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Hi
I a having troubles with the headlamps on my 63, The high beam is working fine but i have no low(dipped beam), I put in a new headlamp switch and tried a dip/floor switch out of my 59 chevy which i know works okay and both make no difference any suggestions as i must have power to the lights as the main beam works
Thanks
Your problem is from the dimmer switch forward - the headlight dash switch is uninvolved in hi/lo beam changes... Check grounds and that the connectors are tight, uncorroded and properly wired.
There are only a few places your problem can be. The connector coming off the dimmer switch (tan wire), the connection in the outboard firewall connector that the tan wire passes through, a break in the tan wire from the dimmer to the connector at the front driver's fender, and the junction in that connector where the tan wire splits to go from the driver's side to the passenger side (a very common place for a corroded connection).
I assume all four bulbs come on when on bright. If not, you can eliminate all those and go directly to either the connector at the back of the dim bulbs at the grounds (black wire). Again, if the dim bulb does not work on either bright or dim, you have two bad grounds (one for each dim bulb, they don't tie together until the ground screw at the radiator support) OR both dim bulbs are bad.
If all four bulbs work on bright, but no dim bulbs, go back to paragraph one and find the problem with the tan wire.
Thanks i will check these out,Yes it lights up all 4 lamps on main so looks like the tan wire you mentioned
that connector under the driver's side fender in front of the wheel well gets a lot of water and dirt over the years, check it carefully. That's where it splits to go to the passenger side, so that's the most likely. Second most likely is the plug coming off the dimmer switch, and third is the connection in the bulkhead most outboard connector (below the master cylinder. You could turn on the dim's and try wiggling each of those connectors and see if your lights flicker. If so, that's the connector you need to work on.
All seemed to be working for a while but been out a couple of times at night recently and when on High beam the lights are flickering on and off a lot when back on low/dip they seem okay, I pulled apart all the connectors recently and cleaned them all up even though there was no obvious corrosion and took the earth wire off the rad support and gave that a good clean but it still happens, Any ideas?
That's a faulty headlight switch. Probably when you put in the one that didn't fix it. If you still have the original put it back in and it should solve your problem. the breaker in the repro switches is not strong enough to handle the bright beam current
As long as the dash light dimming rheostat isn't fried you can open up the switch (beware the small parts) and clean the contacts (I prefer DeOxIt) and lube everything lightly - reassemble using a wire to get the tabs on the metal housing just started then remove the wire and secure the tabs. An "095" switch has a distinctive fan-like wafer in front of the rheostat - nobody knows why but some say it was for cooling. The second picture is the thermal cutout that strobes the lights in an over-current condition - this is a weak part on the repros.
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Apr 14, 2019 at 05:18 PM.
headlamp issues
