well as you can tell from the title my headlights don't work meaning they will not go up when I turn them on however the light parts do work so I am going to follow this chart to see if I cant find the problem and my question though stupid it maybe I just wanted to clarify does the car need to be running when I am checking for vacuum and what not
here is the diagram

 

Running works best for me , unless I use my cheater.

 

welp sounds like I am going to need to go and get some gas

 

I had the same problem. The problem that I had was in the connection from the back of the carb (vacuum source) through the one way valve (one in, two out) after the white filter. I replaced both the white filter and the one way valve (from Eckler's) and also the vacuum hose to and between them and cured the problem.

LR

 

I will be sure to check that out first so at least I have a place to start with

 

Also where is this "Coffee Can" everyone talks about I cant seem to find it on my car the only thing I found it a long canister the sits parallel to the ground with some hoses coming out of it but it does not resemble a coffee can, more of an air tank if anything

 

One thing you can do without starting the car is to "birdog" the vacuum line with a vacuum pump, like a Mighty Vac, start at the engine vacuum source, and see if the system will hold vacuum. If it doesn't, move further down toward the headlights, until you come to where you can hold some vacuum, thereby tracking down yer vacuum leak.(if there is one, that is)


Scott

 

In front of the radiator up under the nose if your car has one. Earlier cars had a vac storage tank on the rear of the left fender skirt; some years use the front frame cross member as the reserve tank; later car have the coffee cans.

 

Oh ok I guess mine does not have it how ever I have a few hoses that connect to this tank that are not connected anywhere else and also I do not have a hose coming out of the back of the carb but there is a spot for one is that for the headlights also here is some pics of some of the hoses I found





you can also see the tank I am talking about

there is also somemore pictures of the car if you click the pictures

 

Did the lights ever come up or did this just happen?

Those tubes that come out of the tank go to the relays in the middle hole. The relays then run two sets of tubes to the actuators. One for up, one for down.

1st make sure you're getting vacuum to the holding tank, turn the car on and put your thumbs over the two holes and see if they're suckings. If not, look for holes in the tank/tubing.

Then to troubleshoot the actuators, you can connect the tube from your reservoir directly to the back side of the actuator and see if that makes the headlight raise when you turn on the car. Make sure you tape off the other tube on the reservoir on the side you aren't using or it won't work regardless. If the light doesn't come up, means that either there is a hole on the actuator, or the plastic boot of the actuator needs replaced. They have them on ecklers and other shops.

To check the relays, connect the entire system up like in the diagram you have. The hoses are color coded and there are letters on the relays that correspond to the tubes. For this step it's easier if you remove the relays, there are 2 and there held in with 2 bolts each. Check to see if they have any surface rust as mine did badly, then run the system with the car on. If the lights don't go up now, and they did with the actuators, that means that there is either a hole in the relay, or that the plastic stopper has a hole in it. There is a way to fix this by taking apart the relay and gluing a rubber o-ring to the stopper giving it a better seal. Searching "relay repair" on the forums should give you the details on that one.

If you're going to be working extensively with the system you might want to consider removing the hood which gives you a lot more freedom since a lot of the headlight system is accessed from the front of the car.

Hope that helps, it got my rusty system in operating condtion

 

O yea, I'm assuming your manual over-ride isn't functioning either. It's the thinner of the hoses and has white paint on it. If your car has the bar reservoir then it doesn't connect directly to it. Instead it will run from the over ride switch which is under your steering wheel to the 2 relays. If it is missing then you'll need to find a replacement tubing because with out it the relays may not hold vacuum, (I think) but even if you aren't up for that just yet, you'll need to block the holes on the top of the relays where they connect to, test them anyway. Again good luck hope that helps.

 

Looks like you may have found your problem. Components and hoses that weren't connected to anything will generally not be found in the A.I.M. If you follow the Willcox vacuum diagram you should be able to get things hooked up correctly. It's always a thrill to see the headlights go up and down as designed.



Rick B.

 

Yea that is the goal and no that have not come up at least not for me, as for my uncle I dont know but I will try and get more pictures up and follow that diagram and keep y'all posted

 

Easier yet, if it was your uncles' ask him why he disconnected the headlights and go from there.

 

I dont think he ever worked on the car but it couldn't hurt to ask

 

Our 74's have a big round cylinder up front with 3 vacuum connections, two near the center and one on the drivers side. www.corvette-101.com/vacuum.htm has a good troubleshooting guide, but the diagram is wrong so use the one that Willcox published. PG.

 

Thanks for the link that actually clears up allot about what parts is what and also what I need to do to test it.

 

Rebuiltmy actuators and that solved the problem, I had. But the lights still go up one at a time and the same for closing. I guess that is normal for a '73

 

Not so normal for the lights to go up one at a time, you did a good repair on the actuators now it's time to rebuild the relays. PG.