lights

[claydbal]

on my 88 IH with ward body, the switches in the command center are confusing, or not labeled at all.

question: one switch is not labeled, bot on the switch rocker itself, it says from bottom to top, high/low/park. can anyone explain? i see high turns on the top cleArance lights, low and park do nothing.

another switch is labeled act lights. what is this?

if i can get these working, i can get safety inspection and be able to drive her totally legal!

thanks.

[cowlitzcoach]

At a guess I would say high/low/park would be windshield wiper switch.

Someone may have needed a switch for something else and had that one handy so it may only work in the one position to turn on the clearance lights.

Act Light may be a ceiling light at the very back of the bus. Some buses have one switch that turns on all of the interior lights. Some states require some interior lights to be on at night which would require an additional switch.

Very few times on older buses will all of the switches be in the same position or work in the same way. There is nothing more aggravating than having a row of rocker switches that are off in the down position except for one that is off in the middle position. Over the years I have drained more than one battery on buses with switches like that.

I have been in numerous buses that were built by the same OEM at approximately the same time. Some were even consecutively numbered serial numbers. But that didn't mean every switch was in the same position doing the same thing.

Particularly on older buses sometimes the only thing you can do is to just turn switches on and off to figure out what they do.

Good luck.

[claydbal]

thanks cowlitz. yep, someone has been in there before. jumper wires, inline fuses, and wires twisted together. guess i gotta skip the short cut (pun?) and get out the test light and meter.

next question, do the top marker/clearance lights have to be on in the daytime while driving?

[cowlitzcoach]

No on daytime lights of any kind if you are not driving a school bus.

Daytime headlights are a good idea.

[Hank's P-O-S]

As far as I'm aware of, no state requires daytime running lights.
In Canada we are required to have daytime running lights, but you only need your headlights on low. Tail, licence, and marker lights are not required during the day.

[claydbal]

thanks guys. i will worry about those pesky lights after i get there. i aint gonna drive at night, my one eye starts freakin out from glare.