headlight problems

jim · January 15, 2011, 12:57:07 PM

On the 83 with the new motor -
One evening the headlights went off and came back on. The next morning they wouldn't turn on at all.
I'm about to look through the TSM, but if anyone has suggestions where to start I'll appreciate it.
Did we ever decide where the headlight relay is hiding?

As I was writing this I had a thought -
I went out and checked - I have high beams but no low beams.
I do have parking lights.
What does this tell us?

jim · January 15, 2011, 01:07:39 PM

Correction - I have low beams and no high beams.
I never drive with high beams; I don't know why they would have been on;
at any rate when they went out I didn't have any lights. If the highs had been on and quit
the lows should have been still on.
At least I can drive it. I now have heat and lights on both the 83 and the 88.
I hope the lights on the 83 don't go out when I'm driving it but the only way to know is to try.

thereverendbill · January 15, 2011, 01:39:11 PM

on my 83 when the highbeams come on the low beams go out, but that does nothing for why you have no high beams. What i would look at is the connector that puts power to the lights (on the headlight) and look for corrosion there, if that looks good I'd check the ground and trace the wires as far as you can and look for any breaks in the wire

IowaEagle · January 15, 2011, 02:34:15 PM

When High Beams are on all lamps should be lit. The circuit breaker is built into the switch. You need to replace the switch IF the breaker is bad.

jim · January 15, 2011, 03:09:54 PM

I have a spare switch, and I think I know where it is. It's only 130 miles from here. Looks like that can wait a while.
I'll check the original switch for corrosion and ground, but I'll wait until I have the replacement on hand.
I don't know when that will be.
I am concerned that the low beams went out and are now back on. They may go out again.

Jurjen · January 15, 2011, 06:32:24 PM

Silly question: did you check the high beam units for conductivity? They may both be broken.

AMCKen · January 15, 2011, 06:41:00 PM

Quote from: Jurjen on January 15, 2011, 06:32:24 PM
Silly question: did you check the high beam units for conductivity? They may both be broken.

Fixed a Nissan once with this problem. The driver didn't notice one highbeam out but did notice when the second one went.

For your problem I'd also check the dimmer switch and the connector there (steering column).

jim · January 15, 2011, 07:22:05 PM

I haven't, and it's true that I might not have noticed if one had already been out and the other went out later. I will check that.
It doesn't explain why the low beams went out, came back on, and then wouldn't not come on the next day, and now seem OK.

maddog · January 15, 2011, 09:49:03 PM

it sounds like there may be a short somewhere in the light harness. i know for a fact that the low beams on survivor (also an 83) stay on when i turn on the high beams so the possibility of you having a bad switch is possible although as i said before it could be the result of a short.

thereverendbill · January 15, 2011, 10:06:35 PM

well, the more I think about it I upgraded from the sealed beam units to halogen and i will sometime this summer upgrade again to HID lights so that may be why my low beams shut down when i turn on the high beams

ammachine390 · January 16, 2011, 12:00:32 AM

Kind of confused on your situation but I thought I'd just say that the 2 outer lights actually have a low and a high beam within the assembly. When you turn on the high beams with the turn signal stalk, the low beams in the outer lights turn off and the high beams turn in addition to the inner high beam set. So just because the outer lights work when high beams are off doesn't mean they are good.

IowaEagle · January 16, 2011, 08:39:45 AM

Yes, what amcmachine390 said. Both of your low beam filaments may be just burned out.

Jurjen · January 16, 2011, 11:26:57 AM

Good to check the famous ground on the firewall, near the brake booster too.
Clean it with a wire brush and sandpaper and use some vaseline when connecting the wires again.

jim · January 17, 2011, 06:05:33 PM

I plan to do check that ground. I did check that the extra ground from the ac compressor to the firewall looks good.
I know it is possible for all those bulbs/filaments burned out, and I will check. I wouldn't have thought that many
could go at once.

LaGuardia · January 27, 2011, 11:53:49 AM

Had a similar (if not the same) problem some time ago.

The reason was in #6 picture of this post: http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=15611.0

Now I believe the light switch just gone bad and fried the connector. Replaced the switch, rewired the connector, rebuild the plastic connector casing in some way and everything was ok again.

Never had problems again.

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headlight problems