Help Identifying relay.....70 Superior Ambulance

strange set up and now thats it off things are starting to work. here is a pictures of the headlight relay and the instruction. the terminal you took the #12 wire off from should have power to it. the one you lit with the test light should have power when the light switch is on. but since we do not know what the relay is powering or when. it a matter of tracing the wires out. feel sorry for you 41 out there is cold you can't get away from. we were that warm today and I cleared off the drive in shirt sleeves in the sunshine.

now this is not saying that the relay is used for the propose it was designed on your car. but it would have to be wired the same to get it to work. trace the load wire out and find were it goes.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9086.jpg
    IMG_9086.jpg
    92 KB · Views: 256
  • IMG_9087.jpg
    IMG_9087.jpg
    99.4 KB · Views: 258
Thank you Ed,I will work on it......
I figure I only have HALF a problem,since the passenger side works when the headlights are on......still have to figure out why there are NO lights when the highbeams are switched on.....
 
OK. now back up the trolley. you showed lights on and did not say in what fashion. red corner lights on one side when you turn the headlights on?? time to stop right now and do this. take the wires off the top of the flasher. one at a time connect them with a jumper to the positive side of the battery. then walk around and see what gets lit up. I'm guessing that one is left and the other is right. if that is so. then remove the green wire for the battery post of the flasher put your light wires back on and see what happens. my bet is on the purple wire being the one from the switch and the green one added by some one later. if you use the test light I'll bet the green wire has power when you turn on the headlights. but it could be the other way around to. either the green or purple wire could be coming out of the add on relay behind the headlights. with only half the lights getting lit up I would guess that the flasher is stuck on the left side and will need replaced. the power test of the wires will confirm this. when you checking out the circuit you test the component (lights) by itself first to know that it's working. then the flasher by putting a known good source of 12 volts to it with the load in place. then you go to the device you want to power it from. if you have power to the switch and threw the switch and it turns on and off the test light it will power the device. what you really looking for is what went wrong that caused some late night electrician to add all this stuff. it is a slow methodical process. but when your threw you will be able to recognize GM wiring, Superiors Wiring and what some one else did. this is why I like to use the small battery charger for outside source of power. disconnect your batteries and ground the charger put a test lead in the positive. clamp and you have a ready source of 12 volts that you know is good. by isolating components you avoid the feed back giving you a false reading. if you have a short, 10 amps is a lot easer to control then 600. but you have to start with the premise that when the car came from Superior you clicked on the toggle to turn the top lights on and they flashed. something happened to make it not work and some one added stuff to make it work a different way. remove some one else's stuff and return the car to Superiors wiring then you still need to find out why it quit working. so you will be fighting two problems. just keep in mind once you know the lights light up that your goal is to get power to the switch, then out of the switch to the battery post on the flasher then out of the flasher to the lights we know work. using the headlight switch is not the one we want. the rocker on the dash is. remove the power wire from the headlight switch from the flasher. find it with you test light. find the power one from the rocker the same way or put a new lead on it. once you know the lights are good the flasher is good powering the flasher is all you need to do. that and remove all the unnecessary stuff added. one can hope this is all they did but then there is that strange relay and the high beams don't work. one thing at a time
 
Ed,

I should have been a bit clearer......

Almost everything is working as it should....
The switch panel on dash operates fine....
ALL the corner lights flash/alternate,front and back,side red lights are working...flasher is clicking as it should.....when switched on from dash panel......

Beacon rotates,(still want to replace it witha Federal 17)...but thats another post.

The only remaining issues(electrical wise) :

The HIGH beams do not come on.....LOW beams are fine EXCEPT when high beams are engaged then they ALL go out.

The "AMBULANCE" sign does not light up......when switched on from dash panel....

So I think "WE" are doing pretty good.......:rolleyes:

But THANK YOU for that helpful information in you last post...I wrote it all down !!!
I am sure there will be a test Friday ?? !!:eek: LOL......

I am going to check the 2 front fender mounted relays and look to put power to the side we took off the wire......The passenger side DOES have power when the headlight are turned on...as you can see on the testlight......
 
I may be recalling this incorrectly, since my experience with this problem goes back decades. But, as I recall, if depressing the high beam switch causes all the headlights to go out, the problem is the high beam switch itself. Because they are floor mounted, they are subject to corrosion and moisture issues. I remember replacing a couple of them over the years, and the symptoms that lead to me replacing them seemed to be the same as Jim's.
 
The Culprit......

As Ed stated "There has to be power to the relay behind the drivers headlight after the wire from the solenoid was removed"....

I traced the wire connected to the relay under the radiator brace to the other side......and sure enough below the battery and the alternator wires it was dangling.........
Connected back to the battery and "voila" power......

Will check tomorrow what Terry mentioned regarding the headlight dimmer switch and see if that is also part of the problem,by the way THANK YOU Terry for chiming in !!!!:)

015.jpg
 
Many times, when the headlamp switch goes bad, it will melt the plastic connector that plugs into it, and also the heat will ruin the wire terminals. Best thing to do is to buy a replacement, or take a known good one out of one of your other cars, and just plug it into the wires. It doesn't have to be mounted to the floor to work, since it only switches the power from the headlamp switch to the bulbs, depending on which mode it is in.. High or Low beam. Also, don't assume that the headlights themselves are good, because I have seen where all 4 headlamps have burned out filaments.
 
glad it's working as it should. did they put a headlight relay on both sides? if when you hooked the power up the floor switch works as it should it's Ok.
 
John ED Renstrom said:
glad it's working as it should. did they put a headlight relay on both sides? if when you hooked the power up the floor switch works as it should it's Ok.
Click to expand...

Yes,there is a relay on both sides.......
Going to check the dimmer switch and go from there....

Then just have to get the "AMBULANCE" sign to light..and we are all good....
WIll keep you posted on the headlights....thanks again
 
Paul Steinberg said:
This is where the problem lies.. To me, the two units on the firewall I assumed were relays, but they could also be flashers, albeit, not what flashers normally look like. If either of us were there, then we could figure this out in about 5 minutes with a test lamp, and someone to work the switches. It is clear that there is a purple wire going to the relay / flasher, and I believe that is what is powering this. There is no doubt in my mind that the green wire (which appears to be blue in the picture)(James told me that it was green) was added later on, and that it eventually goes to what I believe is a Dietz flasher (James described this as a "junction" box) located just behind the left front headlamp. If you look at the pictures closely, you can see that this flasher has a wire going to it from the headlamp wire harness. This is why I identified it as being a headlamp flasher. This is one of those projects that you can only fix by trial and error method, and keep a written record of what you have changed, so you can put it back if necessary.

Update:

After talking to Ed, he said that the box behind the headlight is a aftermarket headlight relay. At this point, I am not certain what anything actually is, and until the units on the firewall are determined if they are flashers or relays, I don't believe that I can help with this any further.
Click to expand...

PAUL....
Have finally found out just what the "PURPLE" wire powers or connects to.....
NOTHING.......
I was cleaning the switches today..and as I did that I saw that there was a purple wire that was not connected...I tested it and when the emergency lights were switched on it became hot.....but nothing was misssing a hot wire....so I am assuming at some point it had a function powered something....
Anyways another mystery solved.....:applause:
 
Last edited:
by now I'm sure you under stand why the lights did not work at first. some one had removed the power wire. had that still been hooked up then you would still have that mess under the hood. the purple wires is most likely the original one as it's lighter then the green just remove it to finish your clean up.

but the relays are most likely left high beam right low beam.
 
I would just leave the purple wire in the upper console, and make a note as to where it goes. I would tape it off at both ends, and it will be there if you ever need it in the future. It is a difficult job to get a wire to the upper switch console, and it will cause no harm to leave it, especially now that you know where the other end is located.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top