[TempestFugit]

Air conditioning;
I'm looking for a logical list of steps to troubleshoot my A/C, (i.e. where to begin?)

Fan switch feels good but no response, no fan, no A/C. (I'm going to pull out the radio today for testing & access)

Dash issues;
The clear plastic window on the Speedo & clock were cloudy, but cleaned up like new.
The Ammeter and Fuel need polish/replaced. I understand the gauges come out from the back ('65) will the plastic windows come out too?


Background on the car;
An unmolested low miles survivor, it was "fully restored" (? not sure if that included A/C) 15yrs. ago, driven for a couple of years then left sitting outside for 12 years. Eventually some (minimal) moisture worked its way inside and made enough humidity to oxidize most of the switch contacts. Switches 'feel' good (not crusty) but nothing worked at first. Horn, HL, wipers, fan, radio, dead! The horn (cleaned relay contacts - now ok), HL and wipers came back (driver side HL are dim/weak, wipers will not turn off, switch OK - I'm working on the park/relay). The fuse box had visible rust but power at the box is good and all fuses ok & connections cleaned & re-seated.

[Deadhead]

Check all fuses

Pull off block connector on HVAC controls and figure out if you have any voltage there with a tester.

Take a look at the blower motor resistor inside the housing under the hood (has a block connector going to it w 2 screws. Take that out and look at it. If it is all rusty, check resistance on all the different terminals.

A lot of times the under dash A/C harness is burned up where it connects to controls from weak ground. Check all the aspects of the A/C wiring for any evidence of this. Underhood wiring can also have these issues.

Once you know if you have power anywhere & that your wiring is OK, you can narrow it down.

[LASJayhawk]

I'm assuming the clutch on the compressor isn't working as well as the fan.

Start with the 30A fuse in the inline fuseholder just behind the alternator, that's the A/C master fuse. The fuseholder gets brittle and can fall apart.

There is a 2 pin connector by the distributor that is where the power comes in from the engine harness to the a/c harness, they can become corroded and burn up.

The 2 relays on the firewall are the a/c master relay and the high blower relay, if the master relay is bad no nothing... They are the same and can be swapped, but if they are both bad.... You can replace they with a RY5 relay but you will have to turn the connector on the wire harness 180 degrees to plug them in.

If you don't find the problems there

There 4 connectors on the a/c control panel the big one on the fan switch and 3 along the back for the switches. The switch closest to the fan switch is the high blower for de-ice, the center is the master power switch, and the other end is the switch for the a/c clutch.

[stevep]

I would look at the fuse that connects to the alternator first.

[TempestFugit]

Excellent! Thank you all.

[TempestFugit]

How do I remove the center vent duct (plastic) that comes up under the dash speaker?

[Deadhead]

Two screws on a metal bracket way up at the top at the widest flattest part of the vent on '66. Best to avoid it if possible, but can be done from under there.

[TempestFugit]

My windshield wipers will turn on ok with wiper switch but will not turn off, even with the wires unplugged from the switch it will keep going. I have to turn off the ignition key with the wipers close to 'parked' several times to get them to stop.

I opened & cleaned the switch, and cleaned the contacts to no effect.

When I opened the wiper gearbox I found this;

See picture below.

at the connection block there are three contacts with a resister going across the top. One end of the resistor is connected to the end terminal (I don't have a manual or wiring diagram) at the other end of the resistor it's stiff wire is just hanging in mid air connected to nothing.

It looks obvious to me that it should be connected to the solder at a contact tab (black wire red stripe on the other side of the tab). BUT, I looked at the solder with a jewelers loupe and it looks like a smooth mound without anything broken off or disconnected. also looking at the end of the resistor wire I don't see any signs of solder or a break.

Should the resistor end be soldered to that bl/red wire?

[LASJayhawk]

No one else in the world has had this problem, honest.

[Deadhead]

First the ball joints, now the wipers?

There were some fuming service managers in 1965.

Amazing response Jayhawk! @#$!n' A!

20 minutes to fix? Yeah right.

[TempestFugit]

Hah, Good Grief! I had a feeling it wasn't going to be that simple solder reconnect.

So I guess that resistor end got knocked off when I (or somebody else in there before me) opened it up.



could it have taken 48 years for this one to act up!?

wait a minute, I just looked at it again.. is that resistor lead just bent over the mounting post... er, mount and not soldered to anything!?

PS has anyone seen one of those wiper repair kits in the last few decades?

[TempestFugit]

Sorry to be a pest, but I can be really obtuse about some of this stuff.

In step 4 of repair procedure,
it says to "install... shim over relay mounting post. "AS SHOWN IN FIG.3" but fig 3 only shows the post not the shim (or is my scanned-uploaded-downloaded-printed copy too faded). are they talking about putting a washer over the post,under the circuit board to lift the circuit board?

[Heybuck]

[QUOTE=TempestFugit;4942642]My windshield wipers will turn on ok with wiper switch but will not turn off, even with the wires unplugged from the switch it will keep going. I have to turn off the ignition key with the wipers close to 'parked' several times to get them to stop.

I opened & cleaned the switch, and cleaned the contacts to no effect.


QUOTE]

If I recall correctly, the wiper switch simply controls the ground side of the system. So the wiper motor has a hot wire going to it at all times and when you turn the wiper switch, you make or break the ground so the wipers start up.

On a two speed set up, turning the swich to the higher speed simply moves the ground wire to a secondary circuit which runs the motor at a higher speed.

If all that's correct, then are you sure you have a good ground at the switch?

To get the wipers to park, there is a little wheel inside the motor which holds the circuit closed till the wipers reach the park position at which time it opens the circuit so they stop?

At least I THINK that's how it all works.

Ian

[Deadhead]

I know you are trying to get what you have to work, but did you read that 2nd bulletin?

It makes me think that the first News Flash you are working with was not very successful, and they had to come up with something else.

While you are tinkering with the one you have, you might want to see if you can find a '66 from one of the Steves to get out from under a potential design problem.

Just tryin' to make it easy.

[TempestFugit]

All Good Points - thanks!

[LASJayhawk]

Oops, missed one.

The upshot is, when you turn the wiper switch on, it puts a ground on the wiper motor and they start. The wiper makes its own ground that will keep them running for the rest of the cycle. it the ground in the wiper stays grounded (instead of going open when the wiper "parks") they will run forever......

[TempestFugit]

Thanks,

I went over everything and I could'nt see how "the drive pawl could ride over the relay latch arm". The relay latch arm has an upward bend to it so that the RLA hits the drive pawl in the middle, not near the bottom where it would hit (and/or ride over) if the RLA were flat. A shim would lift the RLA similar to what the bend seems to be accomplishing. (could this be a later wiper unit? or a '66 - it's not spliced like the repair directs)

So I put it back together (with the resistor lead bent over the relay mounting post - (looks kinda haphazard)) tightened the ground at the dash switch and turned them on...

first time I turned them off they parked and shut off.
second time they turned off eventually (15 seconds after switching?)
Third time they ran longer
fourth time I did what a friend suggested... "hit the gearbox with a BFH"... and it parked and shut off.

The kill switch is at the end of the park sequence (when the contact lifts) so the problem seems to be in getting the gearbox to manually transition into the park sequence.. The dash switch is working so there is either a sketchy contact somewhere (where?) in the gearbox control unit, or a sticky part in the gearbox at the point of switchover.

...looking for a '66.

[LASJayhawk]

I never had any luck working on wiper motors, and in the old days it was too easy to stop by Topeka auto salvage and just grab another....I miss the old days.

What did you find on the A/C?

[Deadhead]

Some of the windings and wire in those is incredibly fine.

Maybe someone with a Hollanders could tell us what all interchanges?

The pump section is the same for a huge # of models etc. from what I have seen, but don't know about the motor.

[stevep]

The wiper motor is Hollander #464 which fits late '65 w/2 speed and all 1966, Pontiac only!