Looking for opinions-Sealed beam/smiley swap issue

[ELVA164]

I really hope this isn't on here somewhere....but I didn't see it. Alright, I'm FINALLY doing my smiley swap after having the parts for months, and the process is pretty familiar to me at this point. Instead of moving the wires around under the fuse box, I decided to jump the pins exactly like this: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...0&postcount=13

That's not my problem. Before I cut any wires, I tested all four plugs with a light to make sure things were making sense. Both the low beams worked when I jumped brown-yellow, and their high beam worked when I went brown-white/blue. The high beams worked as well.

Then I cut the old plugs off. From that point on, I haven't been able to get any successful test lights on either low beam. I have gotten the high beams to work consistently. I tried before and after twisting the pigtails from the Euro plugs on, and I tried moving the plug wires around in case I had things mixed up.

I finally decided to move on, so I drilled the holes in the two pin #30s in the relays and connected them. Now, neither high nor low beams work with the high beam switch on. This is leading me to assume that somehow I fried the low beam relay? I haven't tried another yet, but I will tomorrow.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Again, sorry if this is already here somewhere.

[ELVA164]

Okay, so I took the high and low beam relays from an '86 eS parts car and plugged them in (without the jump) and now I can't seem to get juice to anything, high or low. I started the car to make sure the battery isn't low.

[Fourbanger]

I don't think you meant to post that link. Perhaps you could describe exactly what you changed? When I did the conversion there was only one jump necessary, and that was to keep the lows on with the highs after the swap was completed.

[ELVA164]

Link fixed. It's a picture of bridging the gap from one relay to the other instead of opening up the fuse box.

[Fourbanger]

Ah yes, that's the one. If it's easily reversible I'd undo it for now and re-test all of your leads for power. Check your fuses in case something got shorted out in the process. Make sure you've taped off the leads for the high filament of the low-beam bulbs, these won't be used.

[ELVA164]

I haven't taped anything off yet because I was able to initially get power for the low beam using the one wire, but since then I'm not sure if something changed. The wire ends aren't touching however. All the fuses are fine as well. It just seems like something crapped out somewhere mysterious...

Does the third wire for the high beam matter at all? I currently only have two wired up. Is that some sort of extra ground/shutoff wire or something? The two I have attached had power until this last thing with the relay bridge.

[Fourbanger]

I don't recall a third wire to the high beam, but there were three to the lows.

Low beams: +12v (low), +12v (high-- tape this off), ground
High beams: +12v, ground

Figure 1c might help you: http://users.rcn.com/nifftylion/head...%20-%20Pub.pdf

As for the no-power thing, not sure what to tell you. Check fuses, relays, and the quality of connections you've made. If things stopped working after the relay bridge, undo it.

[ELVA164]

Hmm. Thanks, that's the how-to I've been referencing. I undid the solder and still had no power to any of the connections. I think tomorrow I'll cut and re-strip the wires and see if that changes anything. Do you think the heat from the soldering could have damaged the relays at all? I'll take some pictures tomorrow if things continue to be problematic.

[Fourbanger]

Not sure, but it seems possible since those big pins probably took a bit of heating to melt the solder. If your fuses are good (a cheap multimeter would tell you with certainty) they'd be the next things to replace. Make sure you're testing the connections with the high-beam stalk in both positions.

[ELVA164]

Okay, so after a thorough going-over, it looks like my high and low beam relays were bad, my replacement high and low beam relays were bad, and after all that one of my brand new bulbs was bad. Sigh.

But they're in!

Related question: my low beams are fairly even with each other but the high beams shoot MUCH higher. Is that normal for smileys or did the PO of these just have no idea what he was doing? I'll take a picture when it gets dark.

[Todd Black 88]

Adjust them.

[ELVA164]

Adjust them.

So here are pictures from inside and outside the car. The lows look like fog lights and the highs seem too high. Euro or not, the beams should all line up, right? If so, time to see if the adjusters are at all usable.

Low


Low and high


Low and high outside

[Fourbanger]

If you want to be accurate:

[ELVA164]

I just found that in my Bentley manual. Thanks for all the help Fourbanger.

[ELVA164]

So after doing some research about possible adjuster lubricants (PB obviously, 50/50 acetone/ATF mix, rust-eaters), I actually ended up trying some aluminum cutting fluid. Before applying, ZERO adjusters moved at all. I ran some fluid down the threads of each adjuster and into the plastic bit, and all but one of them were moving within minutes. Luckily, I have a spare half-set of US ellipsoids I can use to replace the hydraulic adjusters so I should be in business tomorrow!!

I can't wait to see the lights in their full glory.

P.S. The cutoff adjuster is a very cool feature.