GUIDE-MATIC ISSUE / 1976 FLEETWOOD

[35433]

Hello, I have a 1976 Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance. I harvested a Guidematic headlight dimming system from a 1976 SDV in a junkyard. I can't get the headlights to go to bright after they dim when the Guidematic is on. I have 3 different photo eyes, including a NOS, and they all do the same thing so I have pretty much ruled out a defective photo eye.
I have a cloth over the photo eye and have the foot switch set to high beams with the sensitivity ring set to the middle. When I take the cloth away from the lens of the photo eye, the headlights go to dim as they should. When I put the cloth back over the photo eye, the headlights do not go back to bright. I have cleaned the internal contacts of the relay (they did not look bad or burned).
Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the problem? The foot switch and the Guidematic sensitivity control switch seem to be working but not 100% sure either of these are not the problem. Thank you.

[Cadman-iac]

  I don't know all the particulars on the system, but are you doing your testing in a dark garage, or at night outside somewhere?
When I was testing out mine after making all new wiring harnesses for the car, I was testing it inside the garage with the system laid out on the floor and connected to a battery, and used a flashlight to activate it since I didn't have a big garage.
Yours is also 20 years newer than mine is, so maybe that trick might not work for you, but I thought I'd share it just in case it might.
 The cloth might not be blocking the light as much as necessary, even though it does prevent the lights from dimming until you remove it. Have you tried something else that is more dense, or more solid that won't let any light through?

Rick

[Big Fins]

When harvesting the system, did you get the GuideMatic dimmer switch from the donor vehicle? There is a difference.

[35433]

Thank you for the comments. I feel like a dope, but the problem was I did not have the photocell grounded. I had it out of it's holder and I figured the green wire leading to the photocell was the ground, but when I grounded the photocell, the system worked perfectly. Thanks again for the replies.

[Cadman-iac]

 Glad to hear it was something simple. Always cheaper that way.

 Thanks for letting us know what you found, and congratulations on solving the problem.

 Rick

[Big Fins]

It's not often we get to read a resolution around here. Good job on the easy fix!