Dennis Wilson

John,

There is one turn around here (old hwy 75 south of Ramona) that is two s bends. What you don't realize is there is a 4 foot drop in the middle of the second turn. The county was good enough to put a runoff for those who go airborne. Before you ask, YES I did hit the runoff. Haven't heard from Jay since last summer. Surely he has his house finished.

Dennis

John Struthers

Dennis,
In the shark?
Maybe it's time to PM ole' Jay.

Dennis Wilson

John,

Yep, in the 78 euro. Haven't seen Jay on the forum in a long time. Is he still registered?

Dennis

JFCIII

I have a similar problem with the lights on my '83. When you turn on the lights the pods come up and the lights come on when they are in the full up position. When you turn them off the lights go off but don't retract. If I manually trip the relay they will go down but only as long as I hold the relay. I know that when you shut the lights off you actually get a power feed from the light switch which operates the down function. I get that feed all the way to the relay but they still won't go down. I know there are three individual relays and a bunch of other things within the headlight relay, 1 relay controls the motor, 1 controls the lights and one controls the highbeams.
I believe my issue resides in the relay but I am not sure and the wsm doesn't give any diagnostic proceedures.

Does anyone have a proceedure to check the system before I start changing parts?

Thanks

Dennis Wilson

JFC,

Not sure what model year you have but the early cars have 2 opposing direction diodes in the motor to control up and down signals to the relay. On my 78 the up diode was burnt so it would go down but not up. If you pull the motor and cover you can check the diodes. If one is bad (no circuit in either direction) a replacement should be available at Radio Shack. It will require a little soldering but it is checper than a new motor.

Dennis

peanut

Thanks Dennis my problem is exactly the same as JFC's I'll take a looksee in the morning sounds like an easy fix for a change.

I am looking out for an early 78-80 damaged or faulty fuse board . I want to look at the possibility of designing a replacement fuse & relay board in PCB . It will probably bankrupt me but it might save a few old sharks. lol

JFCIII

Thanks Dennis I will check it out. One question if you know, which way does the current flow? Toward the motor or away from it.

Dennis Wilson

JFC,

Not an electrical engineer here but the diodes are positioned to flow in different directions. If replacing them make sure you note the orientation. Basically, I do know that the contact wheel sends a signal to the relay which opens a circuit to power the motor, headlights, etc.

Dennis

JFCIII

Dennis,

I know if I can see the bands on the diode it should tell me which direction. Let's see if they are still visible after 23 years.