuit) for the brake and running lights. The Euro lenses do not use the small 194 type bulbs.

 

[Insubordination]

I will try to take a photo of the wiring diagram. Did they also hack up the taillight harness, besides trailer wiring? It sounds like they rewired the turnsignal circuit to be used in the backup position. It probably can easily be rectified.

Is it currently working properly...as they modified it? The way the USA lenses work. The brake light is the same as the turnsignal, where as the Euro lens uses a separate amber lens for the turnsignal and hazard lights only. ..and like I said, a separate (circuit) for the brake and running lights. The Euro lenses do not use the small 194 type bulbs.

Yes it's working now. My reason for poking into it is the state of the wires with the trailer harness hack and plain old age. I've done a lot of cleaning of redneck wiring solutions on this car, and it'getting to be quite ship shape in the electrical department. Only rear wiring remain....

And I do like the american turn signal style and originality. So rewiring it back to stock, and making a switch to flip if the need arises ("Red turn signal you say? I think you need to look again, officer! *click*). But need to know what they did first so I don't modify a modification and loose it completely.

Unsure about the state of the taillight harness. It's all just a grey-ish gunked up color with too many splices! But I will start there and find if the have modified it, and move forward to the column from there.

 

[Longroof79]

Repairing the rear taillight harness isn't difficult. It's just an annoyance fixing someone elses screw ups .
I tried taking pics of the wiring diagrams. I don't think they're too clear, but I'll post them anyway. Perhaps you'll be able to enlarge them without too much distortion.




Sorry they're not clearer.

 

[Insubordination]

Thanks for the photots. What book are they from?

 

[Longroof79]

These diagrams were from the Haynes Chevrolet Chevelle 1969 thru 1987 Chevelle-Malibu-El Camino manual.
There's also various years of wiring diagrams.

I hope the ones I sent could be used.