hideaway headlights. HELP!!!

[bearsfan34]

hello, does anyone have a diagram on here of how the hideaways work on my 68. I cannot seem to figure out what is wrong. I have the hoses going into the can ( new can). i have one hose going into the connectors and one is not hooked up yet. If I could possibly see how they are supposed to go it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all. I am really tired of not be able to get them to stay open.

[tan top]

 have a read here

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=97659.0

[bearsfan34]

thank you mopar brother!!

[tan top]

thank you mopar brother!!

  anything your not sure of , post it up here & we will all try to figure out whats happening  

yellow stripe hose goes to the top of the actuator
plain black to the bottom of the actuator
green stripe goes to the vacuum canister , under the battery tray

[will]

How would you set the actuators up if you don't have the canister? Mine worked before, now I can't get the doors to close. Sometimes restoring messes stuff up. I had a can that was full of small holes doing nothing under the battery. The hoses were routed right to the forward light harness. Now the doors wont close when I turn the lights off. They'll open no problem. I'm gonna try green to manifold vacuum, yellow for open, and black for close. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

[cavemanno1]

What if I don't want to spend money on the reproduction hoses?Can I make mine out of some hoses diy style?

[myk]

That's what I did.  Bought some parts store hose and replaced what I needed to.  I'm not spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on that Year One stuff.  And I don't run the canister either; we don't need to run it...

[cavemanno1]

Cool Mykonos,you are my man!
Could you tell us how you did it and why we don't need the canister?I looked at that year one hose and they were a lot of money just for 3 rubber hose

[myk]

I don't recall exactly how the setup is, but just connect the hoses from the canister to each other (?).  I had to take mine out because it was leaking and too far gone.  The reproduction is too expensivenfor my tastes and I'll probably convert to electric motors anyway.  And again you can use any parts store vacuum hose as long as it's the right diameter...

[rebby]

I believe that the canister is just a vacuum reservoir. It's there to keep the doors open, or open the doors, in case you suddenly lose vacuum and need your lights on. It's not actually needed for them to operate and can easily be left out. You can run a hose directly from the switch to a manifold vacuum source, then the other 2 hoses go the vacuum canisters (one is open, one is close). This would eliminate the line to/from the area under the battery.

Any vacuum line should do the trick and the special block connector at the switch isn't 100% necessary. If you do buy the repop hoses, pay close attention to the block at the switch though, mine was full of epoxy and wouldn't pass vacuum w/out cleaning it out with a drill bit first.

[cavemanno1]

  Thanks!

[tan top]

 I always thought , the vacuum canister , was there ! so  enough vacuum was stored , when the engine was switched off , you could close the head lamp doors , should you need to .

easy enough to make up your own vacuum lines  , just  connect them to the switch as follows .. below

[rebby]

I always thought , the vacuum canister , was there ! so  enough vacuum was stored , when the engine was stitched off , you could close the head lamp doors , should you need to .

easy enough to make up your own vacuum lines  , just  connect them to the switch as follows .. below

That could be it as well, being a vacuum reservoir, it works both ways.

With the image that you have above, do you recall which is which as far as open/close/vacuum source? I've never mapped them out myself since I've always used a stock/repop vacuum line set. I did get open/closed backwards at first but that's an easy swap at the vacuum pod.

[tan top]

I always thought , the vacuum canister , was there ! so  enough vacuum was stored , when the engine was stitched off , you could close the head lamp doors , should you need to .

easy enough to make up your own vacuum lines  , just  connect them to the switch as follows .. below

That could be it as well, being a vacuum reservoir, it works both ways.

With the image that you have above, do you recall which is which as far as open/close/vacuum source? I've never mapped them out myself since I've always used a stock/repop vacuum line set. I did get open/closed backwards at first but that's an easy swap at the vacuum pod.

 ive   never looked into , which is up or down either , I just ordered up a new set of repop vacuum lines ,when they first came out .    got an idea  that the plain black line going to the bottom of the actuator  ,  is to open the doors  , ie  pull actuator rod down , to open  & the yellow going to the top , is to shut the door  , ie pull actuator rod up !

, just a guess though .... ,I await to be corrected    

[rebby]

I always thought , the vacuum canister , was there ! so  enough vacuum was stored , when the engine was stitched off , you could close the head lamp doors , should you need to .

easy enough to make up your own vacuum lines  , just  connect them to the switch as follows .. below

That could be it as well, being a vacuum reservoir, it works both ways.

With the image that you have above, do you recall which is which as far as open/close/vacuum source? I've never mapped them out myself since I've always used a stock/repop vacuum line set. I did get open/closed backwards at first but that's an easy swap at the vacuum pod.

  ive   never looked into , which is up or down either , I just ordered up a new set of repop vacuum lines ,when they first came out .    got an idea  that the plain black line going to the bottom of the actuator  ,  is to open the doors  & the yellow going to the top , is to shut the door   , just a guess though .... ,I await to be corrected     

I think that you might be right. That would make the green lead the vacuum source. The other thread that you linked to earlier gives this impression as well.

[J-440]

 Hey Rebby, when you first attached your hoses to the back of the switch, was it impossible to move?  I have to turn my lights on before I start the car.  Otherwise when the car is running, my switch won't budge.  Can't even turn the switch off unless the car is off.  I'm pulling 16 inches of vacuum and was wondering if I could eliminate the canister. 
  So the 2 hoses from the canister can be run directly to the headlight pods?  But each pod has 2 ports, you got a schematic you can share?  Thanks brother.

[bearsfan34]

Hey everyone, Tan top put a link up above on here in a much earlier thread after I posted this. It has a diagram on there with all the lines showing exactly how they should be ran. I followed that diagram to a tee and they work awesome now. Thank you very much.

[bearsfan34]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=97659.0 this is it here!!

[J-440]

 Yeah I got all that. But by eliminating the canister, and somehow running the 2 lines into the 4 ports (any ideas?) would this eliminate the pressure put on my switch? Thanks again.

[rebby]

Yeah I got all that. But by eliminating the canister, and somehow running the 2 lines into the 4 ports (any ideas?) would this eliminate the pressure put on my switch? Thanks again.

That's not going to eliminate the pressure on your switch, not if it's caused by vacuum anyway. Bypassing the can will give you direct manifold vacuum against the switch which might be even worse. I have no issues operating my switch at anytime but, at idle, I only pull 10in and have a pretty agrees ice can so I only see it spike around 20. I'd pull the switch to make sure that it slides smoothly. You could even emulate the vacuum with a small vacuum pump (like you'd use to vacuum bleed brakes).

[bearsfan34]

You need the can no matter what as far as I can see. The can runs back to the manifold and master cylinder. That is where you create your vacuum. If your switch is sticking, I think you either have a bad switch or one of the lines is clogged. That is just my thoughts. Good luck, it is a,pain if you have a leak somewhere. Don't get new lines through these replacement stores. Just go to menards or home depot and get what you need. 

[tan top]

Hey everyone, Tan top put a link up above on here in a much earlier thread after I posted this. It has a diagram on there with all the lines showing exactly how they should be ran. I followed that diagram to a tee and they work awesome now. Thank you very much.

good you got it sorted 

[myk]

I'm running 18" of vacuum at idle and I have NO trouble moving the light switch.  I also do not run the can.  Sounds like there's another problem here....

[J-440]

 Sounds like I need to check my switch again. It's a repop from Year One and worked fine when I installed it. Oh well. Hey Myk, how'd you run your hoses without the can?

[rebby]

Sounds like I need to check my switch again. It's a repop from Year One and worked fine when I installed it. Oh well. Hey Myk, how'd you run your hoses without the can?

You could just jumper the 2 lines at the can or eliminate the big one that runs from the manifold to the can and run the other line (green stripe) directly to the manifold vacuum source.

[J-440]

 Ok guys, preciate the help as usual. Gonna play with it this weekend.

[bearsfan34]

That's interesting information on how to bypass the can. I thought about doing that. As long as you tee into the manifold it sounds like that works. Good to know for future reference. Thanks again for all the help