I searched: Weird Headlight Problem

[renob123]

I tried searching for this, but I couldn't find an answer.

 

On my '85 Brat, the low beams work fine. However, when I flip the turn signal lever to activate the high beams, then the high beams don't come on, and my low beams turn off. This happens when I push or pull the turn signal lever.

 

I checked the fuses, and they looked fine, so I'm not sure where to go from there. The weird thing is that the fuses are for the left and right sides of the car, so having the low beams working means that the fuses are fine, right?

 

Thanks.

 

Jacob

[baccaruda]

someone may have purchased the wrong type of headlight bulbs for your car?

It might also be some sort of relay problem but I'm not familiar with the headlight wiring for your car. Good luck!

[silverhelme]

Had the same problem on my 84 wagon. Somewhere in the circut between the headlight and the switch it was shorted. I ended up just cutting the wire out at both end andputting in a new one. It took a little while with a multimeter to identify which wire it was coming out of the switch but solved the problem.

[Skip]

"The weird thing is that the fuses are for the left and right sides of the car,"

That is designed in case you have a fuse blowing short in one side,

both sides don't go out - leaving you as Stevie Wonder on a dark street.

 

"so having the low beams working means that the fuses are fine, right?"

Correct.

 

Have you invstigated the possibility of the lamps being burned out?

There are two filaments in the low beams, maybe both sides the

high beam filament is toast.

As are both high beam lamps - unliely but possible.

 

I belive "silver helm" meant to say "open" not "short"

as a short would blow fuses.

 

I'll get out the FSM for your car if you want and get you some wire colors.

[bheinen74]

sounds kinda like my 85 brat headlight issue, which i caused.

I put in the Hella H4 conversion lamps, in place of stock. In all 4 front lights.

 

At first, they worked fine, but then one day i noticed that i could not de-high beam, the high beam indicator on dash was on even when the dimmer lever was not, and all 4 lights stayed on high no matter what. And, i could not turn any lights off with the headlight switch, switch off, still lights on.

I re did the wire connectors, and seemed to work again for a while, then same.

I put electrical tape one the 4 corners of the hella lights, thinking they maybe were grounding....

I m lost. So, at this point, I unhooked high beam connectors. now, whenever i hook up a high beam bulb, t comes on. Brat is w/o clutch, so for now no biggie, but would like to get a plan to fix.

wire digram would be good. Skip, where would i need to put in a relay? how.

thanks

good luck too.

[renob123]

"The weird thing is that the fuses are for the left and right sides of the car,"

That is designed in case you have a fuse blowing short in one side,

both sides don't go out - leaving you as Stevie Wonder on a dark street.

 

"so having the low beams working means that the fuses are fine, right?"

Correct.

 

Have you invstigated the possibility of the lamps being burned out?

There are two filaments in the low beams, maybe both sides the

high beam filament is toast.

As are both high beam lamps - unliely but possible.

 

I belive "silver helm" meant to say "open" not "short"

as a short would blow fuses.

 

I'll get out the FSM for your car if you want and get you some wire colors.

 

Ooh, I like colors. Any parts of the FSM that would help would be appreciated. With the low beam lights, there are two filaments? So when I flip the brights on, the filament actually switches in the low beam, plus it turns on the high beams?

 

Thanks for the help thus far.

 

Jacob

[Skip]

Ooh, I like colors. Any parts of the FSM that would help would be appreciated.

I'll get the FSM and see what I can dig up.

Your Brat does have four headlamps - correct?

 

With the low beam lights, there are two filaments? So when I flip the brights on, the filament actually switches in the low beam, plus it turns on the high beams?

 

That is absolutely correct sir.

[renob123]

I'll get the FSM and see what I can dig up.

Your Brat does have four headlamps - correct?

 

 

 

That is absolutely correct sir.

 

Yep, it has four.

 

Is there a smart way of testing whether the high filaments on my low beam bulbs is burned out? They're pretty new...

 

Jacob

[zyewdall]

Could the high beam relay be not kicking in?

 

Z

[renob123]

Could the high beam relay be not kicking in?

 

Z

 

I don't think there's a high beam relay. There's a left headlights relay, and a right headlights relay. That's why I decided this is a weird problem.

 

Jacob

[Skip]

sorry mate no high beam relay

 

headlight relay left

headlight relay right

 

Hi/low beam controled via the turn stalk switch.

 

I found a diagram, just have to get it scanned and uploaded.

 

Sorry for the redundancy, I've been digging and didn't see your post.

 

Easiest way to test a lamp is to use a multimeter set on ohms

or run a couple wires (clip leads) from the battery

Edited January 15, 2009 by Skip

[Skip]

Sorry for the delay

Below is your lighting diagram.

I would dive under the dash where the wires

come down from the steering col.

 

Find the connector for the high/low switching

shown on the right hand side of the diagram.

It is called the "Dimmer Switch"

 

ID it by the wire colors shown. (B, RY, RW, RB)

 

Then

Run a grounded wire to the terminal in the harness side

that has the Red/white wire.

 

With the key on the high beams and the dash indicator

should light.

 

If they do not, then

A) you have a broken wire

maybe at the connector shown at the top

or if that checks then silverhelm's solution maybe the answer.

 

your dimmer switch is knackered,

test for continuity between the RW and B wires going to the switch

 

Hope this helps

[renob123]

Sorry for the delay

Below is your lighting diagram.

I would dive under the dash where the wires

come down from the steering col.

 

Find the connector for the high/low switching

shown on the right hand side of the diagram.

It is called the "Dimmer Switch"

 

ID it by the wire colors shown. (B, RY, RW, RB)

 

Then

Run a grounded wire to the terminal in the harness side

that has the Red/white wire.

 

With the key on the high beams and the dash indicator

should light.

 

If they do not, then

A) you have a broken wire

maybe at the connector shown at the top

or if that checks then silverhelm's solution maybe the answer.

 

your dimmer switch is knackered,

test for continuity between the RW and B wires going to the switch

 

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the diagram. I ended up swapping my turn signal lever, and the brights work. The only problem is that I've lost dash lights, tail lights and license plate lights. I'm thinking about starting a thread devoted to my electrical problems...

 

Jacob