My 39 Plymouth has been in pieces for 30 years and Im trying to put it back together. I have a part that I cant find on the wiring diagram. On the inside of the front fender across from the generator is a box that looks like a voltage regulator. It has 4 terminals, 2 on each side. Any idea what it is? The only wires I have loose in that area are my headlights. Is it possible they hook up to it? Could it be this was some kind of after market product? If so what is it? Thanks!
How about a picture.
It sounds like it is a headlight relay , but as jim suggests a picture would help
Elmo is correct, it is a headlight relay which is an aftermarket item used to increase the voltage that ultimately gets to the lights. 39s had the V-reg on the firewall.
Thanks!
Anyone know which wires go where? As I said it is not on the wiring diagram. I fyou have one I would appriciate if you could tell me which headlight wires go to which terminal.
My 39 has the same connection but there are just 3 poles to connect wires to.? The wiring harness I ordered from I believe Eggo in Rhode Island a couple of years ago is color coded and there are three wires that come from each headlight and 3 from the main harness.? So for me, it was easy.? I connected the two yellow wires from the headlights to the yellow one from the main harness, and the same for the black wire and red wires.? Can't help you with the fourth pole unless it is a ground or something else.? Good Luck.? Gary
If the terminals are of different sizes, the small ones would be for the coil of the relay and the large ones would be for the contacts. Again, if you want better information, show us a picture.
again sorry, my relay picture ended twice (one unreadible) at post "putting a distributor"
Greetings! Go
You can check out an old headlight relay rather easily......just pry off the sheet metal cover, and observe the terminals, coils, and contact points.
Using jump wires, ground the case or base of the relay to the positive side of the battery, then apply a jump wire to the small terminal which appears to be wired to a coil, If the coil closes, you've seen how a headlight relay operates.
You'll often need to free up the coils, and polish the contact points, to deal with the effects of aging.
Note that the wires which go to the smaller terminals which operate the coils are the original headlight wires from the headlight switch.
The wires which go to one side of the relay are, of course, the original wires to the headlights, the wires which go to the other side are new wires which run directly to battery......but *must* have an in-line fuse or a mounted fuse block to protect you from burning the car down should you have a short in the headlight wiring.
cheers
Carla