69 Cutlass Holiday......
My locks & trunk release are'nt working. Im getting ready to tackle this prob & im looking for tips. What is the best way to go about tracking these problems down. I know that there is a canister in the drivers side fender. I have a vacume tester, i figure its a basic signal type path....output to input. The locks dont work at all, when i press the button for the trunk release i hear a leak.
Any tips would be AWESOME!!
Thanks
PmL

 

I just did this the other night on my 66 '98 convertible - it has power door locks, power trunk, and of course vacuum controlled heating/vent system.

Assuming the vacuum at the engine is good, you have a hole letting in air somewhere. My experience is that it's generally the hoses. GM's stuff - switches, diaphragms, etc are usually good. Start with the hoses. Take a slice of each size to the parts store and get some replacements. Maybe 3 or 4 feet of each size. It's actually kind of a fun fix.

When you put the new hoses on, put 'em on an inch or two long so that when they heat, cool and stretch over time, you can just cut a bit off to make 'em tight again. A few zip ties in black keeps things neat. Get a few vacuum size adaptors & tees so you don't have to kludge up two lines of different sizes. A few vacuum caps won't hurt either, just in case you need 'em.

Just to put it out there, I haven't had a problem with the line going from the front of the car under the carpet and into the trunk. Olds made that good and thick back in the day. YMMV, of course, but I'm just trying to limit your search.

Just to isolate the problem, I suggest you get a few vacuum check valves. That way if one component or another is leaking (air getting in...) it won't affect the other accessories. One check valve per accessory would be my suggestion, plus one at the main vacuum input from the motor so you don't mess up how the engine runs.

My problem was a broken hose at the tank in the fender plus a bad original plastic/metal check valve from whatever boneyard car I pulled the tank from. Now things work great.

If I remember right factory spec for the up/down on the vacuum locks was 3 cycles if everything's working right. I'm just about there now that I've gone through the hoses.

Power trunk works with the car off now, which is always when you want to "pop the trunk" as my family has always said.

While you're in there, take a 1 page copy of the factory diagram on your heating / cooling system and make sure everything's nice & tight there too. Each colored line corresponds to a number on my 66, I'd suspect the same on your '69.

Hope this helps.
cf

 

Thanks! Definatly puts me in the right path. If i have anymore ??s ill let ya know!!
Pml

 

Factory chassis and Fisher Body manuals. You have to have them to troubleshoot the vacuum door locks. No way around it unless you have a whole lotta time and patience.

Inside the car, on the firewall you will find the master door lock vacuum control valve- often called "octopus" because with all the vacuum lines connected, that's what it looks like. Each line is color coded for its respective door actuator, control switch and vacuum source.

Several years back I almost pulled a vacuum lock system out of a junk Toronado for mine. I read up what it would entail (on a Toro, the right half of the dash has to come out to access the octopus) and decided it was an option I could easily do without.

Good luck. It's an uncommon option on Cutlass and probably worth fixing.