914/6 Headlight Relay Location, 914/6 Headlight Relay Location Options

[davenorcal]

I cannot locate the high/low headlight relay on my 1970 914/6. By most accounts it lives on or near the fuse panel under the dash. I’ve looked everywhere and cannot find it, and before I start pulling the dash apart I’m hoping someone out there will enlighten me. The car is not stock…it is now a GT Tribute running a 3.2L. Here’s a pic of the fuse panel

BTW, What is up with nothing attached at position #3? I would love to hear opinions on that too.

[Mikey914]

Hazzard and turn signal are usually one in the same. The square one.
I don't have a 6 but thought they were the same for headlight relays. In front trunk at the motors.

PS have another run of our 600k cycle dual channel relays ready this next week. Will be on sale soon.

[Cairo94507]

Indeed, they are at the headlight motors- one on each side. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

On a factory 914-6 there is no high/low beam relay. It is all done in the turn signal switch.

And position #3 is not needed. It is the power side for the low beams. If you look closely the contact is bridged with #4, and that is supplying power to both fuses.

And your labels are wrong on the relays. The black one is the hazard/turn signal flasher. The left most one is the accessory power. The middle one is the fog lights, and the right most is the key buzzer.

[davep]

You should have a horn relay, and foglight relay, a buzzer and a flasher relay
The flasher is off the panel and is square with 4 blade terminals.
The buzzer has only two terminal pins.
The horn relay socket has the black/yellow wire for output
The foglight socket has the white/yellow wire for output.
The flasher does just that, it blinks, while the turnsignal switch directs the blinking to the turnsignals via the hazard switch which directs the blinking to just one side or to all the turnsignals.

[ClayPerrine]

Also, the flasher relay does not mount to the fuse box mount. It goes into a hole in the dash frame near the ignition switch.

[davenorcal]

10-4 on the #3 position…you can see in my picture it’s combined. Whew!

This is a factory 914/6 and am I correct that its fuse panel does not look like the /4 panel?

I labeled these relays after removing each one at a time to see what still worked and did not. Let me walk through that:
- Removing the Black Square relay only affected the hazard flashers (it wouldn’t work) yet the turn indicators still worked. That’s why I crossed out “turn sig”.
- Round one that I marked “turn” was removed and the turn indicators stopped working, but the hazard lights worked. The part number indicates a generic all-purpose relay
- Next Round one seems only to impact the fog lights. This is the same generic all-purpose relay.
- Last Round one is a buzzer that supposed to work if the key is left in the ignition. Part number confirmed that. The “Fuel” label is just wrong.

What started all this is my left headlight goes out when I turn on my high beams. I figured a quick swap of the relay would do the trick (wherever it is), and while I’m at it I was going to install a new @Jwest fuse panel, AND get my fog light to work without my headlights on. I wanted to do one thing at a time so if something went wrong I would know what I screwed up.

@ClayPerrine and @davep - Your comments about the square relay make sense since it was not attached to the fuse panel and the wires look too short to do that anyway.

Does this change anyone’s advice?

[Dave_Darling]

Have you checked your fuses? I think the Six runs each headlight element off a separate fuse, just like the -4 does. That is, one each for left/low, left/high, right/low, and right/high. So one fuse that has popped could cause the symptom you are describing.

--DD

[davenorcal]

Yes, sir!

[davep]

This is a factory 914/6 and am I correct that its fuse panel does not look like the /4 panel?

The black plate has several variations but they are shared with the 4. The fuse block is the same part and the fuse wiring is much the same as a 4.

I believe the 1972 914/6 and the 914/4 would be essentially identical since they changed the common steering column and got rid of all or most of the 914/6 specific parts; I would like confirmation of this though.

I do not understand how the turn signals would flash if the flasher relay is removed; no blinker, no blinking.

Headlights do not go through a relay, just switches, fuses and wires. I do see very loose connectors on some fuses where the terminals are fractured and have no grip left. Only one wire feeds the low beam fuses and another feeds the high beam fuses. So if only one headlight has a problem then start at it's fuse and wire connector, then at the bulb itself. Check the voltage into the fuse, out of the fuse, into the wire and at the bulb.

[davenorcal]

I finished switching over to the @jwest fuse panel and everything works exactly the same as the original factory panel, including the left headlight going out when I turn on the high beams. I’m getting mixed advice, so the search continues for the high/low relay. Gotta take a break from this…vacation calls

[peteinjp]

#27 Combination relay (high/low) also the ground point for the fog relay (if you have them) would look like the square one in this picture:





mine was located on the rear upper corner of the fuse panel with a zip tie. My high beam wouldn't come on and after checking everything else I figured out that the case this little sucker has to be grounded in order for the relay to activate- the case is the ground for the relay coil. That is not on the diagram. Attached the proper way with the grounding clip everything works. This was after I basically everything under the dash to check the circuits.

Anyway if you have it it probably looks like this one.

Pete

[peteinjp]

But regardless of whether or not you have the relay- one light not working can only be a problem after the fuse because to the fuses (1&2) there is only one power. The relay controls both headlight together in tandem to the fuses. Have you checked for power and ground at the headlight connections? Tried switching bulbs left to right?


Pete

[ClayPerrine]

Guys...

A factory six does not have a headlight relay. It is all in the turn signal switch.

If the left headlight goes out when turning on the high beams, it is a problem between the fuse panel and the headlight.

[davenorcal]

I’ll try tomorrow to check the headlight wires downstream of the fuse panel before I sneak off on vacation.

[davenorcal]

The high beam wire (white) was broken at the plastic plug that attaches to the back of the headlight. I cleaned it up and re-soldered it to the female spade connector. It had nothing to do with the high/low relay.

Now to get my fog lights to come on without the headlights being on.

Thanks everyone for your help! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

Now to get my fog lights to come on without the headlights being on.

On the back of the fuse box, there is a wire attached to the low beam circuit that goes to the fog light relay. If it is energized, the fog light relay gets power and the fog lights will come on. It is going to be crimped into one connector with the low beam light power wire.

Separate the two wires, and move the one for the fog light relay to the park light circuit, or if you choose, to the ignition circuit (IIRC, Fuse #8). That way the fog lights go off when the ignition is off.

I can get you wire colors later, but I am at work now and the 914-6 is at home.

[davenorcal]

Now to get my fog lights to come on without the headlights being on.

On the back of the fuse box, there is a wire attached to the low beam circuit that goes to the fog light relay. If it is energized, the fog light relay gets power and the fog lights will come on. It is going to be crimped into one connector with the low beam light power wire.

Separate the two wires, and move the one for the fog light relay to the park light circuit, or if you choose, to the ignition circuit (IIRC, Fuse #8). That way the fog lights go off when the ignition is off.

I can get you wire colors later, but I am at work now and the 914-6 is at home.

Clay, I love the idea of leaving the switch “on” to have the fog lights be lighted whenever the car is running. How civilized!

[davep]

The only reason that there is a fog light relay is to ensure that the fog lights are turned off when the high beams are on. One of the white/blue stripe wires on the high beam fuse (1 or 2) provides a ground path through the headlight when the high beam is off . If the high beam is on, then the voltage is high and the relay sees no path to ground and turns off. This is a legal requirement in North America.