Pillar light function

[stroker70]

I put new bulb's in the pillar lights of my 53. They work now when you move the switch on the lens cover. Is this the only way they work? I thought that they may come on when the door is opened like the courtesy lights under the dash, but they don't.

[joefrazer]

On the 51-5 cars, the pillar lights only come on when the rear doors are opened. On some cars, there are no rear door light switches and the only way to light them is to flip the switch. The front doors, when opened, turn on lights under the dash.

[84RabbitGTI]

joefrazer, my '51 pillar lights come on with only three doors, the front two and the passenger side rear door. The drivers side rear never had a switch, but a hole exists for one with no wires going to the hole. I've seen it written that it came that way for some unknown reason...  I don't have any under dash lights either. It was never wired for them.  Weird.

[Jim B PEI]

I could understand the driver's rear door not being wired for a switch if it was a 51 Frazer Utility model with the spare tire in that door and 'not supposed to open' (ie, three operating doors and the hatch) I remember there was at least one KFOCI member Utility 51 Frazer that did have the DR door that opened...not being a difficult modification to made, I suppose, since all the hardware was there anyway.

For a 4 door 51 Kaiser that makes less sense--unless it was that during the era, it was less common to exit the car on the left side, and in fact, I believe it was the law in some places. That explains why some cars only had a keyed door lock on the right hand side, as you were expected to get in and out on the right side safely out of the way of passing traffic.

Perhaps since it was legal/wasn't expected (especially for children in the rear seat?), what was the point of wiring the door??

I'd love to be proved wrong...anyone know the actual reason for this?

[joefrazer]

Is the 51K a Special? If so, your car would have been wired without under dash lighting and the pillar lights would have been the only source of light aside from the instruments. After that was mentioned, it jogged my memory that my 51K Special (owned many moons ago) was wired the same way. Seems to me though that all 4 doors lit the pillar lights...

And yes, it isn't difficult to turn an early utility into a 4 door car. I did that with a 49 Traveler. The factory just wedged two pieces of flat stock between the door and body and tack welded them in place. We cut thru the welds and that was that! The door had hinges but no guts and no sill plate.

[Fid]

We had a '53 Manhattan and a '54 early Special. All four doors lit the pillar lights.

[Logan]

The rear doors only light the pillar lights on my 53 dragon.  the front doors light the under dash lights.

[joefrazer]

I checked my 53 and 54 Manhattans and both work the same...the pillar lights only illuminate when the rear doors are opened or when the switch on the lamp is flipped. Sounds like we either have a few cars with some factory differences, or folks, over time rewired them. That's what makes owning a KF so much fun!

[HJ-ETEX]

Pillar Lights: On my 51 Deluxe, there was a plug over the switch hole in driver side rear door. I consulted the the wiring diagram in the Shop Manual and, yes, it does not show a switch on that door. I was replacing all the wiring anyway, so I installed a switch. The switches on the front doors only turned on the under dash light.

[stroker70]

Joe was spot on with my Dragon, the Pillar lights work off the rear doors only.

[84RabbitGTI]

Joefrazer, my 51 is a Deluxe and was an early production with the 8 tube GE radio and vacuum windscreen wipers. It has a place for a light and a switch to operate a glove box light (but it is an ultra cheap setup, in my opinion, so I didn't reconnect it during the re-wire) and never had under dash lights. There are no sockets for them and no wires were ever there for them.  These are just the cool things about owning a K-F car, I guess!

[Fid]

I wouldn't say my memory is 100% accurate. The KF wiring diagram would be more reliable.

[pnw_oldmags]

Here is the 53K Wiring Diagram for your review.

[GA Kaiser]

I wondered about the pillar lights myself.  The slide switch on the pillar lights has no effect.  Front doors work the under dash lights, rear doors work the pillar lights, underdash toggle switch only operates underdash lights when the doors are closed.  Should you be able to turn on the pillar lights by themselves?  It would seem to be a great idea.

[joefrazer]

Yes, the pillar lights should work using the switch. It's just a copper contact switch so they're probably corroded and just need cleaned. The driver's side switch in my 54 was dirty...after a good cleaning, all is well!