pmgriphone

Hi all,

I have a 1959 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday 4 door hardtop (with A/C) that I am trying to get running. The engine compartment was infested by a rat who lived in the air cleaner and ate a lot of wiring: electrical lines, spark plug wires and vacuum hoses.

So I need some help trying to get things back together properly. I have taken some images which are attached and hope anyone can help steer me in the right direction of where lines should be connected/coming from/going to.

Image 1 (Firewall_Vacuum_Electrical_1.PNG):
There is a junction block of electrical and vacuum lines in the middle of the firewall (little bit towards the driver side, see image) and I have the following questions regarding the numbers indicated on the image:
1. This is an electrical cable (black). Where does it come from and go to?
2. This is a vacuum line. It is broken off. Where does it come from and go to?
3. This is a harness of four electrical cables (cyan, green, black, orange) which appear to be A/C related. It goes to a spring-loaded part near the A/C on the passenger front fender. Not sure where it comes from and what it is for. In particular the black cables was chewed up and I have no idea where it should go.
4. Not sure what was in this opening. Is anything supposed to come out of this hole, electrical or vacuum?

Image 2 (Firewall_Vacuum_Electrical_2.PNG):
This is another junction block of vacuum lines in the middle of the firewall (more towards the passenger side, see image) and I have the following questions regarding the letters indicated on the image:
A.This is a vacuum line. It is broken off. Where does it come from and go to?
B. This is a vacuum line. Where does it come from? It goes to diaphragm B on the firewall. There are three diaphragms on the firewall: two in the middle (B and C) and one on the far passenger side (not in the image)
C. This is a vacuum line. Where does it come from? It goes to diaphragm C on the firewall
D. This is a vacuum line. Where does it come from and go to? Appear to run towards the front of engine. Is this supposed to go to the carburetor, see next image.

Image 3 (Firewall_Vacuum_Electrical_3.PNG):
This is in regards to the vacuum lines on the carburetor and the ones at the top of the fuel pump. I note this car has A/C and so the fuel pump has a vacuum function as well at the top.
1. This is a vacuum line coming from carburetor base. Where else does it go?
2. This is the vacuum line coming from the carburetor diaphragm on driver side of carb. Where else does it go? Does this connect with 1. above and D. above through a T (which is missing)?
3. This is the metal vacuum line which comes from the vacuum part at top of fuel pump and runs to the back of carburetor base. Where does the other side of the vacuum top part of the fuel pump go to? Does it vent to air and is simply not connected to anything else?

Lastly, I see another broken off orange wire near the ignition resistor. It appears this is a split off of the harness coming from the firewall driver side, below the voltage regulator and runs towards the ignition resistor and coil and another part to the front of the engine thermostat housing (probably for engine temperature sensor). Near the resistor/coil area, three wires come out of the harness: yellow (goes to resistor), black (goes to coil) and orange (this is the one that is broken off/chewed up). Where does this orange wire need to go?

That's it for now. Any help appreciated. Let me know if anything needs clarification.

Thanks, PmgR
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redoldsman

You need to go on ebay and get you a factory shop manual. You need it for the car anyway but it has all the schematics color coded. It is one of the best things you can ever buy. Shop for price because they vary. They are usually around $40 and the payback is instant. Here is one for $44.50 that is in excellent shape. Do not buy the CD version.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-59-Old...lAj6:rk:5:pf:0

Charlie Jones

This may be some help ;

pmgriphone

Hi RedsOldMan,

Thank you for your response.

I do have the manual. However, I searched inside out (carb section, electrical section, distributor section, engine section, etc.) but I can't find anything about the vacuum lines.

I have also studied the electrical diagram, but I can't find anything about those wires I posted about, e.g. the yellow and black wire that leave the harness near the coil, that is shown clearly in the wiring diagram, but I have no idea why there is that orange wire. I can't find it in the diagram. Same for those other wires that come from the fire wall. They appear to go to a resistor block on the fender, but I can't find it in the wiring diagram. The one that is there has the wrong colors.

Hence, I was hoping there is someone on this list who has the same car who can check for me.

PmgR

pmgriphone

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for that diagram.

I guess that solves the problem of the vacuum lines. I know now where all four vacuum lines in image 2 go: one to the fuel pump and the other three to the three diaphragms on the firewall.

The other vacuum line from image 1 goes to the water valve on the back of the engine.

So all that is left to figure out now are the electrical connections and the vacuum pipe hookup near the carburetor (image 3)

PmgR

pmgriphone

I think I have figured the electrical wiring out now. I went through the service manual page by page and found figure 14-37 about which contains the wiring diagram for a car with A/C and heater.

The cyan, green, orange and black wire (number 3 in image 1) that come from the firewall are the A/C harness: orange, green and cyan go to the A/C evaporator resistor on the passenger fender. The black wire goes to the A/C compressor clutch solenoid (this wire got chewed up completely).

The other black wire that comes from the firewall goes to the blower master switch.

So only thing left to figure out are the two vacuum connections on the carburetor.

Thanks all so far!

PmgR

pmgriphone

I believe that the two vacuum lines on the carburator are supposed to be connected with a T and the third line of the T is supposed to go to the vacuum advance of the distributor? Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks, PmgR
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