jaunty75

I'm starting over here in the wagons forum after having had a lengthy run about this car over in the cars for sale for forum. Now that the car is bought and in my garage and the fun begins, I thought I'd start again over here.

Attached is a photo of the beast taken the night (January 22) it arrived in my garage. It's a '73 Custom Cruiser, three seat, "honey beige" in color, with 102,599 miles, purchased from the family of the original owner (who died last summer) who kept the most complete set of service records you could imagine. Every time he wiped a dead bug off the windshield, he stopped to write down the date and mileage. It's not quite like that, but it's close. We should all have 10% of the quality of the records that this man kept.

The car had sat for five years after being completely repainted in 2005. The last time the car was in for service anywhere, in 2005, it had 102,588 miles on the odometer. Yes, that means only 11 miles have been put on the car in the last almost 5 years. It did start up with a little coaxing and a new battery and was driven onto the car carrier and brought to my home, where it was driven off the carrier and into my garage.

I've found many interesting things in going through the service records, and I'll post those later, but I do have one immediate concern.

The tailgate is stuck about 4" down from the fully up position. The rear window goes in and out of the roof just fine, but the electrically-powered lower tailgate won't move. I checked the fuse, and it was blown. I put a new one in, and it blew immediately. Anyone have a suggestion or any experience with these? I don't know if the fuse blew immediately after I put the key on or not until I actually moved the dash switch.

I would love to just hook a battery up to the motor directly just to get the gate to close so the car is water tight, but I don't want to do that unless I know exactly what I'm doing. I don't yet have a set of service manuals, and I'm willing to wait until I get those before attempting anything. My great fear is that the motor itself is somehow damaged or burned out because I imagine it is not easy to find a replacement.

In case you were wondering, we taped plastic trash bags over the 4" gap in the rear while the car was being trailered home, and it didn't end up raining, anyway.

The rear area around the trunk and third seat has much of the trim removed, so I have easy access to the motor. I don't know why the former owner removed all of this. I doubt it was just to get at the motor because quite a bit more trim than is needed to reach the motor was removed. I think he was planning to refurbish much of the rear inside area as part of the restoration he was doing when he died.

Thanks!

The Stickman

Wow cool story can wait to here more about this wagon.

rocketraider

I looked thru the 73 Fisher Body book last night and convinced me I'd rather not tackle that job!

Have you tried it from the outside switch?

Book says this circuit should have a circuit breaker in it and not a fuse. I'll try to research a little more tonight. Could be as simple as it should have a 40A breaker in the accessory fuse clip.

Anyway, good score.

jaunty75

Now you're giving me confidence!

There is a switch mounted on the left side trim panel just below the left rear window. As I've said, the rear trim on this car has been removed. In fact, here's a photo of that area.



Some of what you see is just the parts that were stored in the car, but the tailgate motor is visible to the left. So this rear switch is at the end of that black wire you see hanging down. It looks properly connected and all, but I haven't tried it. It's a good suggestion. I bought a half-dozen 20-amp fuses, and I expect to blow them all as well as another box worth in the course of fixing this.


I found a 20-amp fuse in the fuse panel down under the dash on the left side labeled "tail," and it was blown when I first looked at it and blew again when I replaced it. If there's another 40-amp fuse or a circuit breaker somewhere, I haven't found either. Do you know where either of these are? I don't have the manual you have yet, but's ordered.

Thanks!

jeffreyalman

I thought your name looked familiar LOL. I can assure you this, even with the gate closed it will be far from watertight, at least mine is.

Have you tried using the key at the rear? The switch at the left rear inner is for the dome light for rear seat passengers and if you are loading from the rear.

Like I said on the stationwagon boards, mine quit once, then worked fine a minute later, like a breaker blew and reset.

The fuse labeled TAIL is TAIL LAMPS

jaunty75

Yep, we can run, but we can't hide.

I figured as much, but I gotta do something. That brings up another tiny question. The rubber weatherstripping on either side of the upper part where the rear window moves through is there but is old and cracked. Is there any source of this rubber? I was told by the seller that his father-in-law had no luck locating it, and given that it would be unique to the station wagon, I'm not surprised to hear this.

Now that you mention it, that is what that little switch is for, isn't it? The key on the outside rear right moves the window up and down just fine depending on which way you twist it, but the tailgate doesn't move. Does it control both at once? I would have thought not as there might be a time where you want to open the window only.

You know, for all the service records and original paperwork I got on this car, one thing I didn't get was an owner's manual. I contacted the seller, and he's looking around for it, and I know it's easily replaced via ebay, but for now I don't have it. I'm sure it would explain the operation of the tailgate.


I wondered about that, too! I noticed that when I turn on the headlights, they go on, but the taillights do not. So the blowing of this 20-amp fuse is just a coincidence, isn't it? Live and learn, and I am learning. Thank you!

Anyway, do you know where the 40-amp fuse and/or circuit breaker are located? As I say, I've got the manuals on order, but I don't have them yet.

jeffreyalman

sorry I do not know where the breaker is.

The key works as follows: center, off (duh) turn to the left, window opens, then gate, then both. turn to the right, window closes, then gate, then both

sorry for the crude dwg, and I may have open and closed reversed

jaunty75

It's quite helpful, thank you. I'm sure I'll be able to track down the breaker.

jeffreyalman

as you may recall, I drive my wagon every day

jaunty75

Yes, but you live in Florida. The rest of us hate you can-drive-your-nice-cars-year-round types.


After a very cold first two weeks of January followed by about two weeks of the annual January thaw (it was about 50 degrees both days this past weekend around here), we're about to head back into more typical January/February weather, with lows in the 20s and highs in the 30s.

jeffreyalman

sorry I always for get about the north, been here so long I take it for granted. I have the heat disconnected (heater cores bypassed) in all 3 of mine, no chance of leaky heater cores, and the A/C is colder (I have 40 degrees at the vents in all 3)

Aron Nance

Jaunty: You might check w/Steele Rubber or Soff Seal (I'm pretty sure they both have websites) on the rear rubber for your wagon. Steele was great working w/me on the rear rubber on the Silver Bullet; highly recommend them. Again, congratulations on saving another Olds!
Aron

jaunty75

Thanks, Aron. I had gotten kind of discouraged when the seller told me his father-in-law had looked but couldn't find any. I know he knew of Steele as he has that name written down in his restoration folder, but whether he tried them or not for this specific need, I don't know, but even if he did, things might have changed over the last five years, and maybe Steele has something now. It's certainly worth an ask.

rocketraider

Steele has come up with a lot of new items the last couple years. Give them a try. If it isn't listed under Oldsmobile, check under Chevrolet as the tailgate area is identical on all 71-76 GM B wagons- Kingswood/Caprice Estate, Safari/Grand Safari, Custom Cruiser and Buick LeSabre Estate.

jaunty75

Excellent suggestion. Thanks.!

jeffreyalman

I went to Steele a few months ago, they did not have it

jaunty75

In looking around the site, I'm not seeing anything for either the Olds or Chevy '71-'76 wagons.

jeffreyalman

to be honest with you, I do not think those seals will help ME, mine are there and they look good but it leaks, I think maybe from the chrome molding across the top of the window

442_1972

Cool wagon - congrats!

I had a problem with the tail lamp circuit on my 69 GTO similar to what you are describing. It turned out to be a ground wire on the circuit that had worked its way loose. It took me a while to find because the wire was grounded to the core support behind the driver's side headlight. This was probably 25 years ago but one of those things I will never forget. I bet I went through five boxes of fuses trying to figure that problem out! lol!

jaunty75

Thank you for the tip!

I've already spotted what look like two bad grounds in the rear area of the car. I haven't had a chance to clean them yet, but I know what you're talking about with the fuses. It's too bad they never made small circuit breakers you could put in in place of the fuse and just reset it. Too expensive I guess, as most people never need to replace a fuse as they go through life with their cars.

jeffreyalman

they did! when I bought my 74 Cutlass Salon, the A/C did not work, the fuse kept blowing. I took it to Pioneer Oldsmobile in North Hollywood, CA and they replaced the glass fuse in the fuse block with a breaker. I never had a problem again.

http://www.cooperbussmann.com/6/GlassTubeFuses.html

jaunty75

You know, I wondered about that. Thank you for the link. I see that they sell these at Autozone, among other places. I've never seen them at my local store, but I've never actually looked specifically for them. Now I will! Thanks again.

jeffreyalman

very welcome, and if I recall, automatically resets. I have a few on my current fleet under the hood where there is an in-line fuse for high blower (that fuse tends to blow due to heat and weather and dirt and corrosion)

jaunty75

Thanks. But if it automatically resets, how does it actually work? I would think that if the short were still present, it could get into some kind of infinite loop where it resets, trips, resets, trips, forever. Does it somehow sense when the short is no longer present and then reset? When I think of a circuit breaker, I think of the ones in the electrical panel in my house. They trip, and you have to manually reset them.

Anyway, here's an update. I finally had a chance yesterday morning to remove the tailgate motor (three easy bolts), and then the gate would move up and down freely. But I couldn't pull it all the way up. When it's up as far as I can pull it, there's still about a 1/2" gap. Is there some kind of latch that I'm meeting the resistance of and I just have to push a little harder? Something to look into.

I needed the back end closed up because I needed to drive the car to the local title office to get a new title. Because I brought it in from out of state, I needed to get a "VIN inspection," which is what Ohio requires of any car brought in from out of state if you want to title it in Ohio. Because it's cold and wintry around here, I didn't want to have to drive the car the 10-mile round trip to the title office if it wasn't weather tight.

I got the VIN inspection, and it turned out that there was an error in the VIN on the West Virginia title dating all the way back to when the car was first titled in 1973. The second character is a "Q", but it had been recorded as an "0", which was an easy mistake to make if one looked only quickly on the VIN plate on the car, which is down very low under the windshield and kind of hard to see. I pointed out the error, and they made sure to record it correctly. I got the title and registered the car as an historic vehicle using a 1973 Ohio license plate I found at an antique store.

So now that the car is all legal with the state of Ohio, I can focus on the problems. The car actually ran quite well on the trip to the title office as that was certainly the longest and farthest the car had been driven since 2005. The heater worked great, which was nice on a 20-degree day, but I notice a coolant leak that looked like it was coming from within the radiator itself. So that will have to come out and get looked at by a radiator shop, and I'll replace the two hoses as well as they look like they could use it.

Other vitals on the car look ok, though. According to the service records, the brakes were redone just before the car was parked in 2005, so they had about 11 miles on them when I got it. The pedal is firm, and the car stops straight and fast, so I'm not anticipating anything needed there. The oil looks like it was changed yesterday, and it was right on the full mark. I changed all the spark plugs. The previous ones were put on in 1994, 16 years and about 7,000 miles ago. Certainly not old as far as miles go, but the electrodes were covered in black, and I'm assuming that's because those 7,000 miles were mostly short, in-town drives, and the engine may not very often have fully warmed up. The carburetor was rebuilt twice over the car's life, last in 1995 with about 96,000 miles on it. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I took the air cleaner off, and the carb looks clean enough to eat off of.

While I was out yesterday, I stopped at the gas station and added about 5 gallons of gas. I had also put in two gallons at home from my lawnmower/snowblower cans, so that's about 7 gallons, which moved the fuel gauge from just under 1/2 to about 3/4. I'm hoping to get the old gas burned through as it appears that the tank was about 1/2 full when the car was parked in 2005. It started up and ran on that old gas, but it seems to be getting slowly happier as the new gas mixes with the old.

The gas tank itself is a bit interesting as it's not the original. According to the service records, the original tank was replaced back in 1981 when the car had about 62,000 miles on it (62,111, to be exact). The reason for the replacement was not given, but that does seem early, both mileage and time-wise.

Then, the current tank was removed, cleaned, and "limed" back on 12/28/04 when the car had about 102,000 miles on it, which was only about 600 miles ago, as the car now has 102,600 miles on it. So I'm assuming the gas tank is good and clean and happy, and I was pleased to see the gauge move when I added gas after having had problems (and still having them) with the sending unit on my '67 Delta 88. But the fix for that is coming, too, as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

Next will be removing and testing the tailgate motor with a 12-volt power supply I have. If it's the cause of the problem, there's a fellow over on the stationwagonforums.com site who says he has an extra one.

I did find out that the circuit breaker for the tailgate motor circuit is supposed to be mounted right on the fuse panel. I'm hoping that the motor is fine and that the circuit breaker is fine and it just turns out to be a bad ground.


One last thing for now. I received the 1973 Fisher Body manual. The chassis manual is still on order. I wanted the manual because another thing I need to do is adjust the hood so that it aligns properly with the cowl and fenders.

Well, if I asked you, of the two manuals, chassis and body, where would you expect to find instructions on how to adjust the hood, you would likely say the body manual, right? So did I. I was wrong. It's not in there. All they have about the hood is information on the release mechanism you pull on under the dash.

So I dug out my two manuals for my '67 Delta to see in which of them was the hood adjustment instructions, and sure enough, they are in the chassis service manual. I'm guessing that the hood hinge technology and thus the adjustment method didn't change much between 1967 and 1973, so I'm assuming the instructions for 1967 will apply to the '73 if I get impatient and want to work on it before the '73 chassis manual arrives.

But getting back to my original point, to ME, the chassis service manual should cover everything under the hood and anything else on the car below about my knee level. Because that's where the @$%#^ chassis is! The BODY manual should cover anything above knee level, and that's where the hood is!

jeffreyalman

no clue, but I think different scenarios have different results, for example way back in the day, my 74 Salon had no blower speeds (if I recall correctly) and they replaced the under-dash fuse with a breaker, and the A/C and blower worked fine for years after that.

On my current cars, there is a fuse under the hood for the high-blower power feed that goes to the high blower relay. That fuse is subject to intense heat, and may be ok under way with a breeze coming in from under the hood, but while idling, or in a parade, or traffic, or a drive through, I have had all 3 of mine blow.

One was in the Toronado on the way to the 2008 Nationals in Bowling Green, no hi speed, but 1 2 & 3 worked fine. It was that fuse, someone on line at Nats reg showed me but did not have the fuse (had toms of stuff but not the right fuse) I had a box of them in the glovebox.

Maybe fuses just get old and after years of life in extreme conditions, they do not need a short to blow.

When the same breaker blew in the 88 during a parade, it reset itself after we got moving.

Another time I lost speeds 3 and hi on the 88 and it was 2 different problems.

I have had so much A/C trouble between the 3 of these cars, but everything works now.

I had the VIR eliminated on all 3 (you MAY have one!!!)

I love my cars.

So is the gate motor getting power? Remember the gate switch only works in park, maybe a Neutral safety switch?

Hmmmm

jeffreyalman

in case you have not seen this yet

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main...._itemId=123175

jaunty75

It does not appear to be. The window moves, so I'm guessing it's not a neutral safety switch type issue because I assume that that would cause both the window and gate not to move. But if I stand at the back of the car with engine off and the car in park and put the key in the slot on the right side and twist it, just like I would have done back in the day, the window moves up and down just fine, but the gate not at all.

jeffreyalman

the window will work in any gear from the dash switch, the gate will only work in park from the dash. I would assume the same would be true of the key at the rear, but don't know for sure, never left in in gear and got out to try but I could!

jaunty75

Actually, I have that exact brochure, although it's not in as nice a shape as the one in that scan appears to be. It was included with all the paperwork the family gave me when I got the car.

Also included was a nifty little 12-page, 7" by 10" brochure on trailering with your 1973 Oldsmobile. Here's three pages from it. I like how, in the second scan, the color of the Custom Cruiser is the same as my car.









As I said early on in all this, in looking at the option list on the window sticker, with the heavy duty cooling system and superlift shocks, you get the impression the owner intended to do trailer towing, and the fact that he had this brochure supports that. But there is no hitch on the car, and in all the service paperwork, there is no mention of one ever being put on or taken off. Maybe he abandoned the idea early on.

jeffreyalman

great brochure! might have been a dream to see the USA in his Oldsmobile that never happened.

I wonder what the diffs in the L74, L75 and L78 were. My CC and Toro both have 455s but different engine codes in the VIN. The Toro pings, maybe that's the diff

jaunty75

I think L74 was the designation for a 455 4-bbl on a Custom Cruiser, 98, or Delta 88. L75 was the designation for the same engine and carb, but on a Cutlass, Cutlass S, Cutlass Supreme, or a Vista Cruiser. L78 was the same engine and carb but with dual exhaust and available only on the Toronado. That could explain why your VIN engine codes are different for your two cars.

OLD SKL 69

Looks like a nice find Jaunty. I always liked those, especially the rear view with the wrap-around glass and the tail lights. Cosmetically, how is she? Is all the paint good, any rust? What are you planning to do with her?

Hope you get your electrical gremlins fixed.

jaunty75

The car was completely repainted in 2005, and it never left the garage between then and when I bought it on January 22, so the body and paint are in great shape, although dirty. I've been wanting to simply hose it off, but I wanted to get the tailgate closed up so it's water tight, and I just want the temperature outside to get within spitting distance of the freezing mark! As I sit and write this, it's a freaking 12 degrees outside! We MIGHT get above freezing today.

I bought it from the original owner's family. He had begun a restoration back in '05, but he took ill shortly after and died last summer. So the rear interior is partly disassembled, and not all the trim is back on the car (front bumper and roof rack, for example), but the bumper was sent out for rechroming back in '05 also, and it's still in the wrapper it came back from the chrome shop in. It just needs to be reattached.

My plan is to put it back to original condition as much as possible. No modifications or large wheels or anything like that. It will need a new carpet, and the front seat bottom needs to be reupholstered. The front seat backs and second and third seat are all ok and just need to be cleaned.

Disco Dave

Hey I have one of those too! Nice wagon. Maybe when I get mine done I'll come to Ohio and we can drag race them or something.

jaunty75

Sounds like a plan!

jeffreyalman

LOL dragracing CCs all I can think of is the needle on the gas gauge... Jaunty what's happening with your car? Any chance to play with it?

jaunty75

Not a lot! I'm dying to get down into the garage and work on it, but it's been so cold that even in the garage, which has some heat, it's not that comfortable.

The most recent activity has to do with the cooling system. When I had it out on the road a couple of weeks ago to get it inspected and titled, I noticed coolant on the fan shroud which I figured was coming from the radiator itself and not the tanks on either end or hoses or anything like that. So when we had the mini-est of heat waves a week and a half ago, I took off all the hoses, pulled the radiator, and took it to a shop. They fixed it up for me and said that it was, in fact, leaking in amongst the fins. So I've got it back all nicely fixed and painted, I've gotten the replacement hoses (had to order one from Rock Auto, the other from Autozone) as well as some other parts, and now I'm just waiting for the temperature to get back into the semi-reasonable range as I like to do this kind of work out in the driveway. But not today. It's 20 degrees outside right now.

I also had a little excitement with the front bumper. As you know, that was not on the car when I got it but rather was still in the wrapping it came back from the chrome plating shop in back in 2005. When I finally received the shop manual and looked at the section dealing with the front bumper, I discovered that the bumper actually came in two parts, an outer "bar," which is the part you see and which was rechromed, and an inner "reinforcement" which the outer part attaches to and which is what actually attaches to the car. All that was wrapped inside the packaging was the outer part, and I didn't have the inner part.

So I contacted the former owners, and they kindly searched around and found not only this part, but the spare tire, which also wasn't with the car when I got it and which still had the original, non-radial Goodrich tire on it, a car cover for it that had also been purchased back about 5 years ago, and a plastic trim piece for under the hood.

I'm anxious to reattach the bumper as that should certainly improve the look of the car, but this, again, requires warm weather!

So, yes, the job stack is increasing by the hour. All I can do is line stuff up and anxiously await some warmer weather. I still need to tackle the tailgate motor as well as a short in the taillight circuit. Heck, I haven't even had a decent enough day to pull it out into the driveway and wash it!

Right now, we've been averaging about 20 degrees below normal for daily high temperatures. I'm expecting nature to be self-correcting and very shortly give us a couple of weeks of 20 degree ABOVE normal temperatures!

jeffreyalman

bummer about the bumper but cool that they have it and are easy to work with, how are you going to get those pcs?

jaunty75

No, I DO have the needed bumper piece. The former owners did have it, and they also had the spare tire, car cover, etc. I'm all set to go on the bumper reattachment. Just need a reasonably mild day.

jeffreyalman

sorry did not realize they were so close