rocky5517 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 I'm having a helluva time trying to find "headlamp control, auxiliary relay" I thought I had one from Timeless Auto Parts in Fla but the closest it comes to is the other relay on the firewall, driver's side. And the one they sent is wrong anyway because the fastener is reversed, should be on top, not bottom. And one of the blades is too tin anyway. I've read every ---- page of the manual and can't find any part ##. Anyone have any suggestions? The one I want is the one from the passenger side wheel well. For starters anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) Sam No one makes the relay that is a direct plug in with your wiring harness. I have seen where some got a basic relay and rerouted one of the wires outside the harness plug to make it work. Can’t remember the exact method used as it’s been 20 years but will do some digging to see if I can find. Your original relay may be repairable. Are you interested in a used one? Originals had gold cad covers but often that faded away to dull silver Edit: found it looking through index of articles on ROA website. Go to website and look up past Riview Volume 4 #2 page 16. That itself is old info so part may or may not be available but online searches will find it is. This isn't the option I mentioned above but will work if you can find one. Edited January 26, 2018 by JZRIV (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 Jason- yes I'm interested in a used one- if nothing more than to use as a guide to repair the existing. Am looking up that article you mentioned. I wonder if I should go over to the nearest Buick dealer, go to parts depart,ent, look for a guy with grey hair, and show him the relay. Stranger things have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Jason, is the second gen auxiliary relay different from the 65 model relay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 If the coil is still good (shows continuity on an Ohm meter), you may be able to clean the contacts using a points file and get it to work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Seafoam65 said: Jason, is the second gen auxiliary relay different from the 65 model relay? Winston, I've never compared the 2 side by side but am sure they are different. 67 auxiliary relay is a one year only part number as far as I know. Or at least that's what I have been told. 66 is even slightly different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 I noticed on the aux relay, the one on the wheel well passenger side, there are 2 plugs that plug in; one accepts a 2-prong, or blade, and the other accepts three. But when you look closely the one that accepts 3 really only uses 2 of the 3 prongs. This makes sense as there's only 4 wires going in ( 2 plus 2), not 5. I guess the other one, which is marked # 2, was for future use. I checked the wire diagram, the color codes of the wires, and 4 in, 4 out, is correct. On the left side of the relay are prongs # 1,2,3, with #1 in the middle. #2, which is the unused one, is the lower one. # 4 and 5 are on the right side. So I wonder if I were to find even a similar relay, ASSUMING all things inside the relays are identical, it could be jury rigged to work. But I'd rather not go there yet. Even though the relay has 5 prongs, one of them is a blank, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWB Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) My relay diagram is too fuzzy to read. Does anyone have a sharper copy? I'm looking for a comparable relay which is identical internally - then you can rig the connector. It appears the orange leg is normally closed and the brown normally open. The remaining leg is your coil/ground. Correct? This is one rare relay! Edited January 26, 2018 by PWB (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Paul, These relay coils are grounded through the case and to the body via mounting bolt. The shop manual has a special section that details the headlamp wiring much better than looking at the full color diagram. I'm sure there is a relay that will work by reconfiguring the wiring. With my 67 having been gone now for over 8 years things get a little foggy. I should have a used one I can look at Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) You don't state if your car is a 67 model. If it is, I have studied the 67 wiring diagram and you can use a 65 Riviera main headlamp relay GM part no. 1365166, Delco no. 15-8172 to replace the auxiliary relay on your 67 Riviera. These are readily available for sale from a Delco jobber or GM dealer. Look at the bottom of your new 15-8172 relay and note the numbers by each prong. To get the new relay to work, you need to plug the yellow wire on to prong no. 4. Plug the black/white stripe wire on to either prong no. 1 or prong no. 3. Plug the black wire onto either prong 1 or prong 3, whichever of the two prongs is empty after plugging in the black/white wire . Remove the black/ lightblue wire from it's plug and tape up the end of it and leave it disconnected as you won't need it hooked up. The reason why you don't need the black light blue wire is that the black light blue wire was used as a ground for the old relay on your car. This wire is hot when the lights are on and ground when they are off so just tape it up and let it dangle.The 15-8172 relay get's it's ground from the case of the relay, so make sure the new relay is securely grounded to the body of the car. This change in grounding is why the 65 model auxiliary relay only had three wires going to it. If you have a 66 Riviera, let me know and I will need to study the 66 diagram to advise you. Note that you don't need to cut or splice any of your original wires. Just release the lock tabs on their end terminals and pull them out of their plastic plugs and rearrange them as needed. Your old plastic plugs can be used on your new relay so it will look factory when you are done.With this setup the headlamps will only rotate up when the key is in the run position. Let me know how you make out. I love the 15-8172 relay because it is possible to configure it for darn near any application you might ever need on an automobile, and it is a heavy duty relay designed for use with blower motors and headlamp motors. Please post your results here on this blog. Edited January 27, 2018 by Seafoam65 (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 PWB the relay you are showing, I think, is the one on the driver's side, near the hinge for the hood. According to the manual that one is the "headlamp lamp control relay, not the "headlamp aux control relay. The one on the drivers' side is the one your photo shows, with that odd looking plug that is a bitch to pull out. I noticed that the blade is wider at the base, and the round "socket" does not fit right. More to come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 Seafoam- really good info. we're on it! I should have mentioned yes, mine is a 67 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Pic of 67 auxiliary relay. My comment in post 9 is incorrect. This relay is not grounded through case (as Winston noted) but the one that Paul posted a pic of is case grounded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 5 minutes ago, JZRIV said: Pic of 67 auxiliary relay. My comment in post 9 is incorrect. This relay is not grounded through case (as Winston noted) but the one that Paul posted a pic of is case grounded. If that were my non-functioning relay, the first thing I'd do is bend-back those tabs clinching the case to the plastic terminal base and reveal the guts. I'd clean the contacts, check the coil and I bet it would be working again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 That's just what I did/ I noticed the points looked perfect ( was hoping they were lousy) but there are 2 hair-thin wires connecting the coil to the two lugs on the "double" connector ( as opposed to the triple). There is no lug on the triple side, # 2. I'm glad you guys agree the case is not grounded because I could not see anywhere how the metal tabs touch the frame. I tried cleaning under the 2 lugs but there's not much room and I don't want to break either of the hair-thin wires. Plugged it in- no luck. Local parts shop has one on order that looks close- will report back Monday. Haven't checked the coil yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 PS I got the Delco # from that old Riview ( thanks Jason) and will look for it Monday . Very handy that someone took the time to enter all the old articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 see pix of existing relay. I'm no mechanic but those points look good to me. I sanded them a little anyway. The 2nd pix shows the 2 tabs but you can't see the very thin wires the connect the tabs/lugs to the coil. They seem to be intact but underneath looks a little cruddy. Next to impossible to brush up without damaging the wires. Am on way to friends house to check coil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivman Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 51 minutes ago, rocky5517 said: PS I got the Delco # from that old Riview ( thanks Jason) and will look for it Monday . Very handy that someone took the time to enter all the old articles. The Index update was mostly done by MR. JZRIV. We can thank him for getting it updated, it will now be done annually, AND for getting it to be a searchable file. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seafoam65 Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 What relay number are you going to be looking for? You haven't shown which wires are where on your connectors, but I suspect that the black and black/white wires are already in positions 1 and 3 on the triangular plug. If so, all you have to do is remove the black/blue wire and plug the connectors onto the 15-8172 relay. and bolt it down and you are done. What could be simpler than that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky5517 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 Will post results when I receive new relay as per Seafoam 65's suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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