Daytona Footwell Lights

found mine in europe. sorry cant remember shops name. old timer ferrari parts place.

 

Are you sure they don’t work?

Sometimes the “brushes” in the internal switch are just oxidized, and some repeated rotating of the clear plastic lens will bring them back...

 

That is what a lot of folks think; which is why I asked about it…

Assuming you have the original lamps…

…if you look at the sides of the clear lens, you will see that it has curling on it (rather than being smooth); this is so that you can grip it to rotate it. Inside the lamp there are actually brushes that rotate with the lens, and allow you to manually turn the lamps off, even if the door is open.

You will also see that there is a metal clip on the back of the lamp that you can pull-out (comes out sideways, and looks like a little trident once it is out, if I recall correctly). Once the clip is out, you can access the bulb and replace it if it is burned out; though frankly, it is unlikely that the bulbs have gone on both sides, and it is far more likely that some previous owner turned both the lamps off (which is why I suggested giving the lamps a few turns as a first step).

So if you still have original lamps, it is not likely that you need new ones.

 

Ok, so it sounds like you have the original lamps; when you rotate them, you can feel the little "detents" of the switch mechanism right?

If so, when you open the doors (open both at the same time, just for good measure), do the red lights on the ends of the doors light up? If not, then the problem might be the push-button switches at the front door jam; pull each of them outward with a little force, and see if that brings the door lights back; once the door lights are lit, then try rotating the footwell switches.

Alternately, just put a volt meter to the leads of the footwell lamps and make sure they are getting 12 volts.

If you are getting voltage, but lamps are still not lit, just pull-out the little clip that I mentioned, remove the bulb, put the clip back, spray some Deoxit in there, and work it around by rotating the lens; and obviously replace the bulb if somehow it has burned out. This should clear-up any contact corrosion. The mechanism is really simple, so I really doubt that you actually need replacements...

 

It sounds like someone has mucked with yours, or maybe they are not original afterall.

Can you send pictures?

 

Cool. I don't see any soldering there, and it definitely looks original.

So in the lower picture, the metal tab/terminal to the left actually pulls-out sideways; you might find that it is a little stuck, and putting a little oil on the contact-point between the bulb end and the tab/terminal metal might let it come-out easier.

Once that little metal piece is out, the bulb just drops out.

With all that stuff out, you can look inside and see how the "rotating lens" switch works, and where you need to hit with some Deoxit (to clean the contacts).

If everything is rusty inside, it might be hard to rotate the lens, but just hit everything with a little Deoxit (or some type of "penetrating oil"), and the internal-switch mechanism should free up.

 

Yikes, that solder should not be there. I get that the contact and the collar can be a little "touchy", but I still can't imagine how someone thought it was a good idea to apply solder. May be they wanted to be extra sure that the lights turned-on for some judging or something...

The only way to get the rest of the mechanism out is it bend-up the back-side of the chrome bezel. Once you free the bezel, the whole thing comes apart. Unfortunately, the bezel will show some distortion after you put it all back together, however, so I would not recommend trying this, unless you have a spare to replace it.

I think you can see how the mechanism works now. With a little tinkering, you should be able to get it working.

Just let me know if you find something else puzzling, as I would be happy to pull mine and open them up to check stuff...

 

It is sort of a cool little design, right?

I probably should do the sonic cleaner as well, while mine look ok, no one accuse them of looking brand new...

I've often wondered how many of these were binned, because people did not realize that they had a switch and/or it was possible to change the bulb...

 

Wow, learn something new every day; I did not realize that those were two piece lenses...

 

The mechanical parts cause problem with the eletrical route.
Use a good penetrate oil and much soaking time