Parking light mystery

[lilwendal]

Heres one I've not seen before.  When I have just the parking lights on everything is fine.  Every light on the car works properly nothing dim. Turn signals work and flash normally. When I turn to the headlights on position I lose the front parking lights in the valance. all the side and tail marker lights are on and the turn signals work normally but no front parking lights. Go back to the parking light position and they come back on.  Weird.  So you're thinking the light switch in the dash right? Nope changed it twice even with a NOS switch and it still does the same thing.  It is a 100% original uncut harness and there are no aftermarket additions to my electrical system.  I know before I installed the grille that the parking lights worked in both positions before the grille install so tonight I'm going to unplug the headlights and see if the parking lights come on in the headlight position. If it was a ground problem you would think the lights would not work in any position plus the turn signals are in the same housing and work in any headlight switch position. This is just a puzzle for me.  Yes I did try the floor dimmer too just incase with no change.  Any thoughts? 

[JimShine]

Do you have a '68 Charger? In 1968 the parking lights turn off when the headlights turn on.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I just learned this myself recently....
In 69 they changed the wiring to leave the parking lights on with the headlights

[resq302]

Boy if that isnt screwy.  Just out of curiosity, are the headlight switches the same from 68 to 69?

[JimShine]

I believe yes. I think the difference is in the wiring harnesses. Just about every wire harness in a 1968 Charger is different from a 1969, and not just because of the side markers.

[Dennis K]

I'm not sure what a 69 switch looks like, but I have a 68 switch out of the car right now so I checked it out. There are 5 terminals, labelled B1, P, R, B2, and H. I'm guessing that the B1 and B2 are the battery terminals, the P is for park, H is for headlights, and R is for the tail, side marker, and panel lights. With the switch in the parking light position, there is continuity from the B2 terminal to the P and the R terminals. With the switch in the headlight on position, there is continuity from the B1 to the H, and from the B2 to the R, but the P is completely isolated. So in 69 they could have made a different switch or simply connected the R and the P terminals together with the wiring harness.

[lilwendal]

The cars a 68 so that settles that.  That was a waste of an afternoon chasing a non problem. Dennis I agree. Thats what really puzzled me yesterday was that schematically following the wiring diagram for a 68 there should be no continuity on terminal P of the switch with the headlights on.  I thought my wiring manual was wrong.  Well i continue to learn new things each day.  No parking lights with the headlights on. Go figure.  I really like the look with the parking lights on so today I'll pull the 69's wiring manual and see where they made the change electrically and mod my harness. I'm thinking A jumper from P to R or H. I'm unsure weather the switch could carry the extra current load though. Anyone out there have a quick fix?