whats dat box for, electrical, headlight woes

[alg]

Battle of the headlights for about 8 months now.

Replaced ALL components of the headlights:
- turn signal switch (hi beam)
- headlight relay
- headlight switch
- All new, proper fuses

Next to the headlight relay, in the dash behind where the headlight switch is mounted is this black box. Its about the size of a biscuit block used for the old-style telephone jacks.

What is that box? I have diagrams and some schematics, and cannot figure it out at all.

All wires have continuity and I rang out the ground paths with a meter.
There is power to the fuse box, but no headlights at all.
Running lights are fine as is dash backlight/dimmer.
Signals work fine.

Thanks for any feedback you may have

[bucko]

What year is your 181? This will help us in identifying that black box.

On my military 181 (1971), I have one in this location that is used for the "parade" horns and blue light. Was your's a military import?

[mattt]

The black box with 4 wires out the bottom is the turn signal flasher relay.

Check the fuses for the headlights. Sometimes one of mine doesnt light, and I wiggle the fuse in the fuse holder, boom, headlight comes on.

[bucko]

"The black box with 4 wires out the bottom is the turn signal flasher relay.

Check the fuses for the headlights. Sometimes one of mine doesnt light, and I wiggle the fuse in the fuse holder, boom, headlight comes on."

Good point Matt. I had a bus one time that had what appeared as faulty headlights. I spent a good part of a day with a multimeter cheacking for 12 volts from the switch to the headlight bulbs. What I found was that the tip or crown of the fuses were worn off. The fuses looked good, but in fact were not making contact in their holders.

You might want to put all new fuses in the low beam and high beam positions.

[kubelmann]

I recently went through a one headlight out issue. It turned out to be a ground wire that had broken inside the solderless connector. I took countless hours to track this faulty ground//

[Bobnotch]

[Ian Epperson]

Yeah, I've spun fuses to get my brake lights back, my wipers back, my turn signals back. Every year, I pull them all, clean all the contacts and fuse ends, and make sure the retainers are tightly seated. I still have to spin fuses now and again.

I'm thinking of swapping out the fuse box with a box that'll take the blade style fuses:
http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?par...p;tabset=1

or, if that one uses a common power feed (and thus won't work to replace the old fuse box) then this should do it:
http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=650092&page=1

$6 or $12. Heck, I'll order them both.

With the blade-style fuse boxes, you can get fuses at any gas station or you could even replace some of them with breakers:
http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=151&page=1
(only 10 amp and up) .

[mattt]

[MajerThing]

Ian,

Have you installed either of the fuse boxes? My current fuse block is bent all to heck and spinning/wiggling the fuses has become a standard start-up routine. I was looking to replace with a blade style and wondered if you had any luck.

[90runner]

I've thought of totaly rewiring with something like a painless universal kit it updates everything. A little expensive though but could be worth it.