I'm sure this is a problem everyone has had at one time or another. Since I've had my car, the headlights have been a PITA. Most of the time, they will come up, but expect a minute or two for that to happen. The car is my daily driver, and I work about 70 hrs a week. So, fixing those slow headlights hasn't been a top priority until now.

Now, the headlights don't work at all. :confused: I tried both the headlight and bypass switch with no luck. The car doesn't seem to idle any different to indicate a vacuum leak, nor can a hissing sound be heard. I pulled each line off the Actuator to see if vacuum was present, but there was nothing. Then, each of the 3 lines for each Relay was pulled, and a very faint hiss was heard for about 2 seconds. So, it looks like I will either get used to manually pulling the headlights up, or finally fix this problem.

I'll test the various parts this weekend with a vacuum gauge pump. What are the most common problems? Please tell me this won't be a PITA. :cry

On a side note, does anyone make an electric motor retrofit for these cars? I prefer functionality to originality. I know that the front end can be altered to have the headlights out at all times, but I love the clean :cool: look of no headlights in the daytime.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions! :seeya

 

There's a little Vacuum Troubleshooting guide out there (from the catalogs; probably < $5) that might help if you're going the troubleshooting route. That's probably a smart thing to do and I guess you can start with points that are common to both sides so maybe that'll quicken the process.

I was lazy & lucky. When mine quit working, I just changed the headlight switch on the dash and that took care of the problem. I didn't even have to pull the dash off, just drop the steering column and removed the dash screws and pulled it forward enough to get the the old switch out & put the new one in. It doesn't seem to happen often, but t's nice when you're lucky :D

I believe THEY do sell an electric motor conversion, but I think it's pricey. You might check the archives or hopefully someone will chime in with a source.

Good Luck.

 

When you said it only hisssssed for a few seconds ...its sounds like you may not be getting any vaccum to the tank at all..I would start with the vaccum filter then the check valve then the hoses

 

Here is a great site detailing vacuum troubleshooting. It worked for me.
http://www.corvette-101.com/vacuum.htm and this is a fix that I also had to do from the same site and it does work. http://www.corvette-101.com/relays.htm