Help with previous owners mistake wiring ignition cylinder

[InfinityAero]

Since I bought my car (1977 US model) I've had to leave the key in, in the accessories position, to prevent the accessories from running (seat belt light, drivers side under dash light, fuel meter, etc.). I'm terrible with electrical systems so any help diagnosing would be huge.

It's an aftermarket ignition cylinder. Wires going in appear to be brown, black, blue, blue/red striped, pink, red, green. Not sure what the green is. Blue and blue/red are spliced together and go into a terminal. Pink is by itself while in the wiring diagram I see it as being spliced with a blue/black. Maybe that's my blue/red, and it should be spliced to pink, while blue should get that terminal to itself?

Car runs, while running dials work, interior and exterior lights work, everything essential. Windshield wipers don't work, vent system doesn't come on, lights only work when set to on for the switch (full down), light lever set to high beams, and light lever pulled back (seems to stick so they don't turn off). Those issues could all be totally unrelated.

I would think Red, brown and black must be in the right spots for it to run, based on what I could glean from the wiring diagram and making the big assumption the colors are correct. Not sure what's up with green and pink getting terminals and having a blue and blue/red spliced together going into a terminal. Any ideas?

[spider2081]

The original ignition switch was most likely wired this way

Brown wire. "Hot all the time" feeds battery voltage to the ignition switch terminal 30
Blue & blue/red "Hot in start and run" connects to "int" terminal on switch. The "int" terminal is connected to terminal 30 in "start and Run" . position of the ignition switch.

Red "Hot in Start" connects to terminal 50 on the ignition switch. Terminal 50 connects to terminal 30 in the start position of the . ignition switch.

Green Hot in Start" connects to terminal 16 of the ignition switch. Terminal 16 connects to terminal 30 in the start position of the . ignition switch. I believe it controls the ignition dual point . . relay.

Black "Hot all the time" feeds battery voltage to the ignition switch terminal 30/1
Pink "Hot in start & run connects to terminal 15/54 of the ignition switch. Terminal 15/54 connects to terminal 30/1 in "start & . Run position of the ignition switch

The original ignition switch has 3 or 4 separate switches inside. Some do not use terminal 16. The aftermarket switch I opened has 2. One switches power in the "start" position and the other switches power in the "start and run" positions. Also the position where the key is removed switches power to one of the terminals on the back of the switch.

Hope this helps a little

[InfinityAero]

The original ignition switch was most likely wired this way

Brown wire. "Hot all the time" feeds battery voltage to the ignition switch terminal 30
Blue & blue/red "Hot in start and run" connects to "int" terminal on switch. The "int" terminal is connected to terminal 30 in "start and Run" . position of the ignition switch.

Red "Hot in Start" connects to terminal 50 on the ignition switch. Terminal 50 connects to terminal 30 in the start position of the . ignition switch.

Green Hot in Start" connects to terminal 16 of the ignition switch. Terminal 16 connects to terminal 30 in the start position of the . ignition switch. I believe it controls the ignition dual point . . relay.

Black "Hot all the time" feeds battery voltage to the ignition switch terminal 30/1
Pink "Hot in start & run connects to terminal 15/54 of the ignition switch. Terminal 15/54 connects to terminal 30/1 in "start & . Run position of the ignition switch

The original ignition switch has 3 or 4 separate switches inside. Some do not use terminal 16. The aftermarket switch I opened has 2. One switches power in the "start" position and the other switches power in the "start and run" positions. Also the position where the key is removed switches power to one of the terminals on the back of the switch.

Hope this helps a little

It just might, thanks. I'll take a look at it soon and see if I can apply this knowledge. It helps a ton to know there are two input power sources, it was confusing me that black is live when I knew Brown was battery. Now I understand the power sources being for certain positions at least.

I''m going to print off the wiring diagrams at work on nice large size paper and approach the problem with a better picture of what's going on. As soon as I get a warm weekend...

I'll bet some of my accessories like the wipers kick on after I fix the wiring.

[bradartigue]

Two decades into working on these cars and I still have issues with black wires carrying positive loads...

[spider2081]

I don't think a universal color code for auto wiring has ever been developed. It does seem that it is very common for Red to be the 12 volt positive wire and black is the negative.

In alternating current electrical black is the "hot" wire and White is the common. Maybe that is how black ended up being the positive wire in some car applications. I have purchased LED lights for cars that use black for positive also.

To say the least positive DC voltage on a black wire is confusing

[baltobernie]

Two decades into working on these cars and I still have issues with black wires carrying positive loads...

... and now "black" isn't "black" anymore Ground is supposed to be green with yellow stripe