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I recently purchased 3 actuator relays from a Corvette supplier that I by from that I KNOW gets these relays from Corvette America. I was told this by them. This thread will be sent to my supplier and they are aware of it so it can also be sent to those at Corvette America who can HOPEFULLY address this problem and FIX IT!
I installed the three relays on a 1972 Corvette. They worked prefect. The vacuum system is VERY GOOD and the issue IS NOT dealing with VACUUM. So lets get that straight. this is NOT my first 'rodeo' dealing with Corvette vacuum system issues.
The issue with these actuator relays is that the spring that is used INSIDE the actuator relay is too STOUT. If anyone took the time to open one up and look at this..the spring DOES NOT need to be stout at all...just enough pressure to push the diaphragm/plunger down.
AS I stated...NOTHING is wrong in the vacuum hoses or any part of the system EXCEPT for the actuator relays having a spring in them that is too stout.
How do I know this???
Well...when the car is shut off....depending on how long I let it run and the amount of vacuum stored....in a short time...sometimes a long as a minute.....the WIPER DOOR would raise UP.
Well..I cut open an ORIGINAL actuator relay....and then I cut the one that I had bought. And the springs I have photos of CLEARLY SHOW that the Springs in the Corvette America actuator relays are too strong and need to be weakened.....BECAUSE....when I put the facotry spring into the Corvette America actuator relay and put it back together.....the problem STOPPED.
It is common sense that IF the spring in the actuator relay is STRONG as heck...it takes a lot of vacuum to raise the diaphragm/ plunger in the actuator relay to make the wiper door or lightheaded door stay down. AND...when the vacuum is bleeding off the system and the spring is so strong...when the vacuum get to a point that it allows the diaphragm/ plunger to go down....there is still enough vacuum in the storage tank to raise the wiper door due to it being so small it does not take a lot if vacuum to do this.
BUT...(as clearly proven in my test)...IF the spring is weaker...it takes LESS vacuum to keep it up and keeping thus the door down...and when the vacuum gets low enough to allow the spring to push the plunger down...then that is LESS vacuum on the system that is stored and it is NOT enough to make the wiper door go up.
This strong spring ALSO causes the headlight doors or wiper door to RAISE UP when the car is being cranked up. Many times because it takes so much vacuum to raise up the plunger and thus route the vacuum to keep the doors down...that the MAIN vacuum hose that feeds the actuators is allowing the actuator to move...because the small vacuum control hose to the actuator relays can not react FAST enough...becasue the spring is so strong..
Spring on the LEFT is the spring out of the Corvete America relay...the one on the RIGHT is the facotry spring out of the old relay. All appears to look fine here. But the equal height of the springs has nothing to do with tension of the springs.
The Corvette America spring with a weight on it.
The ORIGINAL spring with the EXACT same weight on it. Notice how much more the spring compresses. It does not seem like much ..but when dealing with vacuum...it makes HUGE difference.
The Corvette America spring with more weight added to it.
The ORIGINAL spring with the same amount of added weight,
Hopefully someone sees this can can do something about it because I am sure I will hear that "hundreds have been sold and no one has every complained before".
I had the exact same problem with a wiper door actuator relay from Corvette Central. Not sure who manufactured it but the diaphragm spring inside the relay is too strong resulting in the wiper door opening and closing on startup. It takes less vacuum to start moving the door up than it does to move the spring holding the relay diaphragm from the default open position to closed. I don't know who is producing this reproduction garbage but mine has a clear sticker on top with some numbers. If yours has the same numbers as the pic below it probably came from the same batch and I wouldn't count on it actually working...
Last edited by CanadaGrant; 03-22-2017 at 07:29 PM.
08-11-2016, 06:36 PM
CORVETTE AMERICA product problem
