1979 Mark Bill Blass Headlamp Issues

Hi,
I am having issues with the headlamp covers opening and closing on my ’79 Lincoln Bill Blass… The car has the autolamp feature,and didn’t do this before (years ago), however the car had been in storage for a number of years, and was wondering if there were some seals or something that are prone to drying up and leaking or something.
I took the vacuum lines off of the headlight door actuators and tried some self diagnosis with a handheld manual vacuum pump, and the doors would open and close. After ruling out vacuum leaks there, I then reversed the lines on the left hand side of the engine compartment…just so I could have the “cool factor” of the doors being closed while driving…in the daytime at least…not so cool when it gets dark and you pop the hood to reverse the lines again lol. I’m hoping that it’s not the headlight switch itself, seems to be very difficult to find for a car with the autolamp option.
Anyway, a little about the car; it’s a ’79 Lincoln Mark V, Bill Blass, white and dark blue with white leather and electric moonroof. As far as I know, it has all options except a CB radio. The car was purchased new by my Dad in either 1978 or 1979, haven’t been able to find the original bill of sale yet, but it’ll turn up. My Dad passed away in 2008, and my Mom sold their house, however her new house only had an 18′ long garage, and my Dad wanted this car kept in the family, so I brought it from it’s original home (garaged since new) near Vancouver British Columbia to my home in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan where it stays in my heated garage. It has 46,000 kms on it now. It’s near mint…except on the RHS door, it has a small door ding where my bicycle fell over when I was about 11 years old…(my butt still hurts!!!) lol.
Attached is a couple of pictures, and thanks for your site…lots of useful information.
Kevin Jurovich


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Greetings Kevin,
Your car looks like a very nice well optioned Mark. Driving and maintaining it should give you many years of pleasure. The “Autolamp” feature issues that you are experiencing and some of the methods to diagnose them have been posted previously on the blog. George will provide you with the links to them. If you would need the original correct shop manuals for your car (these include the AUTOLAMP section in very good detail) , any further information or any parts for the repair feel free to contact us at any time.
Sincerely,
Bill
Kevin –
If you type “autolamp” in the search section of our blog – you will find numerous posts in regards to your issues as this is a common problem on Lincolns. After you have reviewed these posts – please feel free to contact us with further questions. I have enclosed a link to the Blog with Autolamp already in the search.
George @ Lincoln Land
Link: https://www.lincolnlandinc.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=AUTOLAMP