Need some really quick help!

Hello there everyone. I am currently in the middle of making some changes to both my low beam and high beam headlight sockets on my 1972 Skylark 350 Sun Coupe. This kind of stuff is usually a cakewalk but instead of standard low beam socket replacements I went with what Napa calls "high temperature" sockets. I work there so was able to get both of them for less than the regular old plastic replacements. Just like the original sockets, they fit the three prongs on the low beam bulb perfectly, and have some length of three different wires attached to them. On a normal style socket I would already be done. Splice and connect Lt. Green wire, Tan, Wire, and Black wire. Then eventually splice over the light green and black wires to feed the high beam. However, I am having a tad bit of trouble with these different sockets as the wires route differently into the socket than they normally would on a cheaper, "block" style replacement. Was just wondering if someone on here would be nice enough to take a close up picture of their either factory, or factory like drivers side headlight wiring. These high temperatures sockets have me confused as to where to splice the Lt. Green, as well as the Tan. Spent all night looking through wire diagrams, unfortunately they do not help as the sockets displayed in diagrams are the typical three prong "block" style low beam sockets.

somebody please, just get me somewhat of a close up picture.

THANK YOU

 

Re: Need some really quick help involving my low beams!

Here are a few pictures of the low beam sockets im using. As you should be able to see, the wire lengths are angled and routed on the terminals in a way im not too familiar with. I just cant seem to figure out FORSURE if im not getting my Light Green and Tan's mixed up on where to connect. I completed one side last night, and the last thing I'd want to do is to go start the other side later this morning, still not sure if im splicing the wires correctly. The battery is currently out of it so wont have a chance to check out whats going on for another day or two. If you have any info on which color cables from the photo should be spliced with the LT. GREEN that also splices over to the high beam, or the splices with the TAN. or main power wire for the low beams. On the side i completeltd last night, I hooked up LT GREEN to the red cable shown below, the TAN to the blue cable shown at the top terminal below, and of course the black on the far left terminal spliced to the black wire on the socket. I did it kind of guessing because I didnt know the cables inside the housing were angled until just before this post, So if I was indeed correct, WOHOO!. if not, someone who knows please correct me via words or a picture of their original headlamp wire set up. Thanks, Jayson

 

Sorry for the cruddy pic! This is at the before stage of a core support repair job last year. I can get a much better pic later today of the assembly cleaned up and maybe easier to follow. This is on my 1972 GS. It may not show but somewhere in the mess is a ground wire for the side marker lights that's a sheet metal screw between the head lamps IIRC.
If you can hook up a battery charger, you may be able to "prove" the job altho AMP demand may be higher than the out put so stuff will be dim. Use a VOM (volt/ohm meter) to prove grounds. More and more electrical problems result from poor grounding as these guys age. CLEAN, clean, clean! Use a smidge of di-electric grease on all the pin connectors too... ws

 

Thanks for the visuals buddy. Much help. I'm doing a restoration on the car piece by piece as my budget will allow. Figured redoing the headlight wiring wouldn't cost me too much aside from some simple wire tools and a splitting headache when tracing those wiring diagrams in the back of the chassis manual. Thanks again!. Problem solved.


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Glad to help... I always post the color copy of these... easier to follow when yer old and stoopid LOL. Feel free to save as in a file for reference! Visual TYLENOL. ws

 

On my 72 skylark, each high beam socket has two black wires, one goes to ground directly by the lights under the hood. Do ya know if the front turn signal lights ground there as well? When I went to dig in on it the original sockets had been cut off, leaving random lengths of wire everywhere. The only length of black wire I've seen is coming from either the front turn signal below the bumper, or at least in that area. Makes sense that this would splice together with the black lengths of wire that run to both the high and low beams, and ground there at the body I referred to above. Is this accurate?


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Oh my. those are a life saver dude. The font in my chassis manual is so tiny lol


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I don't remember exactly where the signal lite ground is made, but I recall they share the side marker light grounds... I can look later.... From the second pic, it appears that the inboard double high beam has a specific ground on the core support and shares the low beam, the signal lights show a ground through the main harness. Let me know if you want me to verify that later on my car... ws

 

1972 Buick Skylark Headlamp Wiring Information!

yachts, I really appreciate your information and courtesy on this one so far man. So many people out there, and on this forum alone are far too "high and mighty" to discuss headlight wiring/harness information. If your not doing a relay conversion, nobody cares. Glad you've been the exception. I started the INSANELY tedious task of rewiring both sealed beam assembly's on my '72 directly after your photo responses this morning. Just now calling it a day. What I thought was going to be rather simple wiring, turned out to be quite chaotic. I am very familiar with wiring/electrical so I expected the usual, splice a few here, ground one guy there, ya know. Turns out I was wrong. Trying to splice off of, and work with lengths of the black, tan and light green wires that were just left hanging after someone cut the sockets off years ago proved to be quite the challenge. It has twisted my brain into a pretzel and oh boy does my back HURT from that awful angle lol. I've taken a step in the right direction but the job is not yet complete. See, right now my skylark has a low beam bulb missing on the passenger side, high beam on that side still intact, and both Low and High Beam bulbs still installed on the drivers side. After completing (at least i thought) the wiring, now both the Low and High beams work on the drivers side, however the low beam doesn't light up unless I hit the floor dimmer switch, then both the low beam and high beam on drivers side come on. No signs of life on passenger side lamp assembly but I could imagine it may having something to do with not having a low beam installed on that side, and no socket/wiring connected to it. Not entirely sure how that works though. I can turn the headlight switch off, unhook the 2 prong high beam socket, pull headlight switch on again, hit floor dimmer, ONLY THEN do I have a single lit low beam bulb ONLY. Looking bright and happy!. its a step in the right direction but somethings still off here. I highly doubt any sort of faulty electrical switch or components, the fundamental problem(s) MUST be in my adding to, splicing, and grounding of wires today. I just really wanted to thank you for your help man. ****ty job to be honest. After todays trials and tribulations I think im left with only a few questions I might have relating to the subject. Since you have a good car as a comparison, on your buick, does one of your LOW BEAM bulb sockets have TWO of every color wire running into each terminal? (2 Lt. Green, 2 Tan, 2 black?), do both have 2 of each color wire running to the terminals?! On my 72 Skylark 350 It seems that the passengers side low beam socket originally had 2 LT. Green, 2 Tan, and Two, Black wires. Both wire ends of each color ran together into its corresponding terminal on that side low beam socket, the lt. green and black spliced over to the 2 prong high beam socket. On this High beam socket was a single LT. Green running into a terminal, (coming off same LT. Green wire connected to low beam socket on passenger side). The black wire from the low beam harness splited over and routed to the final remaining high beam socket terminal. Now, on that same high beam socket,(passengers side still). although only one BLK wire length appeared to route over from the high beam socket, There was two black wires running into the right side terminal of the 2 prong socket. The bottom black wire was found to be a body ground directly in-between the headlamp assembly. I've found 4 DIFFERENT headlamp/signal/parking light wiring diagrams. All supposedly for a "1972 Buick", but i know what a diagram says and I know what im staring right at. Can't seen to get a concrete answer to many of my questions regarding original headlamp assemblies. You may haven't the slightest clue as to where im going with all of this but maybe you could shed some light, so thought id ask. 1. Is your skylark harness design identical to my own? (two ends of each color wire running to passenger side LB socket terminals, but only one of each on drivers side socket? Im excluding the LT. Green and BLK wire that run over to the HB on that side (Drivers). 2. No? Is there a difference in design or wire routing, do you maybe have TWO lengths of tan, lt. green, and black leading to BOTH of your Low beam sockets? 4. SHOULD THERE BE TWO LENGTHS OF EACH COLOR WIRE RUNNING INTO EACH DESIGNATED TERMINAL? MAYBE FOR POWER ISSUES? 3. Either way, through process of elimination, its obvious that TAN is your lead power for low beams and LT. GREEN being lead power for the high beams. I guess my real question is, can you or ANYBODY explain to me, why there is two lengths of wire running into a single terminal? (if other than for power purposes), Why does LT. GREEN wire connect at both LB&HB sockets if its purpose is for the high beams power only? Why does the BLK wire run from the LB terminals, into the HB terminal, just for a second length of BLK wire to ground out directly below it? I apologize for the lengthy post, but the way the original style wiring was on this car has me intrigued. I understand the way it is routed and connected at certain points, but my electrical brain cannot figure out why do it that way for some of these issues? Thank you for any input, recommendations, or photos in response. NOTE: likely changing title of this thread so other folks troubleshooting their headlamp system have a place to get some basic information on the factory wiring, routing, and functionality. I searched and searched ALL OVER V8 last night and couldn't seem to find any of this information we have been speaking of. Anywhere. I now could tell ya 20 different methods for installing relays and converting to a 9003 headlight bulb, but I still couldn't explain to ya how some of the original headlamp harness functionalities work. Odd to me lol. I think its important that this forum provide information to the other buick heads. "From headlights to cylinder heads, WE ALL BLEED BUICK RED". Thanks again man, and anyone else who may comment on this forum or find it useful.

 

HOLY UNDERWEAR BATMAN!!!! Buy that man a beer!!

What a schpeel LOL... After reading that expose' I needed to put on the quadrafocals. Not to criticize, but please run the text into paragraphs or I lose a little continuity, but Ill give you an A+ on spelling and diction. I know a lot of this stuff wasn't always done by the book, especially when guys talk Flint vs. Fremont builds etc, so its up to knuckleheads like us to figure it out.

I'm a little short on time tonight, the wife and company (daughter & SIL) are taking a road trip to Joplin tomorrow night and now the captain has to run the ship without the admiral onboard hahaha. One of the things that get me on these cars is the side marker lights. They are on when lights are on, but blink on and off ALTERNATING with the turn signals. Theres two red wires to each so Id guess that the signal breaks the ground to the side light... same on the back lights.

As these guys age, you may find a bad dimmer switch or even a bad repair to the wires down there under that old wet salty nasty carpet. If the headlamp switch appears OK, that's where Id start next with a VOM (volt/ohm meter). Make sure whats there is supposed to be. I'm gonna fire off a bunch of pics and let you try to decide which direction to go from there. You may even have a corroded bulkhead connector so don't discount that either. The pics show both headlamp assemblies and side marker lights. Sorry about the focus, but access and lighting was mediocre at best tonite. I was gonna get some turn signal pics but got side railed.

I know that even the schematic I posted was a little misleading on the ground issue. Good grounds are super critical as I know you realize so don't take for granted that one good one will operate the system. I forgot the ground wire on the wiper switch <<< and now they wont park properly or run at fast speed and no washers. Stupid grounds! Heres some pics so study up for the final exam. Youll have 60 minutes, so if a question seems too hard, proceed to the next. Youll only be graded on the completed answers ou: Bill

 

Two more... hows the varnish look?? All overhead; arms are a' draggin'... I always tell guys to right click on the pic and "save as" in a file on your computer. Then you can enlarge to your hearts content! They are 16 mgs and enlarge nicely! ws

 

Hahaha, I knew a post that lengthy was going to risk some HEAVY criticism but you put it well my friend. Those were the long circles of continuous thought by a man who after wiring headlights "factory" all day, and still failed. That man "short circuits". Lol. Sorry for the lengthiness of that post but your the best for responding and the pics bud!. You've been by far the most helpful member I've run across on V8 in years. Shutting up now, time to look at the pics lol. Thanks again man. If you got a paypal msg me your info. Il send ya $20. You've earned just for not being an asshole. Have a good night bud much appreciated


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I envy you more than youl ever know. That core support looks sooo fresh


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Gsx? Ohhhhh boy. That front view picture of the grille is just sexy. Had it a long time or a newer purchase?


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Hey Fatha' can ya help an old altar boy??? I need to go to confession.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-wOw1bmbYbh2Y2/the_exorcist_1973_subway/

Probably bought/owned/flipped a dozen or so since 1970ish, mostly for fun. This one is a 1972 GS 350 rebuilt as a 455 car with more leaning towards a clone than a tribute. Hmmm. The PO re-did the car in 1990 and then it languished in a dirt floor pole barn until 3 years ago. It was starting to go and pretty hillbillyized, but still pretty much there. The only thing other than numbers is no rally gages. That's too darn bad cause it peels out just fine and gets looks from a block away. These cars in the mid 70's went for 1-2K each and I refused to pay 30K plus for a real one today. I'm retired and just going through a midlife crisis. I could never accept any payment for good deeds done but make a donation to help keep this board afloat. This is a great forum and been tons of help!

Since November of 2013, Ive been through most of the car correcting rust and interior issues, and the only to date not working is the AC. Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, Ill give it an 8; its got a good rhythm and its easy to dance to LOL... She's almost ready for a road trip, but I'm looking for a trailer to save it from getting beat up. For now, its a survivor, and I make all the local shows. Its usually the only Buick there and everybody loves it:TU:

Sorry for the rant, but that's what a regular 4 hour sleep schedule does for you. Gotta ad some pics... The boat is a 1963 Chris Craft Roamer 36 foot Riviera (!) Ive owned since 1972. Its the 6th aluminum hull CC built. Another labor of love. It was my dads, but he drowned in 1980 and its mine now. Twin 454s yada yada yada... Don't give a second thought to the EXSPURTS or the JUDGES ever. They'll never be good enough to be exspurts and you can be your own worst judge.

"I do all my own work so lets step outside OK?" Stay tuned in Columbus. My sister went to school at OU in Athens and her husband is from Wadsworth. I tend to get around... Bill

 

If you were around these buicks during the 70's than its most like I you know of my family. Last name baker ring a bell at all? Have some really neat vintage color photos of the GS's back when these cars were just coming out, il scan them later and send them your way.


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If you ever find out why that AC isn't working and decide you want to try to change that. Shoot me a message. I have a complete and fully functional AC unit I removed last summer. Except for the compressor unfortunately


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I may take you up on the POA valve as my system was left wide open for however many years in a Wisconsin barn. I washed all the pieces but them damn spiders get in everywhere! Right now the system is intact up to and including a belt. I need to get it in and see if it will hold a vacuum. All new O rings etc and a running take off compressor and condenser with a new drier and a few new hoses. Last fall I just developed a malfunction between the floor/dash/defog controls that I need to isolate first (works on vent only). I would charge it but don't have a vacuum pump and hate to waste the R-12 or convert to the 134.

I was originally from the Chicago area and retired to Two Rivers about 7 years ago but spent some time down your way. Used to fly into COL to visit my sister in the late 60's. BILs last name from Wadsworth is Yockey.

Hope you get a handle on that wiring, check that bulkhead connector under the master cylinder.... Bill

 

Well considering this wiring project has, and continues to completely drive me up the wall. Any tips for "gingerly" removing the bulkhead connector for inspection. After the wire mistrials and troubleshooting I've done in the last 24 hrs. I'm done. Not taking any chances. I will now be inspecting ALL front headlamp, signal, markers wires/contacts/ and grounds. MUCH bigger of a task than I planned on taking on at the moment, but it needs done. I'm absolutely sure there will be more than a handful of connections to redo/secure. Wish me luck.


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I'm going by memory, so you may have to gown up and put on the surgery gloves. I seem to recall 2 mounting screws on the half that's inside under the dash. Leave those for now. I THINK the under hood side has one screw in the center. I haven't had one apart for 40 years! The harness end (engine bay) should have female connectors and the cabin side males. Remove the center screw and work the plugs apart. I didn't do mine as all was good, but it is packed with some kind of tarry stuff. You can pull each connector out and clean, but do one at a time. Use a stainless steel or brass tooth brush. I would also recommend dielectric grease for re-assembly. If ya feel ambitious, do the cabin side as well. Who know what radio splices etc you may find in there, and the dimmer switch is right there too.

As always, disconnect the battery first. While you are at it, theres 2 FUSIBLE links at the starter (shown in schematic) One is for power to the fuse block and the other is the supply for the lights. Again, I'm guessing that they are mains, so Id say 40 amps on each. They handle the load and the fuses inside handle the devices. Personally, I don't think youre gonna need to go that far. Theres probably a corrode turn signal socket that's raisin' hell with everything. Use dielectric grease on the bulb bases and don't forget the gaskets!

Meanwhile, I'm still having fun sanding and varnishing! ws