54 Mercury Steering Column Wiring

I

indyhac

Member
I have converted my '54 Mercury from manual to power steering (necessitating a change to floor shift) and am having trouble getting the lights and turn signals working. All of the wires that run through the steering column have faded so the color codes in my wiring diagram are no help. I put number stickers on the wires and on the plastic junction block that they plug into before I unhooked the wires. Because the insulation on the wires was bad and got worse taking the steering column apart, I put shrink tubing on most of the wires. Having done this, two of the sticker numbers fell off of the wires so I may have gotten those two crossed up and plugged into the wrong holes in the junction block. Thus far I've only found one hot wire going into the junction block which I'm assuming is the one from the stop light switch (it's only hot when I put a jumper wire across the two stop light wires at the switch. I'm not sure yet which wire is the one off the accessory side of the key switch that runs through a fuse and the turn signal flasher. My wiring diagram shows that it doesn't connect to the junction block but runs direct into the turn signal mechanism. It might be the one that I grounded to the plate in the steering column shifter hub using the screw that goes through the plastic post on the plastic trim spacer under the steering wheel between it and the steering column/ shifter hub. This could be wrong but that's how I remember it. Electronics and wiring diagrams are a weakness for me; I know enough to get myself in trouble. If anyone can shed any light on this problem that I'm having I can certainly use the help!

Thanks, Scott
 
indyhac, I know you don't want to hear this. But if the insulation is gone so far you can't see the colors, and so cracked you have to shrink sleeve it, bite the bullet and order a new harness for the column. My 55bird, a Seattle car, where it isn't that hot, didn't have a safe piece of insulation anywhere. Even the gauge wires under the dash cracked when moved.

My buddies OT 56 had the ignition sw fail and go to ground. Fortunately, he was in the garage, and got to the battery shut off. I'd told him a rewire was the next project, and he already had a full kit. But the whole harness to the switch was a melted lump inside the tape wrapping. On the road, running, no quick shut off, he would have burned the whole car down.

If you're not a full concours restoration, consider a new kit. You'll probably still want the factory column harness, to tie into the new one. There's a bunch of good ones, Rebel, Centech, American Auto wire,and more. Some are more money, but have all the connectors. Others, you supply them. Buy US made connectors, and a good crimp tool. Done right, modern wire will outlive you, even if you're half my age.

Or, a good big fire extinguisher, a battery shut off, and AAA. For the tow home.
 
I put a new harness in my '59 and retained the column wires. Most of them were faded and hard to read, it came down to 3 of them I had to buzz out to determine the function.

But they stripped nicely and i was able to get fresh contacts on them. The wires may be easier to read up at the TS switch, remove it if you have to and see if it helps. Is a new TS switch & harness available?
 
All of my Mercury's wiring has been replaced except for the column harness. I will check out the suppliers that you provided and see what they have. I had tried the regular Ford/Mercury suppliers but they didn't have the column harness.
Thanks, Scott
 
Eureka (as the old philosopher said) I have found it! It was a dual problem that Leprechaun Murphy put on me. Testing for power at the junction block from the turn signal circuit, I found none and tracked down a blown fuse which necessitated removing my air conditioning unit and radio to get at the fuse that is at the main power block behind the dash and way up at the top. This after having to remove the front seat to get under the dash. Having then produced power at the turn signal flasher but still not finding power at the junction block that connects to the wires that go up the steering column, I checked for continuity from the turn signal flasher to the wire coming out of the wire harness that should be the power source for the turn signal circuit going up the column. Finding none, I figured that wire must be defective and made up a wire with connectors that would connect the turn signal flasher to the junction block. All turn signal lights now work properly! I am still going to search for a replacement wire harness and switch for my steering column.
Scott
 
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