DUB

I know the seals I get from another place do have the o-ring made into them.

But it does make sense that it should not matter as long as it seals. The only difference is the o-ring being no longer there is not allowing it to index on the groove of the shaft.

DUB

Reaper19

I have the old seals removed, cans cleaned up, painted and replacing the other nylon bushings since I have the actuators out. Tomorrow I'll install the new seals, do a vacuum test and install. Hoping this is the last of leaks for a while.

Thanks for all your direction. I'll let everyone know how the actuators turn out after completing.

Randy

Reaper19

New seals and bushings installed. Took a little longer than I thought, the original parts required some cleaning up and repainted a few items while I had them apart. Headlights operate a lot smoother now, vacuum tested each actuator before and after installation, no leaks. The headlights pop right up and down very quickly now and no more vacuum leaks. I'll go back through testing the carb dwell and performance after driving around a bit to allow things to settle in.

Thanks again everyone!

Reaper19

The headlight saga continues. I ended up replacing the vacuum check valve, rebuilding the actuators, replaced the vacuum relays and vacuum override switch. I replaced the relays today and thought that was it. After testing the headlights they popped up and then only went down partially. Took the car for a run and the headlights popped up upon hard acceleration. So I went through checking the whole vacuum system again for the headlights and could not believe I found the new vacuum check valve faulty. My old valve would not hold vacuum via the two ports, but sealed pretty good when blowing into the single port and now the new one allows blowing air through the single port, but it holds vacuum between the two ports. After verifying and researching all information, it point towards the vacuum check valve. I called the vendor and they were really good about listening to what I found and there techs said, yep bad vacuum check valve. So I have a replacement on the way.

Hoping this is it for the headlights and vacuum!

DUB

DO NOT be surprised if your new actuator relays are bad also. A simple test can confirm if they are bad even before you install them. Because IF they are bad...it can take a while for vacuum to build up enough to make sure the headlight doors stay down when you crank up the car. OF...when they are UP...you have a vacuum leak in the actuator relay.

DUB

Reaper19

[QUOTE=DUB;1598105925]DO NOT be surprised if your new actuator relays are bad also. A simple test can confirm if they are bad even before you install them. Because IF they are bad...it can take a while for vacuum to build up enough to make sure the headlight doors stay down when you crank up the car. OF...when they are UP...you have a vacuum leak in the actuator relay.


Thanks DUB. The relays past testing before installing, they both held vacuum on each port with the dogbone under vacuum or no vacuum via each corresponding port. The vacuum diaphragm also holds vacuum. Is this the test you are referring to?

Reaper19

DUB you are correct again. I installed the new vacuum check valve and still had issues with the lights popping up while driving. I used my vacuum pump to check the new check valve and tried to blow through the single port and this one checks out fine. I did another vacuum check of the complete system and you hit the nail on the head again, the dang new relays are leaking vacuum too. I used your diagnosis recommendation of using a piece of vacuum hose, one side to the bottom of the relay and one side to my ear while the car was running and sure enough both of them leak. I also checked the vacuum from the engine at all vacuum points in the circuit and at relay hoses and get right ~20 inches of vacuum or just above. That is more than enough to pull up the relay dogbones up. Unfortunately with both relays leaking the dogbones cannot be pulled up to send vacuum to the correct port, keeping the headlight closed.

I cannot believe the vendors are sending out this many defective parts. I'll be on the phone Monday and calling CA to ask for replacements to be sent.

Thank you again for all your help and support!

Randy

DUB

PM me ( if interested) and I can tell you where I get mine due to I do not buy them from where you got yours...so the new ones you get can be bad again.

The reason I am saying this is because I have run into these actuator relays not being good right out of the package so many times before.

I ordered in 20 new relays from this source and ALL of them were perfect and did not leak and work as intended. I have NOT torn a new one apart yet to make sure the spring in it is like the GM ones had in them and THAT can make a difference also. But so far I have not run into any issues with the ones I get now.

Check this thread out.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-problem.html

DUB


DUB