My 65 Cutlass has a non-functional drivers side hi beam. I traced it to the spade inside of the plug has broken off. I know Joe has listed the company that sells these in the past but can’t remember. Can someone help? Thanks

 

Lots of companies sell Packard 56 terminals. Unfortunately, the headlight connectors are Packard 59 terminals, which are larger to handle the higher current. I know American Auto Wire sells Packard 59 terminals. Others likely do as well, but be sure they are not the smaller Packard 56.

 

Thanks for the info Joe, Great to have such a knowledgeable person at hand!

 

I got on American Autowire web site and was able to locate the correct Packard 59 female connector for my headlight plug. My question is do I need to buy a special crimping tool or can I get by with a regular crimping tool?

 

The Packard series terminals really want the correct crimping tool. Unfortunately, you're going to pay dearly for the right one, and if you only plan to use it for one or two terminals that won't pay off.

I've bought and tried a lot of crimping tools for these terminals. Short of a really expensive Kent Moore tool, the best one I've found is a generic ratcheting crimper frame with MSD 3506 jaws. The MSD jaws crimp both the conductor and the insulator at the same time and form the correct cardioid (heart shaped) crimp. Check out this thread.

 

Ok thanks, I’ll check around and see if I can come up with the correct tool.

 

Since your terminal is broken off, it'll need replacement. Here's how.

To get the terminal out of the plastic shell try the 2.0 flat blade shown here to press down on the release tab of the terminal inside the shell. Or other tiny flat blade screwdriver. Amazon link below. I use these all the time.





For the non-broken terminals, spray first with this stuff: https://caig.com/product/deoxit-d5s-6/

Dremel clean second with wire brush or maybe just nylon brush. Clean terminals generate less heat. Heat is particularly prominent in headlights in my experience.

Suggest you check Auveco for the Packard connectors. I defer to Joe on Packard 56 vs Packard 59, but there are large gauge (10-12 ga) female spade terminals that fit inside your factory plastic 3 terminal shells. He's also right about the value of a good to great crimp. It surely makes a difference.

Absent the correct crimping tool, soldering the terminal/wire connection and carefully crimping it with some other kind of crimper or compressor will likely do the job. Slip on clear or correct color shrink wrap, crimp, then solder the connection, then slide the shrink wrap down and heat it up to shrink to protect your new connection.

I like these vendors for factory style terminals and shells:

https://www.auveco.com (biggest catalog I know for our old stuff)

https://www.clipsandfasteners.com/Co.../acatalogs.htm

https://www.delcity.net/productsearc...ar&x=0&y=0&it=

http://terminalsupplyco.com/Store/De...133#Categories

Hope that helps you solve your lights issue.

Warm Regards
Chris

 

I was able to get the broken part out ok, I see oriellys sell the whole plug, I might go that way and just splice the wires. I see which way works out better. Thanks for your help.