One of my occasional pastimes is restoring and documenting tweaky obscure systems from my '66 Big Oldsmobiles. Over the past few days I dug _way_ deeper into Trico Vacuum power door lock switches than was reasonable.

Background
Trico, of wiper blade fame, used to make all kinds of vacuum driven accessories. My '66 98 came with their power trunk release with its button in the glovebox. In the 1980's I added Trico power door locks just for fun since I found a complete system in the boneyard for like $30.00. Their accessories are pretty much nicely cast pot metal with springs and rubber diaphragms inside which move levers. I'm fairly sure Trico was a subcontractor to all the "Big 3" in the 1960s. I know they provided vacuum power door locks, trunk releases and so on to GM, but I hear they provided the systems to Chrysler and Ford too. I don't have a Chrysler or Ford, but I say this just to let Ford & Mopar people know that if they have these systems, what I have to say below may help them. In GM-land, most of the time Cadillacs were outfitted with these optional (and optional cost) systems, so that's where to find the boneyard parts if you're interested.

More Background from me on Trico Power Door Lock systems:
Here's my first shot at restoring the system, good stuff, but I was not all that precise about cutting gaskets: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ooting-164264/

Here's a second shot a little earlier this year: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ration-190121/

Common Problems
The most common failure point is the hoses (and there are 5!) in the driver's door. Every time the driver opens and closes the door, the 60 year old rubber hoses flex. And eventually they crack, which leads to the system slowing down. Then eventually they break which makes it even slower and then not work when the car is shut off. So if your system doesn't work, start by removing the driver's kick panel and give your hoses a tug. If they pull into the cabin broken, your restoration project has begun.

The next failure point is/are the lock actuators. The lower (lock) side is usually not a problem since it's suction applied to a well made rubber diaphragm. The upper (unlock) side sucks up on the same diaphragm, but the rod that actually unlocks the latch-lock rises through a gasket on the top of the actuator that can and does wear after 60 years. I have found no replacement for that and don't know how to fix it other than getting NOS (new old stock) or working used ones.

Of course a cracked or broken hose anywhere in the system can cause a vacuum leak. The best way to trace that is look for cracks at the hose connections to the various metal nipples they attach to. 60 years of stretching rubber can easily lead to cracks & leaks. Look at the actuators and also at the hoses at the vacuum switches for splits, cracks and breaks.

The remote valve (as GM calls it) or the "main valve" as I call it is located behind the glove box in my 65-66 big Oldsmobiles. I think they're more or less in the same place in Cadillacs and probably Buicks too. That valve is the heart of the system taking inputs from the switches and passing vacuum to the actuators.

So Really - just 4 parts: actuators, hoses, main valve and switches
Yup. If you remove and unit test each of theses pieces and restore or replace so they don't leak, you'll have working power door locks. It's a good idea to put a check valve on the input to the system so just in case it leaks, you don't have an engine vacuum leak.

I'll stop there on generalities since the rest of this post will focus on the vacuum switches. Hope you enjoy this and warm welcome to all the Non-Olds people who might happen across this one day.

Cheers
Chris

 

So, maybe your vacuum power door locks don't work at all. Or they're slow. Or they only work when the engine is on.

I can't help you with actuators. Get new, get working used are all the responses I've got.

And I'm learning tonight that the remote valve (main valve to me) under the dash seems to be designed to leak down over about 45-60 minutes.

From here I'm focused on restoring the Trico power door lock switches which I spent entirely too much time on this week.

What follows should apply to Olds, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac and maybe Chevy. It may also apply to Fords and Mopars. The big thing the Trico company did which was different among the US brands in the 1960's was to vary the bezels. Behind the trim, the systems used a small number of cleverly designed common parts.

Cheers
Chris

 

The 1960-1968 Trico power door lock system switches were what I consider a "sandwich design" I.e. they are a bunch of layers held together with 1 swaged pin and 4 screws.

Up front, I gotta say for any such system to last 60 years with no maintenance is remarkable. The quality of these original parts is really great. I wish we make stuff with such longevity and repairability today. But no, everything is a d*mn subscription. Looking at you BMW seat heaters.

Here's what the sandwich looks like from the side. Note that the top gasket is missing in this photo, but this shows how the "sandwich" parts fit together:

1960-1968 Trico Power Door lock switch parts. The top and middle rubber gaskets can develop vacuum leaks which cause the system to underperform or fail.

Here are some of the bezels Trico used for GM in the 1960's. If the pot metal parts below your bezels look the same, the rubber gasket replacement methods here may help you:

Just the trim parts varied, underneath Trico used a few common parts and sold a bunch of power door lock systems, I believe to all the "Big 3".

Pretty much the metal parts don't wear out. The leak culprits I found were the top gasket (they crack or get a hole from being pressed on by the chrome button) and the middle gasket just above the vacuum valves. What follows is dedicated to replacing those original parts with fresh rubber to recreate the vacuum seal they should have to the switches can activate the actuators to lock or unlock.

Let's start with supplies.
Chris

 

If your actuators check out in unit testing, and your hoses aren't cracked, the next thing to check is the switches.

They can be removed and checked on the bench with a vacuum tester/pump. Mine is called an Actron Vacuum pump. It looks like this:

Connect this pump to the parts of your power door lock system for component/unit testing. If they leak down to 0 quickly, you have a problem.

If your switches don't hold vacuum or leak down in <15 minutes, it may help to replace the 60 year old rubber gaskets which are supposed to maintain a vacuum seal.

First up, you'll need some rubber gasket material. Used this stuff from Amazon:

.32" thick silicone rubber sheeting in small amounts. Very inexpensive. Get 2 or 3 sheets since you'll be learning how to cut many holes in precise locations and it will take practice.

A Moment on Precision
This is funny for me. My engineer Dad was all about precision. I've never been good at it, but precise placement of cuts is extremely important in getting these parts to work. Along the way I tried to eyeball it. I tried to hog out smaller holes into circular larger ones. I tried to get it "about right". When these efforts failed - vacuum leaks, slow operation, no operation, cr*p operation, I got stubborn. For me that meant getting good tools and taking the time to do the job right and hopefully only one time.

Make Gasket Blanks - lots of 'em
I used a Dahle rotary cutter to make rubber blanks for the top & middle gaskets. Initially I tried 7/8"s x 1.5", but I had better success with 1" x 1.5" gasket blanks. The process of making the blanks (gasket sized bits with no holes) is as follows:
1) "Square" the rubber. The sheets don't come quite square, so use the rotary cutter to get to clean straight lines and 90° corners so your subsequent measurements are right.
2) Cut 4-6 1.5" strips of rubber using the rotary cutter
3) Use a ruler or micrometer end as seen below to get exactly 1" cuts from your 1.5" strips. Now you have 1" x 1.5" blanks. I think I made 20 or 30 just to allow for learning.

Cut 1.5" x 1." rubber blanks. Precision here helps. If in doubt, cut larger than you need and discard rubber that sits outside the metal blocks of the switches.

What didn't work
I tried cheap punches and a rotary cheap punch. The cheap punches didn't last more than a few cuts before getting dull. The rotary punch didn't cut cleanly and left the punch-outs hanging by a part which tore and screwed up the hole out-of-round. They're all made in China these days, so they use the metric system, but actually that was better for me since the old GM hole sizes were 17/64"s and so on. To do top and middle gaskets I used 3mm, 4mm and 6mm hollow punches.

Get good tools, not this stuff:

Get the best tools you can afford for good clean cut, complete holes punched properly.

The Successful Hollow Punch Set: Owden
These were just an Amazon purchase but they did the job just fine. Not the cheapest, but I liked how they're tightly angled above the cutting blade. I wound up using the 3mm, 4mm and 6mm hollow punches for this project. The edges seemed sharp at the end of cutting 8-12 switches worth of holes, so I think the steel quality is good. Holes at the end were just as clean as at the beginning. That's what mattered to me. Here's a shot of the set:

Rotary punch was too imprecise, cheap hollow punches wore out quick. This did the job across 8-12 switches worth of holes. Go Owden.

O.k. so that's the tools. Let's get on to process before I lose any bytes....

Chris

 

Cutting new gaskets based on 60 year old used (sometimes fused...) gaskets is not that fun and a little tedious, but the result was worth it to me.

I began with 20 or 30 1.5" x 1.0" rubber blanks. I wasted a bunch of blanks trying to create a teflon die and just punch out a bunch. Then I tried to make another die the teflon bent and bunched all over the place and there hole placement way off. I think I tried 4 times, all resulting in gaskets that didn't vacuum seal.

After 2 frustrating days, I settled on using the old gaskets as a model for the new placed directly on top of the new rubber. I selected the flattest, best condition old gaskets I could find as my model, then slipped the new rubber material underneath so that the old gaskets provided guide-holes for where the new gaskets needed to be punched. But the 5th time the new rubber slips and your holes go wrong, you realize that you have to secure the old and new parts together so they don't move relative to each other. I used 1/2" wide strips of Blue Tape to hold the two pieces secure to each other like this:

Place old gaskets on new, then secure with blue tape so they don't move when punch precisely located holes. Top gasket need 4 x 3mm holes. Middle gasket needs 4 x 4mm corner holes, 1 4mm center hole and 2 x 6mm valve holes - all carefully located to create a vacuum seal.

Top Gasket
This is just 4 x 3mm holes, carefully located at the corners to allow the clamping screws to secure the sandwich together. 3mm is pretty close to the 1/8" hole needed for the #6x40 screw. Lay the old gasket over new. Secure with Blue Tape, punch the holes. Then remove the blue tape and use an Xacto to cut the middle notches by hand. At 1" the gasket will be too big for the metal parts, but you can trim for aesthetics later if you like.

Middle Gasket
This is a bit tricker than the top gasket. I put new rubber under old as with the top gasket, but I punched the 4mm center hole first before blue taping the parts together so that I could square up new and old gaskets as well as possible. After the center hold. I used a scissor-sliced 1/2" wide piece of blue tape to secure the old gasket on top of the new rubber. The idea is to have the blue tape just thin enough to expose both 6mm valve holes and all 4 4mm corner holes.

Different Sized Corner Screw Holes
The reason I used 3mm for the corner holes in the top gasket and 4mm holes in the middle gasket is that there are standoffs on the bottom side of the top plate. The 4mm holes will clear the standoffs and allow the middle gasket to sit flat and create a better seal. The top gasket uses 3 mm since it just needs to be large enough (and correctly placed) to allow the screw to pass through. You might be able to get away with 4mm on the top gasket too, but my theory was more rubber equals more sealing surface...

Top Gasket Detail

Place the old gasket on the new, secure with blue tape, punch 4 x 3mm holes, then use an Xacto knife to cut the middle notches.

Middle Gasket Detail

Use 6mm, not 5mm as shown here for the valve holes. 4mm holes for the center and corners to allow center vacuum flow and clear standoffs at the corners.

So that's the cutting process. I found that my cuts were inconsistent enough to want to create a bunch of extras so I could find the ones that worked best. Maybe you're a better hole puncher than me.

Cheers
Chris

 

So, you've cut a bunch of top gaskets and a bunch of middle gaskets and now it's time to test them in reassembly. But there are some gotcha's...

I placed my trim bezels in a soft-jaws (vinyl or plastic something) in my vise upside down to allow me to place the Trico sandwich into the bezel and clamp it down with the 4 #6 40 (threads) screws. First up #6 40 thread screws are rare in my neighborhood so try not to lose them. I believe they're like 9/16" in length or something else weird. Anyway, probably not made since the 1960's - keep track of the securing screws.

Secondly, if the top gasket is the source of your leak, you'll need to drive the chrome button pivot pin out to get at the top gasket for replacement. This is a pain because Trico drove a pin in and smashed the end to hold it in place 60 years ago. I used a dremel to grind off the "smashed end" and a small drift to push the pin backwards and out of the pivot holes. Once you're in this far, you might as well polish up the chrome button and the top metal plate too. I used a dremel with a stainless brushes to get 60 years of cr*p off the top & bottom of the steel top plate. The * (star 6 symbol) side goes up toward the bottom of the chrome button. I cleaned top and bottom of these plates to get to something close to a flat surface for max. vacuum retention. There are a couple of miscellaneous tasks with these parts: 1) clean & lightly oil the pivot pin, and pivot surfaces of the chrome button and pot metal. If it's metal on metal, put a little oil on to ease the action. Also sometimes in driving out the pivot pin, the "ears" can bend and make the button space too tight to pivot easily. The fix is to bend the pot metal "ears" outward just a tick. But be gentle & careful. Trico pot metal is not strong.

Here's the recalcitrant pin:

Grind the swaged pin end, drive the pin back through the pot metal ears to gain access to the top rubber gasket. Consider cleaning up the chrome and pot metal parts with stainless steel brush on a dremel to sanitize and make for smooth action.

Thirdly, it's easy to screw the top and bottom plates in "backwards". There is no locating pin, or other mechanical block to putting the sandwich parts back together reversed. I did this several times. There are 2 fixes:
1) Take pictures of how it comes apart and be sure the orientation of the sandwich parts on reassembly are _exactly_ as disassembled. I think next time I might use a silver sharpie to help with this - creating witness marks.
2) If you reassemble it "backward", you can reverse the "green dot" and "white dot" 3/32" hoses to achieve proper operation, but the everyone after you will need to learn/figure this out. And remember it. I'm already mad I got this wrong on my 98. I know I'm going to need to relearn it every time I pull the door panel...

So, if you want to restore these switches -
1) cut 20 - 30 1.5" x 1.0" rubber gasket blanks
2) use blue tape & a good quality hollow punch set in 3mm, 4mm and 6mm sizes to make precisely cut holes for new gaskets using old gaskets as a model
3) test the switche using the bezels in your vise screwing into the bezel as a test rig for your new gaskets.
4) if gaskets are correct, switches should hold vacuum for 10-40 minutes with no switch action and leak down very quickly when pressed.

Finally, here are some bezels and trim I've collected over the years. The guts of the switches behind the trim are the same/swappable.

Trico Power Door Lock Trims. Applies to Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac. May apply to Ford and Chrysler from ~1960 to ~1968

The big difference is the trim the working parts screw into. The good news is the stuff behind the scenes is mostly the same.

Hope this helps some of you along the way.

Chris

 

Good job Chris. It's nice you share your knowledge of these types of repairs for someone that might need to do this repair in the future. It's too bad parts aren't made like this anymore, it's a throw away society these days.

 

Gang,
Just to post a codicil to the switch restoration thread. The switches 1 of 2 remote parts to a "Remote Valve" as the factor stuff describes it. It's the "Main Valve" as I think of it - located under the passenger side of the dash with all of the 12 rubber hoses terminating into it. Well, plus 1 vacuum inbound line from the engine...

Here's some knowledge on functioning of the Trico "Remote Valve" aka the main valve located under the dashboard on the passenger side. Turns out the valve I've been using for 40 years was leaky. Like, really leaky. Well, at least as compared to the spare I had in my stash...

For years, I've had a spare "remote valve" sitting under the house in case something went wrong in either of my Vacuum Door Lock equipped '66 big cars. This stuff is old. It gets to quit after 60 years of service. Or you can celebrate something that works well 60 years after it was made.

My question tonight was which "Remote Valve" was the best. I had 3 in my possession: 1 in my Starfire that holds vacuum for 24+ hours; 1 in my '66 98 convertible that didn't hold vacuum much past engine shutdown; and 1 spare that, on the bench, took 1.75 hours to leak down to 0 inches of vacuum.

Turns out, the "Remote Valve" (aka "main valve") in my 98 convertible leaked down more or less immediately when bench-tested. So it was the 2nd best of the 3 I have. Somewhere inside this casting is a leak, or cracked/split rubber gasket allowing a a vacuum leak. My bench-tested replacement didn't leak down until not quite 2 hours, so it outperformed the 98 switch on vacuum retention. Time to swap...

I swapped in the replacement valve from my stash and now the 98 power door locks can go 10-12 lock/unloccycles up & down with the engine off. Before they managed maybe 5 before poooping out.

Fun night. Considering replacing every 60 year old vacuum hose with new 7/32, 5/32 & 3/32" lines just to be sure I've got it really fixed.

Hope this helps some of you along the way.

Chris

 

If I get a wild hair tomorrow, I may swap in my bench-tested door lock switches with new leak-proof-ish gaskets just to see how much better they perform.

Fun little project. As I get older (~62), it's getting harder to be inverted fiddling with this stuff under the dashboard. Didn't need Advil when I was younger. It seems to help now.

Cheers
Chris

 

Nice write up!

 

Dude- I just realized this is a recent post! My 1964 Dynamic 88 has these locks, and I decided the get them working. I pulled the door cards and found a few of the vacuum lines unplugged, and I got a replacement vacuum canister and just hooked it up to test them out. I find the driver's door switch locks both doors, but it won't unlock them. The passenger side button locks and unlocks both doors. I'm trying to wrap my head around what might be the cause of this.
I didn't try it with the engine off, I assumed they wouldn't work without a source of vacuum, but now I understand this should be a closed system. It should retain vacuum for a very long time if everything is properly sealed. I'll have to test that out. I tried disconnecting the "unlock" hose at the driver's door to see what happens- no change. I can still lock and unlock from the passenger side, and the driver's side button still locks both doors. I assumed the open hose would create a vacuum leak and neither button would work, but that's not the case. I conclude the unlock hose (marked with a white stripe) from the driver's side switch to the main "junction box" could be my source of trouble, or it could be the switch itself.
I'm not sure if anything else could be the source of trouble. The passenger side switch operates both door locks very well- they move quickly, and with a satisfying "click". That means the diaphragms at the lock inside the doors are functioning properly. I'll have to crawl under the dash and check the main junction box and see if the hose is disconnected, or I could get a length of hose and just run a new hose to the door switch to see if that fixes it. Or, I could "frog" the two switches and see if the trouble stays with the door or follows the switch. (I'm a telco guy by trade- "frogging" is a telco term meaning swap a suspect part with a known good part and see if the trouble stays where it is or moves with the suspect part).
If you have any thoughts on this Chris, I'd love some feedback. I'm hoping I can get the system working correctly without having to tear apart the dashboard. I might have to get out there with a vacuum gauge to see what I'm getting at different points within the system.

 

Dave,
So glad you found this post. I thought I was shouting into the wilderness with this nutty old stuff.

Let me see if I can help. Sorry for the length below, but hope it saves you time. Upfront 2 things: 1) The main valve leaks down slowly _by design_. See the felt inserts which cover tiny holes that are designed as leaks. 2) The actuators are the most critical pieces, no one makes replacements or restores them that I'm aware of. Look in Cadillac listings on Ebay and related suppliers from 1960 to 1968 for replacement actuators. I got lucky recently, perhaps you will too.

As I understand it, your actuators work since the passenger side switch can move both actuators up & down. If your only problem is the drivers's door unlock function, this shouldn't take too long to chase down. In rough order of finding the failure, here's what I would chase:

1) Remove the drivers door switch from the door card & hook it up to a hand vacuum pump with a gauge. Connect a 5/32" vacuum hose to the middle (large) port on the drivers door switch. Squeeze the hand pump up to 20" inches of mercury on the scale. If the switch leaks down immediately, go through the gasket replacement instructions I made up above. If the switch holds vacuum for 2-12 hours, it's good and your problem is in the "Unlock" circuit - aka the white-stripe rubber hose. While the switch is on the bench it's worth connecting 2 short 3/32" lines to the white & green ports too. When there's vacuum to the switch from your hand pump, activate the switch in each direction and see how fast the gauge goes to 0 (aka leaks down). The rate of vacuum loss for both directions of the switch should be roughly the same - or you may have a leak in the "Top" gasket where the physical switch has rubbed against rubber for 62 years (ask me how I know 1964 was 62 years ago.) Frankly if you're testing 1 door car switch, you're well advised to test/check both, just to _know_ they are not the source of your problem.

If the Lock and Unlock functions on both door switches leak down at roughly the same rate, your gaskets are probably still good and you've ruled out a switch leak. So, now, onto the vacuum lines. Of which there are 5 per door and they're quite a tangle. They're not really all that different from electrical wires, and well differentiated by Trico with color back in the day just like an electrical wiring harness. Of course, 62 years later the color has worn off the ends so look in the middle of each hose to see if it's Red, White, Green, Orange or Yellow and trace it out to the end whose vacuum-sounders you may suspect.

2) If you care, shine up the diecast chrome of the visible parts of the with on the bench to get all those years of dirt & grime off. Why not? I sometimes use an old toothbrush or dremel with a wool polishing tip just to get things _clean_.

3) If both switches are good, next check the very end of the Green (Lock), White (Unlock) and Red (Vacuum Source) rubber hoses where they go on the metal switch nipples. If you look close at the hose ends, you may find splits or cracks right at the tips where the rubber has just worn out against 62 years of metal stretching it out. The fix is to snip off 1/4-1/2" of hose to get back to an original sized diameter hose to have a tight seal against the brass nipple. _But Wait_, your hoses are 62 years old and will crack/split again almost immediately in some cases. My trick is spray the metal nipples on the back of the switch _and_ the inside of each hose with some silicone spray lubricant to encourage a tight fit without splitting truly ancient rubber.

4) Since there drivers side is your problem, which it usually is since that door gets used the most, let's assume your switch hose connections are good, the switch itself is good, and you've already proven the actuator hoses + actuators are good. The next best failure suspect is the hoses to the drivers door. These rubber hoses physically move every time the driver opens the door and the rubber is, well, mature (old). If the white hose tip is good, it's quite likely there's a break in the white hose between the door switch and main valve. This is most likely in the rubber conduit that your hoses and seat/window wires run through between the body and the drivers door. Of course the break or a split/crack could also be at the "Remote Valve" (aka main valve) behind the glove box, but I'd recommend checking the driver's door white line first since everything else is working. For reference the White and Green lines are 3/32" diameter hoses, so get a little or a lot of that depending on how deep you want to dig. For just this one problem, I'd get at least 6' since there is (or you can create) a junction right behind the driver's side kick panel to fix 1 or more leaking lines.

5) If the driver's door line-fix doesn't work, then yeah, crawl up under the dash & look for the same kinds of cracks and splits on the ends of all those old rubber hoses on the "Remote Valve" (main valve) that you looked for at the driver's door switch. Of course all of this work, on your back, with bad lighting, with that GM insulation crap getting in your eyes. Ugh. No fun.

6) If you get this far in, you may decide you just want it done once & for all. So you know you're committing to pulling a bunch of hoses up under your dash and labeling them so you know what's what. Since you're in Telco, I'm guessing you're well acqainted with fish tapes, wire labeling and the like. Same principles here, only difference is rubber hose vs. wires. I've done tip & ring, wire pulling and Cat 6,7,8 terminations myself, but I'm a rank amateur.

To really restore the system you need a lot (more or less a roll each ) of 5/32" rubber hose and 3/32" rubber hose, plus adaptors to adapt 7/32" lines at the remote valve/main valve to a standard of 5/32's running to the actuators and to the door switch inbound ports. While you're figuring your 5/32" hose lengths, plan for a vertical drop at the front & rear of each door to allow the actuator hoses to sit flat on the door bottoms. That way they don't gum up the moving window works. Make the rubber hoses long and keep 'em out of the way. Whatever your 5/32" rubber hose lengths are, also be sure to overestimate lengths by 6-8" so you can snip off the ends the next time your new hoses leak. Next you will need 4x very long lengths of 3/32" hose as well to recreate the White and Green hoses to the switches on the door cards too. I have not done this yet, but it's on my mind.

One weird feature of the Trico design is that 2 of the remote valve (main valve) actuator ports are 7/32" and 2 are 5/32". But the door lock actuator ports are all 5/32"s, so the larger lines get converted by adaptors along the way to the actuators. I suspect the larger lines were used to overcome spring pressure in the actuators, but that's a guess. Just saying you have some of those 7/32" to 5/32" adaptors in your car now, but get some extras just so you can create yourself some options to put adaptors where they are convenient for the installer, not necessarily in the doors as GM did.

In a nutshell, confirm your switches work (hold vacuum), the look for a break in the white unlock line on the driver's door side. If found replace the broken line with a labeled 3/32" line of rubber hose. If that fails, you've got other leaks and decide to fix individual problems or do a once&done.

Final note - from what I can tell, the inbound line from the engine compartment/vacuum reservoir connects to either Red (vacuum switch line). Fit this as it's convenient to you and know that both red lines are 5/32", so it's really up to you which side you want to power the system through. If it were me, I'd label the heck out of it just to save myself or the next guy time.

Cheers
Chris

 

I've trying to figure out how to test this door switch with just what I have on hand. I decided to try dropping it in a cup of water with a hose attached to the center vacuum side of the switch and blowing into the hose. The white (unlock) side of the switch bubbles- in fact, it blows air out as fast as I blow air in, so I conclude there's a leak in that side of the switch.. I already crawled up under the dash to inspect whatever I could see (which wasn't much) and as far as i can tell, everything is connected under there. I'm thinking I found my problem with this switch.

 

I've trying to figure out how to test this door switch with just what I have on hand. I decided to try dropping it in a cup of water with a hose attached to the center vacuum side of the switch and blowing into the hose. The white (unlock) side of the switch bubbles- in fact, it blows air out as fast as I blow air in, so I conclude there's a leak in that side of the switch.. I already crawled up under the dash to inspect whatever I could see (which wasn't much) and as far as i can tell, everything is connected under there. I'm thinking I found my problem with this switch.

Not sure it needs saying, but follow my instructions abvoe to repair the switch. Consider doing the other side switch at the same time since you'll be cutting materials.

If you want to do with minimal time commitment, try remaking and testing the "midde" gasket first. Sometimes the top ones don't need replacing and you can then avoid grinding the swage pivot bar on the top of the switch under the chrome rocker.

If you have the time & patience, the permanent fix is a 4 rubber gaskets as shown above.

Hope that helps
Chris

 

I got them working today. The problem was the hose from the driver's door switch to the control valve next to the glove box. It was a major hassle running the hose, especially getting it out to the door, but I used a couple wire ties to hold it in place against the flexy rubber conduit.
Worth noting- the hose for the white and green lines are 7/64", not 5/32" (on my car anyway).
I'm struggling to find a place to mount the vacuum canister, but I found I can simply pull vacuum off the ventilation system canister and everything functions well when the car is running. Even the vents don't work when the car isn't running, and of course the locks work manually as well, so I'm probably leaving it this way. It makes for a cleaner engine compartment, and fewer vacuum lines along the firewall.
I realigned the windows so they close better against the convertible top. I also replaced the beltline trim (window scrapers) on the drivers door- I did the passenger door trim last year, so now that's done too. Unless something else breaks, I'm hopeful I won't need to do much more work on the doors, windows, locks, or under the dash...
Except to install the seatbelts, I'm pretty much done with the interior.

Thanks for the tutorial Chris. You're tips, posts, pictures, and schematics made the whole job easier- and certainly less intimidating. It's a great resource. You did a splendid job with your posts.

 

Cup of water wasn't a great idea. I had to take the switch completely apart to dry it out. I swapped the questionable switch with the other side to prove both switches work fine when placed in the passenger door, and fail to unlock when placed in the drivers door. It's a hose, not the switches.

 

This thread should be made into a sticky.

Dave glad you got it sorted out.

 

I really like a clean engine compartment too. Like to the point of custom bending my fuel hard lines and hard vacuum lines with nice 90° angles. Clean is good.

Across many years Olds (and other GM makes) tended to locate the vacuum reservoirs either on the firewall (very visible, but stock looking) on on the leading edge of the passenger inner fender with long rubber lines routed up between the inner and outer passenger fender. The 1st generation Toronados had massive square tanks which probably wouldn’t fit, nor be really appropriate for your car, but Olds sometimes used 2 x same sized tin cans in series on the firewall for heavily accessorized cars. I wound up stashing extra large Caddy sized ones under my passenger inner fender and promptly forgot about them.

The great part of the passenger inner fender location is that it’s really hidden. So you can fit a larger tank and never notice it taking up space in the engine bay. Cadillac used some that looked like 16-18 ounce tin cans (in diameter & length) which attach to the inner fender in front of the right front wheel with just 2 3/8” hex screws. Super easy to install and high vacuum reserve capacity.

Understand you want to leave it alone, but this is a pretty fun project and I’ve found a big reservoir lets me use the accessories with the engine off. That’s been great for me along the way. Like when I want to toss something in the trunk, I can just pop the trunk from the glove box and skip the whole key-in-lock thing. Or lock the doors as I leave the car after I’ve shut the engine down.

Anyway glad you’re on your way and have things where you want ‘em. The rest of this is just fun for a future day.

Cheers
Chris

 

The ventilation reservoir is a steel can on the firewall. It looks factory. The aftermarket reservoir is a softball from Dorman. The "red line" from under the dash comes out next to the speedo cable and the aux vacuum line comes out of the channel on the firewall near the wiper motor. It's hard to see how I could swing it over the passenger side. There's no room to squeeze it next to the battery unless I had something other than a softball shape plastic tank- but would be my preferred location. Behind the radiator baffle on the drivers side inner fender is too close to the power steering pump. There's a gap on the firewall drivers side of the bell housing, but again, that fat softball tank is so damned ugly. I'd rather seal an empty pint sized paint thinner can and paint it black. I'm going with a working system for now. Maybe I'll get some ideas this season at the car shows. Someone must have found a better solution.



This is a softball sized vacuum tank from Dorman. It's functional, but not much more. Try to find a place to hide this under the hood.

 

As to the leaky switch- these are really precise, and after taking it apart and reassembling it carefully the switch stopped leaking. The rubber diaphragms seal at the edges of the "valve bodies". There's air gaps- chambers- in the center to actuate the switches... any flaws in the seal along the edges will cause a leak, and loss of vacuum. Simply taking it apart, cleaning it and putting it back together- unless there's a tear in the diaphragm- could resolve an issue. I inspected the rubber diaphragms using a bright light from behind to look for any pinholes and I saw none. It's not rocket science, but it is kitchen table trouble shooting.
In my case, the passenger side switch worked as expected, but the drivers side switch failed to unlock the door. The best easiest test was to swap the switches between the doors and see what happens. In my case, the switch in the passenger door position continued to work- after it failed in the drivers door. And the passenger door switch- moved to the drivers door- failed the same way the other switch failed, even though it worked fine in the passenger door.

This is basic troubleshooting- roll a known good part into the failed position. This proved my problem was not the switch, so without even trying to measure vacuum pressure at the hoses, I know the hose is bad. There's nothing else except the hose, and it's a 61 year old hose.

This is where Chris's schematic was so helpful. Great document, it told me everything I needed to know about the circuit. I don't mean to labor on about it, but basic troubleshooting processes- even without pro tools, and vacuum gauges- as long as you have a schematic diagram, you should be able to figure this out.

 

Just reread this and noticed your comment about your vents not working. I believe ‘64 big cars have a piano key vent/heater control like the ‘66’s’. If so, check this to restore your heater/vent system:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...s-leak-164239/

Like the door lock, before burning time under the dash, check the vacuum actuators at your vents behind the kick panels. Most of the time either the hoses are disconnected, split or cracked at the ends causing a leak which makes the vents not pop open.

If the vents sill work, then any problem is probably the control unit which can be removed, a little un-easily with 3 1/4” hex head screws, removing the electrical connectors and popping off the spring clip that holds the temperature door Bowden cable.

Hope that helps
Chris

 

The vents work. I went through all the hoses when I had the dash board apart, but they only work when the engine is running to provide vacuum.