When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Yet another question about flip-up lights. I'm sure it doesn't get old, right?
When I first got my car, the lights were kind of slow to come up and came up unevenly. I've recently had to remove and replace the radiator, so I thought it would be a great time to work on the lights since the hood off and the radiator were out. I've replaced the boots on both actuators and replaced both relays with brand new ones. Now my driverside pops up like the car is brand new but the passenger side only starts to come up after the other one is done. It comes up very slow and right at the end, it slightly jerks a few times to get all the way up. It seems like the moving parts within the housing need to be oiled. What's more annoying is that it won't go down as it did before. I have to turn the lights off and push it down for it to drop.
Is there an adjustment I'm missing or a lubricate I need to be using? Again, I appreciate all the expert advice here. Y'all made my radiator job a slamdunk.
If you can put a spotlight on the passenger headlight assembly and take a pic of the area with the springs and pivot points it would help.
Double-check your hose connections..it is easy to connect to the wrong port on the relays.
Also...there is a port on the front and on the rear of the large headlight actuator,,,,,remove both hoses.
if you have a vacuum pump you can connect it to the REAR port and pull at least 8 lbs. of vacuum to make the actuator and lights move at a consistent speed....
the light assembly should close without jerking.
If you hear a vacuum leak at the FRONT port, the rubber diaphragm inside the actuator is torn.
Perform the same test on the FRONT port and listen for a leak at the REAR port.
Tell us what you discover.
The relay for that side is most likely the problem. You can take the yellow-striped vacuum hose off the relay (center hose) and connect it directly to each side of the actuator pod to see if the mechanism will move quickly [without the relay in the system]. If it works well in that test, the relay is at fault. If not, look for a 'mechanical' glitch in the mechanism or at the actuator pod.
the springs are too stiff in the repop relays. your old relays had mud wasp nests in the vent hole in top left of pic. you should be able to fairly easily raise or lower either headlight with lung power. pull the hoses off and blow them out first. sucking on a hose and inhaling old bug nest is unpleasant. and blow out the large long hose that goes from the motor to the vacuum tank. in fact pull and blow out every vacuum hose. the brown semicircle is the wasp nest. vacuum does not move headlights. the one atmosphere of air on the other side of the diaphragm moves the headlights, this one spot is where bugs block that air passage.
Thank you all for the great suggestions! I first started by removed all the tubes and blew them out with my compressor. They're old but they weren't cracked and could hold pressure so I reinstalled them. Sure enough, the passenger side light acted much, much better! It's still slower than the left side but it comes up and drops in unison, which it never did before. I'm going to call it good! I plan to replace all that rubber at one point but it's just going to have to be one of those things that go on my list because I have bigger jobs that I need to get done first.
Tit for tat...(jpost #7) My point is that you can't claim a 'part reliability' benefit because the parts are electrically operated. Most of these parts...aftermarket vacuum components AND electric actuators...are produced in foreign territories; and their manufacturing methods and reliabiltiy are definitely in question. I am not down-playing going electric if someone wants to do so. But, they need to be aware that the downside of vacuum systems are no worse than the downside of electric systems.
Tit for tat...(jpost #7) My point is that you can't claim a 'part reliability' benefit because the parts are electrically operated.
I never made that claim - those are your words and poor interpretation (as usual). I was just trying to solve recurring headlight problems and I fixed them by going electric. No Chinesium parts in my conversion. For the record, I'm pleased with all the modifications I've made to my '73. In each case, my mods have turned out to be more reliable and with better performance than the factory original parts they replaced. I've never regretted a single modification I've made. I have regretted some I didn't make such as not replacing the old wiring with a new modern blade style fuse block setup when I had the chance.
Remember, no one is buying old cars and/or making modifications to them because we need to do so. Need has nothing to do with it. It's because we want to. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone likes working on their car and is looking for a project. l'm fortunate that I can afford to own a '73 and make modifications to it.
How are those radial tires and Bilstein shocks working out for you?
Damn lights!
