Main dipped headlights not working

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Battery to kill switch to starter relay
"Amp meter bypass not alternator bypass" it was early...

 
GJUK said:
It appears so, even at the battery, in the boot. with a ground earth and on the 12v + on the battery I get only 5v reading. Take the battery off of the car and it is showing 12v. There must be a ground out live somewhere?
Click to expand...

Oh, HELL

If something was drawing enough current to pull the (a good) battery down to 5v, you would have a smoking mess with the fire dept over there

What you have is either a major bad connection at the battery, or a discharged or a defective battery
 
I think there are multiple problems.

The Wipers are now working. This was a faulty connection under the dash.

I am now going to rip out the old headlight dimmer switch, wire up my own less the foot pedal switch which is not happy.
> Going to take 12 from the fuse box, run it to a new light switch to control Side, Low beam lights.


I found the indicator relay, and that has 12 on the black. but 5v on the red?!?!! It is not ticking. How does this work, does it need 12v from the red side to start 'ticking'?
Plan is to replace both the flasher relay and indicator relay...

The big remaining problem is the indicators.
 
I think you are getting ahead of yourself. You need to "follow it back" and see where you are losing voltage. So far I have not heard the "ahah" from you on that.

It SEEMS to me you are missing the trees for the forest, or whatever. From what you have posted it appears that a COMMON cause is giving you low voltage to the system. You need to find at what point that is, and the post I made above, unless I misunderstood points right to the battery.

Or try this........instead of worrying about "so many things........."

Pick ONE circuit........like flashers, and chase them from end to end until you are certain they are working.

Then move to the headlights

Just why is it you feel the need to rewire the headlight dimmer? Is it/ the terminals damaged?
 
67Dart273 said:
I think you are getting ahead of yourself. You need to "follow it back" and see where you are losing voltage. So far I have not heard the "ahah" from you on that.

It SEEMS to me you are missing the trees for the forest, or whatever. From what you have posted it appears that a COMMON cause is giving you low voltage to the system. You need to find at what point that is, and the post I made above, unless I misunderstood points right to the battery.

Or try this........instead of worrying about "so many things........."

Pick ONE circuit........like flashers, and chase them from end to end until you are certain they are working.

Then move to the headlights

Just why is it you feel the need to rewire the headlight dimmer? Is it/ the terminals damaged?
Click to expand...

Hi,

I hear what you are saying.

My earlier 5v reading issue was due to a live grounding from the alternator - sorted not

I've been working on the headlights most of the day. I have the steering wheel and column out, all the wiring loom unwrapped.

I can NOT for the life of me see the problem.

The black main 12v splice is there, it works great. 12v feed to everything you would expect, 12v to all the fuse box

On the dimmer switch the green cable was well burnt I have fixed the connection but I do not know what has happened inside of the dimmer switch... So that is the headlight circuit.

Indicator wise could the relays be broken?
 
There are no relays unless someone has added them.

OK, let's start 'from stratch' on the headlight problem

Start with the switch "on" and try the dimmer both positions. any lights? With the switch on, measure the incoming power (terminal B1) as well as outgoing (green) coming out of the switch. You should have good solid battery power there, within a few tenths of the battery voltage.

If so, move down to the dimmer, and check the green and "whatever is hot" of the other two terminals. Same thing..........within a few tenths of battery. "Double check" at battery to see what it reads

If you have it there the only thing left is the two terminals through the bulkhead where the hi and low beam power feeds. If you can acces them, check. If not, move out to the headlight sockets themselves, checking right at the headlights.
 
Okay. Headlights.

All connected up as it should be:

Dimmer fully in (off)
Green wire to foot switch 0v

Dimmer out one (side) - (side lights come on)
Green wire to foot switch 0v

Dimmer out fully (low beam) - no lights at all (inner side lights go off (normal?))
Green wire to foot switch 0v


Now... Take off the 3 prong plug to the foot switch. And when the dimmer switch is fully pulled out, I get a poor 5v at this green cable. Which seems yo stop when you reconnect it to the foot pedal high low beam switch.

Maybe the foot pedal switch has died? Ground on the green...

When I get home I am going to link the green to the purple/ red ...
 
No you are not getting voltage out of the headlight switch. You may not be getting voltage TO the switch. Go back to the earlier posts, and figure out the switch pattern. This is also in the wiring diagrams. Remember, there is TWO power sources to the switch.........tail fused power and headlight only power

On the older cars it is normal for the park lamps to go out when headlights are on. But the side marker lights should stay on

On the later cars Ma did a "trick." All Chrysler did in the later cars to keep the park lamps on with the headlights was to move the wire for the front park lamps over to the tail lamp terminal. Used the same headlight switch.
 
I have rebuilt the dimmer switch now - all fine, no problems inside but that made no change

If I jump the Green wire to the black 12v feed I get headlights!!!

So it seems the problem might be with the other 12v feed in to the dimmer switch?
 
Are you referring to the foot operated (dimmer switch) or the dash mounted (headlight switch)

You need to learn to call these by the terminology in the service manual.

The two feeds to the dash mount HEADLIGHT SWITCH are completely separate. "That switch" is in actuality SEVERAL switches in one "box"

There are AT LEAST three separate switches in the light switch, that is, isolated "poles."

One outfeeds park lamps ONLY in the park position on older cars. I have no idea what the Brits did

One outfeeds tail and dash lamps in both the park position and the head position. On later cars this contact also feeds park lamps

The outfeed above "splits" and feeds the dash lamps into the twist / turn dash lamp dimmer control

Last there is the COMPLETELY SEPARATE switch for ONLY the headlights. This infeeds via the large gauge black wire, and outfeeds via the green to the foot dimmer switch.

So with the headlight switch pulled all the way out BOTH the large black and the green should have full battery voltage.
 
Thanks,
Yes I took the switch to bits to understand how it worked.

Black has 12 going in TO the HEADLIGHT SWITCH.

But when the dash mounted headlight switch (which you pull out with your hand) is out all the way, there is 0V on the green.

If I hotwire from the BLACK wire, to the Green wire, my headlights come on. I can then control them with low and high on the dimmer switch on the floor of the car...

The inside of the switch is fine, I'm just in the process of tracing the DK Blue TR wire on the ignition.

Where in the car is the 'To accessory virc breaker (black and red wires)

Thanks

IMG_20160603_115651.jpg
 
They are fairly cheap from the usual sources, but they're also fairly nasty Chinese junk any more, even from the once-reputable brands. Old Car Parts Northwest and other places like that (Cowger's Ignition, etc) have genuine US-made ones on the shelf, and they don't cost much more.
 
Thanks chaps.

OKAY, so we are making progress.

Having taken the entire loom apart, steering column out etc. I have found that the alternator was grounding, causing the circuit it was on (IGN2) to konk.

I also found a problem with the internals of the dash mounted light switch. I now have headlights. Yay.

Indicators - I tested both the emergency flasher and flasher units, they both appear faulty, emergency flasher (with a battery, bulb circuit) flashed, but it was erratic.
The indicator 'flasher unit' I opened up and was all burnt inside.

So I'm going to get a couple of new flasher units.

Seems the indicator switch which is right behind the steering wheel is also working only 20% of the time. I have power right up to there, if I bridge the connections to the Red and the Tan/light green I get indicators either side of the car.

Can you rebuilt the indicator switch unit just behind the steering wheel?

Getting there!! Thanks for your help!
 
Hi guys.
All sorted, thanks for your help.
Indicator unit had to be rebuilt, some of the plastic housing was fouling he metal contacts from making contact.

The alternator was also playing up, now linked in to the loom 12v switched so that is all sorted.

Renewed the internal column 8 pin connector, and rear loom connector.

Also new indicator and flasher ballast!

Thanks for your help!

Jon
 
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