Material Boy

Hi Guys,
I replaced the headlight dimmer switch on my 65 this past weekend. Took the old one out and put the new one in and plugged the connector onto the new switch. Turned the lights on and I now have high beams again. However, I noticed when the lights are on low beam the red dash indicator is lit up. When I press the switch for high beams the light goes out. Obviously this is backward from what it should be. I then unplugged the connector and pressed the switch one time and then plugged connnector back in. Nothing changed. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to reverse this? Thanks for any help.
Dave

Material Boy

Thought I would bring this back to the top. Any ideas?
If not I will let it die. Thanks.

Dave

66jack

could you have the wrong switch, or plugged in wrong.....

TC233

The dimmer switch is nothing more then an on/off switch for the high beam lights. When power is applied through the switch, it supplies power to the lights and the hi-beam light in your dash.
So the fact that your dash light comes on when you break the switch would mean to me that somehow the light is only being powered when the low beams are on. which to be honest does not make one iota of sense. So the first question is, are you sure you have the correct hi/low beam switch?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.................. Hi beam lights & hi beam indicator on dash
Power.................../ ............... No connection

/ is the foot switch

Material Boy

TC233,

Think I have the correct switch. I went to my favorite parts store and
they looked it up in the catalog for a 65 vette and it came up DS72 which is manufactured by "Standard". Thanks for the reply.

Dave

Material Boy

66Jack,

I think I have the right switch. It is a 3 prong male connection. Will
only plug into the harness connector one way.

Dave

Tom454

According to Standards application site

http://www.standardbrand.com/Online%...g/Content.aspx

the DS72 is correct.

My guess is that something else is messed up in the wiring.

Did it ever work correct?

dkleather

First of all I'd make sure your outermost headlight wiring harness connector on the firewall (engine side) is clean with no corrosion on the pins inside. I don't have a 65 wiring diagram but on my 64 the wires at the floor switch connector are colored tan, light blue (in the center contact), and a double light green in the outermost contact at the switch. One of the light greens goes to the high beam indicator and the other to the firewall connector. The tan also goes to the firewall connector. The light blue goes to the main light switch and then to the tell tale headlight bulb and then on to the firewall connector. A poor contact at the connector can cause all kinds of weird things to happen. Just a guess on my part though.
I had a similar problem but found it to be caused by two wires I had reversed at the headlight connector after I had replaced the front harness and had removed the connector to put the wires into the headlight bucket. My fault and I spent quite a few hours paying for it. Good luck. Dave

Material Boy

Did it ever work correct?
Tom454,
Evidentally not since I have owned the car. I just bought the car from
Barryk a couple of months ago. I haven't driven the car after dark yet.
Discovered the high beams were not working when getting a state
inspection. I will check all the wiring from fire wall forward. I'll figure it
out sooner or later. It's not really a big deal, but I am the fussy type
and want everything working the way it's supposed to. Thanks.

Dave

rich5962

Yes.....It sounds like those 2 wires are reversed at both HL connectors at the bucket extensions. See this post below. Someone had the same problem on a 63. Post 15 has the wire color codes, same on 65 IIRC.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...igh-beams.html

Material Boy

Rich5962,

Thanks for the link. That is exactly my same problem. I'll dive back into it in a day or so. This could have happened back in 2003 when the owner prior to Barryk did a body off on the car. I am surmising that shortly after that the dimmer switch went south and the problem not detected til now. I doubt not to many of us use high beams that often
anymore. Thanks again.

Dave

rich5962

For reference, I just checked and the 63 and 65 are different wire colors in the Headlight harness. The Bucket extension may not be the same as the HL harness but the wires are some derivative of Tan and Green. If a tan is connected to a green at the buckets it's reversed.

1965 Wiring

1965 Headlight harness......
Hi Beam = Black/Light Green
Lo Beam = Tan
Ground = Black

1963 Headlight harness......
Hi Beam = Light Green
Lo Beam = Tan/White
Ground = Black/White

Material Boy

Rich, Great help and thank you very much. I'll let you know what I find.

Material Boy

Thought I would post and put and end to this story. The problem in my original post was I had replaced the headlight dimmer switch and found that the high beam light indicator on dash came on when in low beams. Thanks to rich5962 and dkleather I was able to get this thing fixed in short order. The problem is the wiring harness connection behind the headlight buckets. There are 2 wires , tan and green, if they are not lined up in in the connector then you are going to have my problem. Rich zeroed in on this right away and helped me get this fixed. All it involved was swapping the pins from the connector from one side to the other and lining up tan with tan and green with green.

Thanks Rich. Enjoyed talking with you and I will get back to you regarding the other stuff we talked about.

Dave

dkleather

That's what's so great about this Forum. There's not much that goes wrong with these cars that someone else hasn't experienced and sorted out. When I was having the same headlight problems after replacing the front harness, I was guided to the fix by the guys here. Glad I was some help to you. It's also great that you let us know that your problem was solved. Now just get out and enjoy!! Dave

rich5962

Dave, Glad to hear your problem is solved, and thanks for the update which could help others in the future.

Rich