No Head Lights

Leaving town to head home the other night, I turned on the head lights to no avail. The parking lights worked, and so did everything else, but no head lights. The only way I could get head lights was to push the high beam switch on the blinker arm. So to get the 25 miles home I used a small nylon tie-wrap to depress the high beam switch until I got home, no problem. The head light switch in my car always felt weak all along, so I replaced it first, no luck. It was the head light relay. So I bought a spare for my "road kit". The part # is Stribel # 111 941 583. Eddie

Another wig wag has got stuck. Pop off the cover carefully and clean it up and you'l have a spare headlight relay. There is a small change something broke inside it but most likely it stuck.

Thanks Barry, I'll try it. Eddie

Eddie: Just added that to my "road spares" list (now I gotta go out and get one, too!)

Barry: Chances are you're right and it's just stuck, but after 20+ years I guess it's cheap enough to have a spare........

Reminds me of the time years ago when I was driving home late at night from work (1+ hour one-way) in my trusty Pinto wagon when it died. Quick diagnosis showed spark, but no fuel coming from the accelerator jets and nothing in the bowl......hmmmmm......The real culprit was the fuel pump (which was mechanical and dead) and I was still 45 minutes from home. Hoofed it to a close gas station and borrowed their emergency can (2 gallons) and hoofed it back to the car (half mile each way).

Dumped the washer fluid from the windshield washer pump cannister (plastic with integrated pump), rinsed it out with gas and ran the outlet hose over to the inlet of the carb (it just reached and was soft hose so it fit the inlet nipple with a little effort). Filled the washer tank with gas and hit the "wash" button until the engine started. Found I only needed to hit the "wash" button every 20 seconds or so, depending on speed, as it drained the bowl (every ten on the turnpike).

Made it home only an hour-and-a-half late to the wife and two little infants ("where the hell have YOU been???") but at least I wasn't stranded!

"Necessity is the mother of invention"

gn

Your all very welcome!It's a pleasure to be of help.
You just remined me I need to pick out a washer jug for my car after I changed the trunk from VS type to a 356a type I never put one back in.

I would like it up behind the fuel tank and cab wall, but that is a very narrow place to put it.

I don't realy like the 356 washer bag type. I.d rather have a plastic bottle.

Thanks, you guys may have just told me whats wrong with my son's Jeep headlights that suddenly quit. Gordon, you're a genius of improv! Reminds me of years ago my wife and I were out in the Plymouth Reliant we had back then, dead of winter - cold and snowy, the throttle cable broke at the pedal end. There was about 1 inch of cable sticking out of the firewall on the inside. A hardware store within walking distance, I bought a pair of visegrips, back to the car, clamped the visegrips to the cable end and laid on the floor pulling the cable as my wife steered and braked, giving orders to pull or release as needed. We made it home, and I replaced the cable with one from a bicycle brake, which it may still have, wherever it is.

Gordon, you have joined the elite McGiver Speedster Club!

Shoelaces ....never leave home without at least a single pair or that can be extracted from the speedsters occupants ...
They work great when the throttle cable breaks....
just tie an end to the carb linkage and over the top of the drivers door, it takes a short time to master the correct amount of "needed throttle pull" with the left hand but does get you home.....Alan M

Shoot! You should've seen the Rube Goldberg set-up I made to bench bleed a VW master cylinder!!

Gravity feed lines(clear, to see bubbles), three feet high over the bench-mounted cylinder, with captive feedback loops.

Learned how to improvise tools working on the Apollo Program at Hamilton Standard in CT years ago.......we were making the space suits used by the guys on the moon and a lot of the tools we needed simply didn't exist until we made them (and then tossed them after the program was over). Found since that it's often faster and better (but not usually cheaper) to build tools as I need 'em.

gn