Re: IML: Waking a sleeping Imperial

Sonny,
Congrats on your purchase. You'll probably find a lot of little things that need fixing or adjusting, but the rewards will be great. On the headlight switch, try turning the knob full left then right several times. The rheostat might just have some corrosion on it and by twisting the knob you might clean it. Don't force it hard left or right, you could damage the ceramic part in the switch. I had the same issue with my 64. Mine didn't clean up so I had to replace it. Turns out my switch was actually broken. I bought a new switch at Auto Zone. Changing it was a challenge. I had a hard time getting my big hand up into the maze of wires and other hard, sharp stuff. I removed the A/C duct and vent to gain access to the maze. You have to remove the knob and the trim piece on the dash first. The light switch knob must be released by pushing a little button on the side of the switch, so you must get your hand up there and feel around for the button. It's a good idea to plug in the wire harne ss to the new switch before you fasten the switch to the dash. Of course, you'll have the battery disconnected before you attempt the switch change.

Good luck and best regards,
Mark Souders

I am very excited about my new imperial and I have been tinkering with it every chance I get. Ive driven it twice now and I just replaced the carrier assembly, I had the unplesant experiance of it coming apart on my first drive. while I was at it I was going to replace the speedometer cable because the other thing I noticed was not speedo the first time but I had my wife follwing me just in case of truble. Well I was not excited about trying to disconect the cable from the instrement panel if anyone has tryed to do this on a 66 imperial it is less than ideal. so I disconected the spedo cable from the trans and hooked my cordless drill to it and at first I thought it was not working I had my wife watching the dash and then I reversed the drill and then switched back and whala it works I guss that it stuck and I jarred it loose but now it functions great and with no jurking also while I was looking under the dash contimplating the spedo cable I found out why the automatic parking brake release wasent working the vacume hose was pulled loose I found the nipple at the base of the column and pluged it in and when I put it in reverse it works its so cool now I have to get the head light switch out and fix it because I have no dash lights all the lights work but when you pull the switch no dash lights. does any one know an easy way to do this ? as far as I can tell you have to take a lot off to get to it any help sugestions would be appreciated. Sonny Moorehouse