I drove it yesterday for about 30 minutes. 15 minutes I had the override switch pulled. Nothing happened. 15 minutes I had the headlights on and nothing happened.

 

To be clear, you had vacuum on the small vacuum hose at the relays with switches off, and no vacuum at the relays with switches on?
If the internal spool of the relay (relays) are leaking by the sealing surface it is possible that vacuum is then ported to the bottom of the relay. That is where the exhaust port of the relay valve is.

 

Yes that is correct. I agree there could be an issue with the relays. But for both of them to fail at the same time seems odd and leads me to think something else is the root of the problem.

 

Len,
1 relay may have been bad for a while and the 2nd one just quit.
Just a thought?
If a miti vac raises the doors then the actuators are still sound.
Relay is cheap get one or two and try it. Best to troubles shoot
both first.
Or as stated something under the dash is not plumbed right.
Marshal

 

You can test your headlamp vacuum system while only using your existing vehicle. Have car idling in the driveway/garage; pull the vacuum lines off of one of the headlamp relays and determine which has vacuum on it; connect that hose to the center fitting on the relay (that is vacuum SUPPLY). Do the same for the other relay.

Note: If there is little or no vacuum on these lines, there is a problem with the vacuum supply system.

With the supply lines hooked up to the relays...and the other lines removed from them, take a small piece of paper and place it at the end of an open fitting on one of the relays. If the paper stays in place when you remove your fingers, there is vacuum leaking past the relay shuttle valve. Check the other three open fittings using this same method. If the paper doesn't stay in place by itself, there is not enough leakage to prevent adequate operation. You should replace any relays that show significant leakage.

You can also test your headlamp vacuum actuators by using the vacuum relay SUPPLY line to hook directly to either fitting on that actuator (manually bypassing the relay valve). Hooking to one side should open the headlamp; hooking to the other should close it. If the supply line has decent vacuum level (normal vacuum should be 15" Hg or higher; check with a vacuum gauge), the headlamp should quickly pop open and closed. This test can determine if the seals in the actuators are OK.

If the system doesn't have adequate vacuum, you will have to diagnose the problems and resolve them before you can solve any headlamp system issues. Just like anything electrical, you would need adequate voltage before diagnosing any specific issue with an electrical component.

 

Thanks that helps alot. I will try those steps later today.

 

I checked the headlight relays today with a vacuum pump. When I pump up the relay you can here it slide. When I remove the vacuum you can hear it slide back. The same for both relays.

Both headlights will shut after I have opened them manually.

 

If you didn't use the vacuum from the engine, you really don't know how they will operate. Using a hand vacuum pump, you can isolate ONE component or one section of hose and have enough vacuum 'power' to evaluate the integrity of the hose or the seals in that one component.

But, without the amount of vacuum supplied by the engine, you can't test the function of ANYTHING with that hand pump.

Start the engine and do the hose swap tests I described to see what works and what doesn't. THEN you can focus on one component.

P.S. Just getting the shuttle valve to move in those relays won't tell you whether they will adequately seal vacuum to allow proper opening/closing of the headlamp buckets.

 

I tested the relays with a hand vacuum pump. You could hear the relays open & close. I will try that with the engine running today to confirm the engine vacuum.

 

Not all heroes wear capes! (Unless you wear a cape, then disregard )