Moparts Tech Archive
Elec Topics
Head Lights & Lighting Systems
anyone know anything about the flip head lights on 67 chargers?hotairballoonpilot
Moparts Member
Posts: 237
From: hartford,s.d.,57033
Registered: Dec 2001
posted 08-20-2002 06:49 PM
We have one in the shop and they wont flip over when turned on. The lights turn on. We can run the motors with a jump box. There is juice at the motors. The switch looks like it was replaced. Kinda stumped on this one.
Thanks,
corey
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dbdartman
Moparts
Posts: 3981
From: Trenton, NJ
Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-20-2002 06:54 PM
The system is operated by 3 relays under the glove box. Sounds like either the main or open relay is bad. The only other thing I can think of is to check all 4 limit switches (at the headlight buckets).
DB
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Curtis
Moparts Member
Posts: 147
From: Tallahassee
Registered: Nov 2001
posted 08-20-2002 08:25 PM
Don't forget the circuit breaker behind the left kick panel. Mine was bad.
You really need the shop manual to figure all this out. As I recall, I had a bad circuit breaker, two bad relays, and one bad headlight motor. Headlights didn't rotate from when we got the car in 1970 until about 1986 or so, when I finally used the manual to trace everything down and test it all.
If you think the rotating headlights are a mess, you'll love working on the electroluminescent intstrument cluster.
IP: Logged
Don R. Dodson
Moparts Member
Posts: 334
From: Gibsonville, NC
Registered: Feb 2001
posted 08-20-2002 10:11 PM
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Cory, you need to go to the Yahoo 66/67 Charger site to get answers related to the first generation Chargers. This topic has been discussed time and time again over there, and there is a lot of Info on that site about these Chargers. The site url is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/66_67_dodge_chargers
Now to answer your question:
If you can open the headlight motors using a jumper wire and close the headlight motors using a jumper wire then you can rule out the headlight motors. You can use the jumper at the plug over by the battery. Unplug the plug and you will find a red wire with an orange tracer. If you apply +12 volts to the red wire/with orange tracer the motors should run and open up. To operate the motors to the closed position apply +12 volts to the violet wire. Now you should move to the bulkhead connector and insure the bulkhead connector is clean as a pin. this is where most of the problems lie if the motors don't work when operating them from the headlight switch. Over behind the glove box is three relays. One relay is the control relay, and the other two relys is the open relay and the closing relay. You can take the control relay out of the car and it should have no effect on opening the headlights. However you have to have the control relay in there to close the headlight motors. You can swap the open relay with the close relay to see if the symptoms change which can help you narrow down if it is a relay problem. There are very few relay problems associated with the problem of motors not working. If the over ride switch has dirty points in the switch, then the motors will not close. This is a most common problem with motors not closing. The emergency flasher switch can be swapped with the over ride switch if you want to narrow a bad switch down, provided the emergency flasher switch is still good.
You can take the over ride switch apart and clean up the points in the switch using a TV tuner cleaner. It is a sliding switch not an off/on switch that goes click click. You can check out the switches with an analog ohm meter you can get at Radio Shack.
Now for the limit switches. They control how far the motors travel when opening and closing the motors. If the upper limit switches are in question, then they control when the motors will stop when opening the headlights. If one switch is bad then both motors will use the other sides switch to operate the open relay. When the good upper limit switch transfers then the open relay will de-energize and remove +12 volts from both headlight motors, and the headlight with the bad limit switch will not be all the way open. If both limit switches are bad, then no ground will be available for the open relay to work, and neither motor will operate when using the headlight switch to operate the motors. Closing is the same operation using the lower limit switches. I hope I haven't gone over your head with this explanation of the headlight motors on first generation Chargers. If ya have questions about Electroluminence lighting on these cars you know the link to get the answers. Tach questions and the tach sending units for the 66 is different than the 67, and the Yahoo site is the place to go for these answers. Good luck on your resto.
Headlight Aiming
Eric W
Moparts Member
Posts: 604
From: Seattle, WA USA
Registered: May 2001
posted 01-19-2003 04:53 PM
Anybody got any tips on how to adjust headlights? Mine are out of wack some and I would like to see the road instead of the sky. The front is lowered about 3/4 of an inch from stock if that makes any difference.
Eric W
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6t5mopar
Moparts Member
Posts: 2092
From: Macomb, Mi
Registered: Jun 2001
posted 01-19-2003 05:23 PM
Pull in front of a Garage door with the lights on.
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dodgeguy
Moparts Member
Posts: 720
From: Southport, NC
Registered: May 2001
posted 01-19-2003 06:15 PM
I measure from the ground to the center of the headlamps. I then measure up a wall/garage door and mark off the same measurement. Park car on level ground about 20 feet back from wall. Aim lights to each of the 2 marks. This is a good starting place. For final adjustments, find a dark road with no traffic and adjust one side at a time, either unplugging the opposite side or having someone stand in front of them while you work on the other side. Not too high tech, but works and is cheap.
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79powerwagon
Moparts Member
Posts: 6551
From: WI USA
Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-19-2003 06:24 PM
If you don't go to a shop to have it done, go out into the middle of nowhere at night, and find the longest straight piece of road. Park your car in the driving lane, aim the lights so that they illuminate the whole lane, but not too far over into the opposite lane, then go for a drive up to highway speeds. Keep doing this until you get it right. Then, get back onto the populated roads and see if people are flashing their brights at you. If so, you adjusted them up too high. If not, you're good to go!
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E-body trunk light question
jimk
Moparts Member
Posts: 421
From: MI
Registered: Jul 2001
posted 01-18-2003 08:16 PM
I want to buy a trunk light to put in my 70 Challenger and was wondering if any 70-74 piece will work or are the 70-71 parts different from 72-74? I have seen a couple of them advertised as being for 70-74 E-bodies but I have also seen them advertised as being correct for 70-71 models and others as being correct for 72-74 models. Does anyone know if they are all the same or is there a difference?
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Harry
New Member
Posts: 67
From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Registered: Apr 2002
posted 01-18-2003 08:25 PM
Jim, don't quote me on this but I think they are all the same. The one that I pulled out of a 72 Cuda has a pig tail that went beween the connector for the pink and yellow leads for the interior light. There was simply a wire tied into the hot wire of this wiring loom whch lead off to the trunk light. The trunk light itself is grounded through the mount and has some kind of level switch inside which goes on after the trunk lid is tilted to a certain degree.
Depending how much of a stickler for detail you are, you can just go to a wrecker and pull the light from a wreck which looks the same and then just hot wire it into the connector. That is what I did for my Challenger. Worked fine.
Harry
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Sunydart
New Member
Posts: 88
From:
Registered: Jul 2002
posted 01-20-2003 04:09 AM
Harry,
your not quite correct, some are all the same for all years, those being the type you discribed as connecting between the harness plugs in the trunk and mounts under the rear shelf, there is another type, used in later yrs that has a simple single plug and mounts in the actual trunk lid. why the different types I do not know.
Suny
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