Guest Mc_Reatta Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Current draw is higher than I thought it might be, so I think a full harness is the way to go especially if one uses the high beams much.Will have to wait to see how you and Ronnie make out installing those harnesses when they come in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waltmail Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 I did a quick look at ebay. Lot's there. But what I would like is something that you can plug into the existing harness and install. Prices there seem reasonable in comparison to times past when I looked. I will still wait for input from others...I might just have the thing. I own(ed) a 1965 Falcon Ranchero. Like all 60's era classics, they suffer from low voltage at the headlights. I built my own plug and play relay system for the solution. Works great. I made about 2 dozen of these devices. If anyone wants to be the guinea pig, I will send them one free. I will provide the install instructions for the old FoMoCo units, but that should translate easily to ours. If it works will make them available cheaply ( very ). Let me know. P M me and post here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the offer Wally, but I will have to turn you down as mine arrived at my wife's office on Saturday. I picked it up this AM and just finished installing it. It is a very simple installation however the individual ground leads are way too short. I did my installation as Ronnie advised me on the passenger side. I first removed the battery. This way I was able to utilize the red and black boxes behind the battery for my power and ground sources. That worked real well. I then [for now] put a scotch lok on the passenger side ground lead and ran a long black wire in the loom of leads [with the headlight plug] to the drivers side. I plugged in the headlight on the drivers side. Back at the passenger side I plugged the male headlight plug on the new relay harness into the existing Reatta female lead and then plugged the female lead into the pigtail on my Truck-Lite pigtail. Tucked the new relay harness fuse plug and relay harness under the red power box for now, installed the battery and tried the lights. Everything worked as it should. Lights up and on, turned off lights retracted. 1st time every time. Checked the brights and they work as well. One thing I noticed and this was brought up before by someone [2seater?] who had noticed their lights stayed on 5 seconds after turned off and retracted. Mine do it too. I have a call in to my buddy to help me do a little rerouting and soldering of leads and mounting of the fuse and relay plugs. Edited November 3, 2014 by DAVES89 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 ... I plugged the male headlight plug on the new relay harness into the existing Reatta female lead and then plugged the female lead into the pigtail on my Truck-Lite pigtail. Tucked the new relay harness fuse plug and relay harness under the red power box for now, installed the battery and tried the lights. Everything worked as it should. Lights up and on, turned off lights retracted. 1st time every time. Checked the brights and they work as well. One thing I noticed and this was brought up before by someone [2seater?] who had noticed their lights stayed on 5 seconds after turned off and retracted. Mine do it too.To my surprise my harness arrived this afternoon. I did some testing similar to Dave's but I started out at the basic level. I removed the headlights and painted door bucket covers because I planed to eventually anyway to make it easier to run the new harness wires.Then I plugged the three prong plug from the harness into the stock headlight connector on the passenger side and laid the rest of the harness on the floor. No headlights connected at all. The doors went up and down just like they normally would. YES! that made my day. Did the same test on the passenger side and result was the same... (as you would expect).Then I plugged headlamps into the new headlight harness connectors and ran jumpers to the fused battery wire and to ground. The doors when up and down immediately but there was about a 5 second delay in the lights turning off as Dave described. I don't see that as a problem but I would like to know what is causing it and possibly find a fix for it. I will be continuing with the installation of the kit soon but I intend to install a headlight motor repair kit first. Maybe by then Dave will have figured out the best way to run the harness wires to the headlights and mount the relays. I intend clean a spot off down to bare metal on the radiator support and screw the short black ground wires to it instead of running new ground wires all the way back to the battery.Here are a few photos to prove it really happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Great news guys. I would bet the drain is through the coils, as proposed, and since it is relatively high resistance, compared to the headlights, it takes a while to drop the relays out. I seem to remember something like that in the journey last year but the click seemed to be from the module? Very curious. As long as it does that dependably, I think you found a good solution that really does plug n play. Could maybe add the resistor as suggested previously to lower the resistance. Did it help the headlight performance Ronnie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 It's hard to say at this point Hal. I've discovered that I only have 10.7 volts at the old headlight connector versus 11.9 at the battery and at the new harness connectors when the headlamps are on. I also discovered that the wires going into the stock connectors had some strands broken from years of flexing when the doors open and close. The high beam wire on the passenger side was only being held on by the insulation. I have new 90* connectors like these in hand that I will be soldering on tomorrow before I install the new harness kit. I want to have the old harness it top shape before I install the new kit just in case I ever need to revert back to it. I will do some more voltage testing then. It's hard to tell if the headlamps are brighter connected to the new harness with the headlamps laying on the top of the engine. I believe they will be brighter once the new harness is installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Very nice, guys! What relay model does the harness use, and what is the dcr of the coil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 No brand markings that I can find. On the clear cover is JD1912 - 12V - 80a. DCR on one relay is 73.6 ohmsDCR on the other one is 77.8 ohms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 DCR on one relay is 73.6 ohmsDCR on the other one is 77.8 ohmsThat makes sense. The P&B relay I tested was at 78 ohms and seemed like it was on the verge of working. The Bosch I tested was at 73 ohms and did work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 When I get it all setup I will swap the relays back and forth to see if the one with the lower resistance works any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 No reflection on Ronnie's choice of relay harness, but I started having trouble with my lights. I would have the lights on in the dim position flash to brights [the brights would work] switched to dims and the headlights would go out. Flashed back to brights lights on. Turned out to be a bad relay [weak spring on one of the relay contacts on the new relay harness]. I had a suitable replacement, plugged it in and brights/dims works as they should. I also followed Mc_Reatta's advice and swapped out the breaker for a 7.5 amp fuse. I now have extra fuses, the removed breaker, and an additional relay in my console. Also an extra headlight switch in my cubby. Out on the road I need extra parts, so I can stay running. I really like the lights, if money is not a concern the Truck-Lite LED bulb is an excellent choice as is Ronnie's relay harness. It is plug and play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I took my battery out yesterday and took the plastic cover off in front of the radiator. I had already taken the painted covers off the headlight buckets so I had a good view of potential places the harness could be run to the headlights and where the relays could be mounted in order to keep from cutting and splicing wires. After a lot of thought, and after reading about Dave's problems with the relay, I have decide that I'm not going to install the new harness on my car. Since I'm still using what are basically stock headlamps that don't require the harness for the doors to work, I believe what I would be gaining with the harness (full battery voltage to headlamps - less load on the headlight switch and wiring - etc.) would be more than offset by the potential for relay problems, hard to access relays, (between the battery and the fender was the only place I could find that would be in the dry and the harness would reach the headlamps), and the added complexity of the the extra wiring. My goal was/is to reduce the load on the headlight switch and I think a better way for me to do that is to install a headlight relay at the console fuse box the way the factory did on the later '90 and '91 models. That would take the headlight load off the switch and with stock headlamps the factory wiring is probably adequate... although I am surprised at how small the factory headlight wires are compared to the wires in the new harness. The bottom line is the headlight relay kit I recommended to Dave and he used is plug & play electrically but physically installing the harness is not. Right angle headlamp connectors may be needed to avoid clearance problems when the doors rotate. To me the kit is impractical for the average Reatta owner to install so I won't be doing a tutorial on how to install the harness relay kit. If someone happens to want to install one of these kits I'm sure Dave would be happy to give you some pointers from what he learned from his installation. If anyone wants a good deal on my harness contact me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 (edited) Ronnie - I think you should stick with it. If you run into clearance problems, just splice those right-angle Dorman sockets on to it. (Or make a pair of little adapters like the one I made.)As to the infant failure of the relay, well, stuff happens. At least they are commonly available and inexpensive.Dave: Where did you end up mounting the relays themselves? Edited November 5, 2014 by wws944 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I have it all put back together now. Maybe I will tackle it again on down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 The relays are mounted next to the ground box behind the battery. My harness situation was truly plug and play. If you remember my new lights had short pigtails on them so I didn't have clearance issues with the headlight opening/closing. The new relay made no difference on the door opening/closing. When I turn off the lights they retract as they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-a-n-i-e-l Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 So I have been contemplating the Trucklite replacements, but wanting a opinion I trusted on their quality. So I pulled the trigger and bought a set after I saw the review on here. I have to say, out of all the light upgrades I have tried these are by far the best. They are not so bright that I will be getting flashed. They have a light color that is just about daylight. The cut off is well engineered. The fitment is perfect not loose as some I have tried. They are on par with every newer car I have driven with factory projector lights, and finally feel comfortable driving the Reatta at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 (edited) Thanks for the endorsement Daniel. When I had my relay issue that left me with brights only, I still didn't get "flashed". Of course that is resolved with the installation of the replacement relay and the lights work as they should. These lights are military approved and have been field tested by the trucking industry for over 10 years to great reviews and endorsements. Everyone I have shown these lights to have been impressed. It is a daylight color and they have not only down the road "reach" by that I mean you cannot overdrive these lights, but they also have excellent side vision to the shoulders of the road so one can be aware of pedestrians and animals. The other benefit off the top of my head is that there is no "dimming" of the bulb over the life of their use. They will be within 10% of their initial brightness thousands of hours after the initial installation. I am glad I bought them and as I told my friends after buying them. "I am now glad I have retractable headlights, as that will give me protection for all times they are not in use". This project cost me $350.00 for the bulbs and $35.00 for the harness. Not an inexpensive "upgrade" but one I have not regretted, just because of the added safety. And the best part is they are easily removable to put in a different car if that need presents itself Edited November 6, 2014 by DAVES89 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 ... These lights are military approved and have been field tested by the trucking industry for over 10 years to great reviews and endorsements...Yes, Trucklite made the original versions for military use in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.LEDs are rapidly becoming the present and future of lighting. With efficacies approaching and in some cases exceeding 100 lumens/watt, even highly efficient linear fluorescent, metal halide, and various sodium technologies are starting to fall to the wayside. Besides with LEDs, one gets instant on at full brightness, high reliability, and choices of color temperatures, and color rendering. I've converted most of my house to LED lighting and am very happy with them. (Especially given the horrible tiered power rates here in California...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Yesterday I was out on the road trying to make up on time as I was running late. A minivan was camped out in the left lane yakking on the phone. I turned on the lights flipped to brights back to dim and the minivan moved over. This was at about 9:30 AM. Nice to have bright lights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 I was forced to swap the new lights and the harness into the Red. Seems the tranny on the Black is out. It has been warning me for the last 10,000 miles and has warned me no more. I am on the fence to keep at as "parts" car, go to Gibson's and get the tranny from the Reatta that I just scrapped [good motor and tranny], or have it rebuilt. The motor in the Black is so strong and the body is still really nice that the last thing I want to do is start parting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoltanb Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Swap the tranny save the Reatta!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Corvanti Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Swap the tranny save the Reatta!!!yep!!!what did the tranny do? any working gears (fwd or rev) at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 I was over by my buddy's house Monday night swapping out a tranny [a Honda Odessy] that he bought cheap. When I left my new lights shined on an oil spot. The car was really shifting poorly in second gear to third. When I was over again tonight [this time with the Red as the Black is now in storage] we talked about it and he seems to think that the modulator is bad. The Black does not leak oil, and this was a real surprise with the leaking, and the modulator is right near where the leak is. He said that I should run out to Gibson's and get one to try in the Black to see if it makes a difference. We all know that the modulator controls the shift of the car, hopefully this does it. It's certainly worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 When you say it is shifting poorly is it hesitating to shift out of second gear? Or does it slip as it goes into third? Or does it seem to go into neutral between gears? If you can give details maybe we could pin down what the problem might could be. The modulator is well worth a try but usually it will effect all shifts equally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 For some time the first drive of the day it would "spin free" going into 3rd gear. After that it would shift up and down in all gears perfect. However lately it started to shudder as I would go up an on ramp second into third. Then if I slowed to go around a corner it won't shift down from third into second. So it is a whole bunch of issues starting to pop up. A trans mechanic told me to try a can of BG ATC which he has used in the past. The part that bothers me is that I noticed a dark liquid in the front cross member leaking onto the floor. The tranny fluid was down enough for me to add the BG ATC [11 ounces] without draining off. This car has always been good about not leaking oil and the shifting has gotten worse which my buddy thinks may be the modulator. It certainly is worth a try as a used one from Gibson's is about $5.00. I hope that fixes it enough to get through the winter as it is getting tiring swapping the headlights and relay cable back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Usually the only time shifting is effected by going around a curve is when the fluid is low and it sloshes away from the pickup on the bottom of the pan. Could the trans cooler be leaking? The modulator valve could be leaking but normally any fluid that gets by the diaphragm in the modulator is sucked into the intake manifold through the modulator vacuum line. You should check to see if the vacuum line going to the modulator has fluid inside it.The number one thing (external to the transmission) that can cause erratic shifting is the kick down cable (TV cable) that connects to the throttle being out of adjustment. It has an adjustment tab on the bracket that bolts to the intake manifold that determines how much the cable is pulled out of the transmission when the throttle is opened. If too much slack is in the cable the transmission will shift through 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears quickly even under hard acceleration. (Forth gear is controlled a little different and waits longer to shift.) Howerver, If the cable is adjusted to pull the cable too quickly the transmission will shift erratic both up and down through the gears. It will also cause the transmission to clunk and jerk as downshifts coming to a stop. Instructions are in the FSM for adjusting the cable. I prefer to set adjust the cable to factory specs and then put and extra "click" of slack in the cable to make the transmission shift a little early. I makes the shift feel smoother to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Odd that the modulator would leak externally? Usually if the diaphragm goes, the engine starts to ingest trans. fluid through the vacuum line? If the vacuum is disconnected and the line is plugged, the transaxle fluid pressure should go to maximum to achieve the firmest shifts possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jimmyk Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Ummm, can we move the trans modulator posts to their own thread? Since they don't have anything to do with LED lamps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what is it? Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 well its nice to know im not the only one with candle powered headlights...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 Well after having the lights in service for about a month I can say I am glad I bought them. Because of my transmission issues with the Black, I swapped them [and the relay harness] over to the Red. They are great and would never want to go back. I am thinking of doing the fog light LED upgrade that has been discussed on this forum. I also think the relay harness is a great idea and have purchased Ronnie's. I will be installing this harness into the Black [to once again replace the one in the Black]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 Here is that series of posts on relay harnesses and LED lights. It was back in the day when there were a lot of participants [how I miss those days!] so hopefully that will address Bushwacks concerns... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwack Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 11 hours ago, DAVES89 said: Here is that series of posts on relay harnesses and LED lights. It was back in the day when there were a lot of participants [how I miss those days!] so hopefully that will address Bushwacks concerns... Thanks Dave - appreciate it.. Having read the thread (I hope everyone with cataracts has since taken advantage of medical science), my take-away is there is no plug-n-play option for LEDs for a 1990 Reatta. When it comes to electricity, my limits are turning on and off a wall switch. If a harness or relay is involved to get LEDs, I'm going with the tried-and-true SIlverStars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS_Porter 89 Burgandy Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Seems that some of you guys are making the headlight issue much more difficult than it needs to be. Search "Headlight shut off/retract repost" That explains my fix which allows the headlights to shutoff and retract normally. The headlight switch benefits from the reduced load of LED's. Any type of bulb that physically fits will work. No need for another harness with a relay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwack Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 I decided to install Silverstars for two reasons: I didn't find the answer (just not in this forum) that I was looking for regarding LEDs. And, as I consider the Reatta a second car, I'll rarely drive it in the evenings. The Silverstars were $20/each and installed in 30 minutes. LEDs probably a bit more costly and more time consuming to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Bushwack said: I decided to install Silverstars for two reasons: I didn't find the answer (just not in this forum) that I was looking for regarding LEDs. And, as I consider the Reatta a second car, I'll rarely drive it in the evenings. The Silverstars were $20/each and installed in 30 minutes. LEDs probably a bit more costly and more time consuming to install. I started to install LEDs and changed my mind for the same reasons you did. I even bought a harness before I changed my mind. I think I might have been the first to order a harness with relays. I went far enough to test it on my car to verify it would work. Then I changed my mind about needing it and sold it to Daves89. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 I have been using Silverstars in my Reatta's for years and travel a lot at night and have been totally satisfied. Always have my fogs on so when low beams are on I have that little bit of extra. In fact I run the fogs which turn on the other exterior lights except headlights even during the day as daytime running lights 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwack Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Y-JobFan said: I have been using Silverstars in my Reatta's for years and travel a lot at night and have been totally satisfied. Always have my fogs on so when low beams are on I have that little bit of extra. In fact I run the fogs which turn on the other exterior lights except headlights even during the day as daytime running lights For what they are, the SIlverstars work fine. But when your daily driver has LEDs, there is a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 17 hours ago, Bushwack said: For what they are, the SIlverstars work fine. But when your daily driver has LEDs, there is a huge difference. My daily driver has LED's and one of my fun cars has xenon HID and while there is a big difference the Silverstars provide more than enough light to see well and safely. I even run the Silverstars in some of my older cars and change them out for large shows. I travel thousands of miles a year in my Reatta's and often travel at night and have no issue safely seeing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 (edited) I don't trust anything essential that relies on a little mechanical fan to stay cool. Edited April 1, 2022 by padgett (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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