Need help with vacuum headlights. Not working

[jessejames]

Hey guys.... Putting this car together and having some trouble. Anyone have alot of experience with 68 69 charger vacuum headlights? I have every vacuum line hooked up including the larger one going to manifold. I don't even hear the vacuum canister working. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

[tan top]

 silly question , have you got the right color to the correct location

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,84886.0.html

[jessejames]

Tan top.... Ur the best!! U always come through for me... Never noticed the colors. They are faded, but after digging some more I think my switch is bad. I will keep you updated. Thanks again!!

[A383Wing]

yer not gonna "hear" the vacuum in the canister.....it just holds the vacuum

[Lord Warlock]

Funny how folks seem to be working on the same parts I play with that day.  From the engine bay side of the vacuum lines, the hoses with rubber plug around them at firewall where do these hoses go?   Like the other guy, I can no longer make out any color on any of the tubing, under dash hoses have never been disconnected so should work ok still.  

I have the two connector piece on the intake manifold still, The large fat hose right out the top of the intake piece runs to the power brake tank, the smaller connector only one hose seemed to fit on that connection, but not sure if its routed properly as I had the whole grill out at one point, think it goes to the cannister, but not sure.  20 years ago the doors would work if i switched hoses in the grill , was looking at the hoses today and one of them is too short to reach the grill, but too thin to fit the intake manifold so now i figure i'll patch in all new hoses at the firewall and run them to the right connections in the engine bay, but haven't got a clue which ones are supposed to go where.  With all the people on here dealing with cars with the same connections, someone should be able to explain it to someone who has trouble remembering things from last month, much less 20 years ago. 

[69wannabe]

You can purchase a vacuum pump at almost any parts store of sears is where I bought mine and it has many uses and it wasn't that expensive. You can hook the pump directly to each headlight pod and see if the doors open and close with the vacuum pump. If they do then your pods are good and then you work your way up toward the headlight switch and the vacuum can looking for vacuum and you can also use a vacuum pump to see if you have vacuum on the hoses going to the pods and check it at the switch for vacuum there too. If the hoses are good and the switch is bad you can use the pump to open and close the headlight doors where the hoses attach to the switch and that will let you know what you got to work with at least.

[68 RT]

Did you check the switch? Maybe cracked or lines are not hooked up.

[69wannabe]

Did you check the switch? Maybe cracked or lines are not hooked up.

As said above even the smallest crack in a vacuum line will cause the doors not to open. The lines on mine have been spliced and put together several different times. They had all been cut right where they come out of the firewall grommet so finally I bought a roll of vacuum line and replaced them all the way out to both headlight doors and have had pretty good luck with them working since. The vacuum switch that is on the actual headlight switch usually gives trouble and is why the headlight doors do not open and close properly. I know there are aftermarket replacement switches but my buddy bought one and it took the old one and the new one to make one good switch work. It wasn't a good switch out of the box but out of two of them I made one good one.

[jessejames]

Hey Guys... It was the switch... Thanks to 69chargerYeehaa who posted how to rebuild the switch. I did just that... Thanks for all the input from you guys. This site is so helpful and I appreciate all the helpful advice from u all that replied!!!

[Bob T]

Further on this JJ, does your "baked bean" tin hold enough vacuum charge to close the doors after the engine is turned off? Mine wont, and trying to come up with some clues why,
Tan, got any ideas either?
Thanks

[fy469rtse]

You've got a slight leak somewhere Bob,

[Bob T]

You've got a slight leak somewhere Bob,

Hmm, most likely will be the a/c control switches in the dash, I seem to remember the guts of the switch had expired at some stage when I pulled it out a while ago. All the a/c hardware from the engine bay was stripped and lost by previous owners when it got a color change and non stock hot rod air cleaner, rocker covers and those 80's twist down locks on the rockers 

[fy469rtse]

Most likely the vacuum switch on back of head light switch, there's a handy thread if you good with plastic modeling on how to rebuild it,
I rebuilt mine and plastic glued it back together , it's just a slider portioning block inside, I recent my spring plate cleaned up everything and used a slight bit of white grease to help lubricate it , glued it back together and it worked great, heater controls go straight to ported vacuum, if you do have a leak , run engine till warmed up, then let it idle, clamp line at vacuum port on back of engine and see if it changes idle at all, if it does you have found a leak, vacuum leak will make it run off

[Dino]

Bob, a few years ago I accidentally disconnected the a/c switch hose and the headlight doors still worked with the engine off.  I think your issue lies somewhere between headlight switch and headlights.  A tiny rust hole in the can's seams may mean the headlight doors work as long as the engine is running but once off, the can loses its pressure.  A small slit in a hose will do the same.

Get some soapy water and start playing!

[Bob T]

Ok, good tips Guys, will check it out, Thanks