[Hamburger]

Hi, I have a rather annoying problem with my dashboard electrical system in my '65.

The car starts and runs fine, but after driving for maybe a minute, I notice my gauges all turn off as if I've turned off the key. This happens erratically. My turn signals and wipers also don't work when this happens.

If I jiggle the key around in the ignition, the gauges and wipers come back on. If it's raining and I have the wipers on all the time, everything's fine. But if not, everything shuts off again after a short time. This all started around the same time my turn signals started working about half the time.
I don't know if it's related, but to turn the gauges off after shutting off the engine, I have to turn the key to ACC and back to OFF. The engine shuts off at OFF, but not the gauges and idiot lights.

So my question is, will replacing my ignition switch fix this? If not, what else could I do? I haven't been able to get any real answers yet. I DD this car and it's a bit annoying now.

Thanks.

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Replace your Ignition switch and go over all your connections and grounds.

 

[Hamburger]

Today my new switch came in the mail so I took out my old one. I realized as soon as I did that the threaded rod or whatever it's called that comes out of the back of the switch was heavily rusted and corroded for its age. The wiring diagram says that this connects to the flasher, which seems to account for the poor connection and inoperative blinkers.

Now my question is what can I do to keep that rod from oxidizing again? I was thinking dielectric grease, but as it's an insulator I wonder if there is something else that's better to use.