TAC Tech => Electrical => Topic started by: 75taguy on August 21, 2023, 05:05:31 PM
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Looking for some clarity on my wife's 78. The Low beams are not working. With the 4 headlights, are 2 high beam and 2 low beam? When on bright, all 4 headlights are on, and checking with a tester, there is no juice to any of the lights on low beam. Are all 4 lights supposed to be on with High Beam? Do I have a bad Hi/Low foot switch?
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With low beams on only the outer lights are on. With high beams on the outers switch to high beam and the inners come on (also high beam). The dimmer switch on the floor is the best place to start so you’re on the right track.
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Lucky you didn't post this on fbook that your wife's high-beams need attention. We are much more mature here....snigger :lol:
Check the basics every time. There's grounding for the headlight harness on each end of the radiator support, also a ground cable off battery or similar to support. The dimmer switches are cheap and fairly universal, good to have a spare or two just to swap over and test. Also, check the actual lights, are they original style sealed beams or swapped to halogens etc? That would also usually require a rearrangement in the wiring at the plug and many don't do it, leading to problems later. Likewise, slow overheating of the headlight switch at the plug can result until it parts ways after incorrect lighting used and excessive current draw. This can be overly powerful high beams or regular lighting used more often. Rewiring to use relays prevents these issues but helps to know what's going on first and why.
My own car came swapped with halogens, had a set of conversion harness plugs in the spares box which confused me for some time as to their use, and later found the headlight plug terminals all melted, but taped to hold in place. Nice repair. And then it starts to become clear why.
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Thanks for the replies, my issue was the dimmer switch itself.
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Cars and trucks of the 70s all had the floor dimmer problem. Salt, snow and water got to them. I remember jumping the wire with a fence staple as a kid. :-D
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Is it just me that selects a dimmer switch based on the sound? Instead of Click-Click, it needs to go Thoomp-Thoomp.
Anyway.....glad you got it sorted!
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Is it just me that selects a dimmer switch based on the sound? Instead of Click-Click, it needs to go Thoomp-Thoomp.
Anyway.....glad you got it sorted!
Ha! I’ll have to keep that in mind when (not if) I’m in the market for one