Headlight issues
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 409
Likes: 5
From: Orange County CA
Headlight issues
My headlights suddenly stopped going up.. I tested the switches, and all vacuum lines between the manifold and headlight relay.. The is about 5" of vacuum at the small hose with the white stripe and about 20" at the yellow feed hose.. I pulled the red and green hoses off the relay and the red side holds vacuum, but the green side does not. I then tested both actuators at the actuator them selves to see if the pull the lights up and down.. The right side moves up and down with the mityvac, but the left side will only close the light, not open it.. the red side holds vacuum and closed the door, but the green side would not move after about 10 - 15 strokes with the pump.
Would one bad actuator cause both not to work?? It seems like it would as the bad one is causing a huge vacuum leak..
Would one bad actuator cause both not to work?? It seems like it would as the bad one is causing a huge vacuum leak..
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 31,267
Likes: 4,362
From: Westminster Maryland
Hi Ct,
When the 'red' side (down) holds vacuum it indicates the diaphragm in the actuator is good, but when the 'green' side (up) doesn't hold vacuum it's often the replaceable 'seal' on the actuator rod that's leaking.
Also you mention "relay"… if you're asking about your 71 I'd expect it to have 2 relays?
Regards,
Alan
When the 'red' side (down) holds vacuum it indicates the diaphragm in the actuator is good, but when the 'green' side (up) doesn't hold vacuum it's often the replaceable 'seal' on the actuator rod that's leaking.
Also you mention "relay"… if you're asking about your 71 I'd expect it to have 2 relays?
Regards,
Alan
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 37
Likes: 0
From: westmont illinois
When my wiper system went bad in my '69, I made the decision to never drive in the rain again, and I was ok with that. When my lights stopped popping up, I wasn't going to apply the same logic. The vacuum canister inside the driver side front fender proved to be the culprit. I had that repaired and working fine.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 409
Likes: 5
From: Orange County CA
Well, I removed the left, (bad) actuator from the system and hooked up the good one and it goes up and down as it should. I hooked up the bad one again and they once again did not work. I pinched the green hose going to the bad actuator and the right one popped up.
Getting the actuators out was another story.. I have A/C and the condenser does not leave enough room the get the actuators out. I removed the hood and it made it much easier.
The shaft seal on the left one had a huge tear in it and the right one was not torn, but will get rebuilt as well..
Thanks for the help...
Getting the actuators out was another story.. I have A/C and the condenser does not leave enough room the get the actuators out. I removed the hood and it made it much easier.
The shaft seal on the left one had a huge tear in it and the right one was not torn, but will get rebuilt as well..
Thanks for the help...
