Headlights on a 76
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
Headlights on a 76
The headlights will light up but they don't go up by themselves. I have to push them up from underneath to drive at night. I have had other more pressing issues and now ready to tackle this one. HOWEVER, I have no idea where to start. A diagram or some picture detailing how the system operates would be useful. I figure the orignal owner crossed some lines or there is a leak in the system. Thanks for the help in advance.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,139
Likes: 109
From: B'ham Alabama
Drifting
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,480
Likes: 2
From: Circleville Ohio
Vader vette
Do you hear any hisses ? you might have a leak in a hose or the hose
has come dislodged and that would keep em from going up. can be A number of things but look for the easiest first a A bad hose.Lay under neath the car and have someone pull the headlights on (with the car running at the lowest idle)listen if you can hear it or wet your hands with some menthol, anything and if you feel air your hand should get cold.Good luck.
has come dislodged and that would keep em from going up. can be A number of things but look for the easiest first a A bad hose.Lay under neath the car and have someone pull the headlights on (with the car running at the lowest idle)listen if you can hear it or wet your hands with some menthol, anything and if you feel air your hand should get cold.Good luck.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 14
From: Airdrie Alberta
Hey hwcoop that one is wrong and I have begged Corvette 101 to change it but they seem to just ignore.Here is a corrected one.
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
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From: Dayton, Ohio
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Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
76 Headlights
Okay--I used the diagram and have checked the lines from the front of the firewall to the air tank and see no visible problems. When I manually lift the headlights into place and lower, I hear a hissing sound. Is that suggestive of a seal leak or should I rather be looking at teh switch itself. If it is the switch, where inside the cab should I be looking? Pull the dash to get it???
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 16,528
Likes: 53
From: Dayton, Ohio
Try this -pull the small white striped hose off going to the front relays and plug it.Then with engine running take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch the green striped hose going to the drivers side actuator and see if the pass. side pops up.If not pinch the green hose going to the pass side and see if the driver pops up.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,247
Likes: 471
From: Glen Allen, VA
Mine didnt' go up either till the other week when I fixed them. They did however go down just fine when I turned the switch off. I had to push mine up and make sure I had either the override vavle pulled or the headlight switch pulled or they would go right back down as soon as I started the car. I turned out to be the actuator seals. If the dust boot on the actuators is torn up, likely the internal seals are also trashed like mine were. Do yourself a favor and put a seal kit in them.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 320
Likes: 0
I'm also troublshooting this same issue and need to know if some of my assumptions are correct. I pulled the red hose (see diagram) from out of the relay and blew into it. Each headlight will come up when I do this. I'm making an assumption that this means that the actuators are good. I've chased down each hose and can't find any vacuum leaks. The drivers side light will come up when the lights are turned on providing I let the car run for about 10-15 seconds to build up vacuum. The passenger side will let up about 1 inch and then slowly lower itself. Where should I now proceed with my trouble shooting?
Advanced
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: Austin TX
I have been going at it with this same problem for a couple weeks. Actually took a local vette guy to help me figure it out. Check your relays. Figure out what vacuum line is for up (i think it is the top one). Turn on the car, turn on the headlights and blow through the top of the 3 hoses on the relay (not the small one on the very top). If you can blow through then your relays are bad. If you can't do the same thing with your acutators. More than likely you have a vacuum leak at your actuators or your relays or both.
Good luck to you
Andy
Good luck to you
Andy
