electrical and ignition Loose wire behind instrument cluster & lights that don't always work

[gordon415]

I took my cluster out of my early '71 last weekend to ground the temp and fuel gauges and found a loose yellow wire with a female connector on it. Looking at a wiring diagram, I think it goes on the windshield wiper switch (which makes sense considering where it's located), but my switch only has two male prongs on it for wires, both of which have wires attached (a single wire on one, a double on the other). 

 

Anyone know if the windshield wiper switch is supposed to have three prongs? I took mine out and it looks like it could have had three but one does not protrude enough to attach any wire to it, and it does not look like anybody cut it off sometime in the past. I am not finding good pictures online to compare. 

 

If not, anyone know where that yellow wire should go? The wire length is too short to connect to the back of the cluster. 

 

I have a problem with my cluster, license plate, and marker lights sometimes working and sometimes not, coming on and going off whenever they want without any clear reason. Not sure if this is related, but I'm hoping to track down that problem and fix it with a wiring diagram. Something tells me it's not related to this, but to the hazard switch. 

Edited August 28, 2016 by gordon415

[gordon415]

So after more hunting around, I believe my switch is missing a prong. It has 53e and 53. 53b is the nub that is too small to attach a connector to. Found a wiring diagram that listed 53, 53a, and 53b, and found a replacement switch that has those three numbers and prongs on eBay. Although another 6-fuse wiring diagram lists 53, 53e, and 53b. I'll consult the Haynes manual when I get home. 

 

My wipers work with the current 2-prong switch, but don't usually park when I turn the switch off (which I still think is the parking mechanism inside the wiper motor....a project for another day). Is it for varying wiper speeds maybe?

 

We'll see what happens once I get the other switch and plug in the loose wire. Perhaps nothing will change. It's all about the adventure, though....both behind the wheel and under the hood.