1978 Malibu Update Thread

[78mali350]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got it out of the storage shed over easter weekend, hooked the battery up and started right up so that was pleasing. I have a question for you all. When driving at night due to the crappy lights in this car I have to turn the brights on just to be safe. Last fall was the last time that I had to do this and ever since then now my brights are stuck on. Do you think this would be a fuse type thing or is it something in the actual switch? I know that this is hard just to describe and understand if nobody has a clue what I am talking about, but thought I would post an update none the less. Also on a good note there was no rust after this winter! The simple flat black paint I put on last year still looks great so that was a plus as well. As far as plans for the car I want to get the lights fixed, new plug wires installed, A/C installed and a few other minor things. Sorry about the novel! Thanks for any help that you have

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got it out of the storage shed over easter weekend, hooked the battery up and started right up so that was pleasing. I have a question for you all. When driving at night due to the crappy lights in this car I have to turn the brights on just to be safe. Last fall was the last time that I had to do this and ever since then now my brights are stuck on. Do you think this would be a fuse type thing or is it something in the actual switch? I know that this is hard just to describe and understand if nobody has a clue what I am talking about, but thought I would post an update none the less. Also on a good note there was no rust after this winter! The simple flat black paint I put on last year still looks great so that was a plus as well. As far as plans for the car I want to get the lights fixed, new plug wires installed, A/C installed and a few other minor things. Sorry about the novel! Thanks for any help that you have

Just to be clear, you can still turn the headlights off, right?

If so, it's probably the switch...

[78mali350]

yes lights can still turn on and off, but when they are on it's brights only. the switch on the column is what controls the brights and I am afraid I am going to have to tear into that to try to fix this problem

[ITSSLOW]

It's the switch in the cluster. Same thing in our camaro only ours sticks in low beams. Very rarely can you actually get it in high.

[78mali350]

so the switch is bad then? even though i can still turn the lights on and off? As soon as i'm back to the car I have a "fix lights day" as i solve this problem and a fog light problem on my truck.

[ITSSLOW]

so the switch is bad then? even though i can still turn the lights on and off? As soon as i'm back to the car I have a "fix lights day" as i solve this problem and a fog light problem on my truck.

It's not the switch in the dash, its the switch in the steering column.

[78mali350]

alright, that's what i was thinkin, thank you for the help

[78mali350]

hey guys just have a verification question. high/low beam switch that went bad in my steering column would this be a proper replacement?

ACDELCO Part # D817 {#07838234, 7838234}
SWITCH,HDLP DIMR ON STRG COLUMN

apparently amazon sells it to, go figure http://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-D817-S.../dp/B000C9OM8U

just need to know if this will hopefully solve my problem.

Also as an update just spent another 200 on parts for new plug wires, new waterneck, and new electric water temp and oil pressure autometer gauges. Thanks for the help guys

[1bad83ta]

hey guys just have a verification question. high/low beam switch that went bad in my steering column would this be a proper replacement?

ACDELCO Part # D817 {#07838234, 7838234}
SWITCH,HDLP DIMR ON STRG COLUMN

apparently amazon sells it to, go figure http://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-D817-S.../dp/B000C9OM8U

just need to know if this will hopefully solve my problem.

Also as an update just spent another 200 on parts for new plug wires, new waterneck, and new electric water temp and oil pressure autometer gauges. Thanks for the help guys

Is the switch in the column soley for the hi/low beams? Or does it also have the cruise control and wipers on it? If I remember correctly this switch is a TON of money. ~100 bux. I may be totally incorrect though. I sometimes have a problem with mine and if I pull it just the right way it works still.

[78mali350]

i've done my best to turn it every which way but with no luck. This piece controls the high/low beams, turn signals, and technically has the cruise option but that has never been hooked up on the car and never caused a problem before.

[78mali350]

Hey first off I did get the lights figured out on the car. The switch that had gone bad was a switch that was on the bottom of the steering column. Replaced that and now everything is good with the lights. Also the past two nights I have installed my new all aluminum radiator, a new thermosdat and waterneck and *knocks on wood* have officially solved my heating issue with the car. So now FINALLY I believe I can take this car on some road trips (next years M&G) and put some miles on the car without having to worry the whole time. I will try to post some pics sometime of the new radiator but as far as updates that's about all I have for the car except some new spark plug wires that are next on the list to get installed.

[Gottork]

nice, glad you got the issues figured out, makes it less frustrating when wanting to cruise

[78mali350]

yeah no kidding! I put more miles on this car in the last weekend than I have been able to this whole summer due to the heating issue but now all is well. I need to post some new pics though with these updates ha

[78mali350]

Thread hasn't really been updated in a while:

Car finally go driven this past summer. Finally was able to put a thousand miles or so on the car this past summer and that is quite a bit considering it's only had about 3-4k on it since I've owned it. Also a few weekends ago I did place SECOND in my division in the local car show! Other updates were new moroso spark plug wires and looms that were black and cut to the correct length, look a lot better than the original yellow accell wires that I had on there. Also managed to get a 2" filter to fit under the scoop which helped with airflow quite a bit. As far as future updates, the car is waiting till I graduate college (may), then I think my first upgrade is going to be the rear, preferably a 9" Ford with a posi, gear ratio wise I haven't quite figured that out but I do have quite a bit of time before I'll be on that project. Other than that, not to many updates from me. Hopefully will be in the hunt for another camaro also when I graduate so my money will start to be spread between the two projects (hopefully)