I'm having issues with the Guide-Matic auto dimmer not working correctly. Is anybody here up on this system?
It's a fairly simple system. Control ring has a potentiometer, unique dimmer foot switch and the power relay. Electric eye behind the grille might be dirty.
What exactly is it doing or not doing?
There are a lot of odd symptoms. With the system turned on, sometimes the lights will auto dim and some times not. Sometimes the momentary high beam will work and sometimes not. With the system off, sometimes the brights will not work at all. Sometimes they will dim by themselves even with the system off. I actually took the foot switch apart and everything looked to be in good shape. I cleaned the contacts with steel wool, cleaned everything up and re-lubed with dielectric grease, reassembled and checked the function several (maybe 100) times, then re-installed the switch. I removed the Autronic eye, cleaned it and the contacts in the connector then re-installed it.
I found a complete NOS system for a 72 but the owner thinks it might be different than the one for my 73?
Looking in my parts catalog, sept. 1, 1974, it lists the following part # for 73, 991167 with note 6. Note 6 states "When used on 1971-1973 cars already equipped with Twilight Sentinel also use 1-1497094 lever, 1-9789793 washer and 1-1496787 dial.
There is no listing for 71-72 cars seperately. The previous listing is 69-70 and carries a different part #.
Using steel wool on electrical parts is not recommended. It leaves fine pieces of steel in the parts cleaned and can cause shorting and intermittent operation.
Glen
Thanks guys. I think I'll take the foot switch back apart and clean it up again with something like Scotch-brite. It appears that the system for the 72 would probably give me all the parts I need to get mine back up to snuff.
Quote from: RobW on December 30, 2009, 09:02:15 PM
Looking in my parts catalog, sept. 1, 1974, it lists the following part # for 73, 991167 with note 6. Note 6 states "When used on 1971-1973 cars already equipped with Twilight Sentinel also use 1-1497094 lever, 1-9789793 washer and 1-1496787 dial.
There is no listing for 71-72 cars seperately. The previous listing is 69-70 and carries a different part #.
Rob, what kind of parts catalog and is it something I would be able to buy? BTW HAPPY NEW YEAR