Post by jvkharleyman on Jul 3, 2016 20:22:19 GMT -5
I had a problem with my hide away headlight relay which was bypassed with a toggle switch by the previous owner so I knew the motor was good also that it was replaced. Finally after searching the web and finding it hard to fork out $300.00 to $350.00 for a used relay and No information on how to fix the existing one I figured I'd give it a try and fix it myself. I work in the electronics field so I figured how hard could it be? First off the relay is on the right hand side between the glove box and ashtray. See attached photo. There are 2 relays there one is the headlight delay relay the other is the headlight relay which is the larger of the two. Place your hand on the relay and turn on your headlights. If you feel the relay engage that's half of the wiring that's good. Take the relay out from behind the dash there is 1 screw located on the bottom of the dash securing it. Turn off your headlights and disconnect the T shaped plug and jump a piece of wire to short the circuit, at the headlight cover motor you will see a 2 connector plug, Unplug it and put a meter on it and check for continuity, If the circuit is closed that's the second half of the wiring that's good. After taking the relay and breaker out and opening both cases I found the breaker was only a thin piece of metal with a contact point. Apparently what happens when it trips the metal heats up opening the circuit so after the metal cools down it makes contact again. The metal was bent and the contact point was not flat. It looked to me as if the motor for the hide away covers must have burnt out and really did a number on the breaker. I cleaned the contact points with a fine file and bent the metal to make a complete circuit again.( Be sure that both contact points are perfectly flat to each other to prevent arching ) That was problem number 1. Problem number 2 was that the contact point to open the covers on the relay on the coil was also over heated and needed to bent back into place to make contact when the relay trips. Again file the contact points flat to each other and bend the top contact point down to where it barely touches the coil contact. I adjusted it with a feeler gauge to .020. the opening wire is blue with a yellow tracer and the close is black with a red tracer. All in all it took 15 minutes and I now have working hide away headlights that work off of the headlight switch as it should. I'm posting this for anyone with hide away headlights issues try this fix first before spending a lot of money. Good luck I hope this helps and saves you a lot of Time, Money and Headaches.
