Posted by Merrill Fish on January 05, 1999 at 17:05:54:
In Reply to: running (cowl) lights posted by David N. Lundstrom on January 03, 1999 at 17:27:46:
First off, I'll guess that the cowl lights are usually used as parking lights, which turn on at the first position of the pull out switch, and then go back off when the headlights come on. My WM300 has not been lit up in years, and it's somewhat apart now, so I could not even check it out with a battery. However, if that is the way your truck works now, in order to get the lights to act as running lights as well, would take at least some rewiring, or the replacement of the switch with one that is designed for that purpose. You could put a jumper at the switch to bridge the park terminal to the head terminal, but that would give you headlights on both the park and head positions, and you would have no parking lights. The more correct way to accomplish this same thing would be to disconnect the lead fron the park terminal on the switch, and connect (or splice) it to the head lead; still would have no parking lights, which might be a legal problem. As to using them for fog lights or other high output lighting, they are mounted too high above the road to be either safe or effective for on highway use. Fog lights should be mounted as low to the road surface as reasonably possible, usually under the bumper, driving lights should be at about the same level as the head lights. In later model cars and trucks, the wiring was designed so that the parking lights stayed on all of the time that the switch was on, so it might be possible to find a switch with the right design to make the change you desire.
Good luck, and let us all know what you find out.
M