My '90's headlights flip over nicely but don't light up? The other front lights work fine, any ideas? Thanks much.

 

Er........my first thought is - has the fuse blown ?

If the fuse is OK then I would check for voltage at the plug that connects to the bulb and work back from there. I haven't seen a post about nboth headlighst not working before. Hope it's the fuse, a simple fix.

S'nut

 

Check out your dimmer switch.

 

I don't have a diagram on the fuse box and can't readily ID the fuse for the headlights. I don't have an owners manual, any idea which fuse or where to find a chart? thanks for your patience. walt

 

You can always put your dvm on ohms and check each fuse while their still plugged in. My 86 manual says your problem is in the dimmer switch. Thats after you rule out fuse.
Good Luck

 

Misread the manual.
If they work in high and not low,and the opposite, then check the dimmer switch.
Have you tried high beam ?

 

They don't work in high or low beam. Looked carefully at the fuse labels and will look further to see how the headlights are label within it. Strange.

 

I was wondering what the dimmer switch had to do with it, but you've had most of your vette apart Agent 86 so I knew it would be good advice.

Walt - have your headlights always not worked? or when did it happen?

For all 4 hi/low not to work suggests there's no power supply and that would be up the line away from the actual headlights - if the fuse is OK then I would suspect the headlight switch in the dash - you can lift the dash lid fairly easily - 2 screws in the centre airvent close to the windscreen and a few screws underneath the lip. It lifts up and out. Then you can access the headlight switch, test with a meter and see if there's power there.

Other clues might be - do the fog/driving/side lights come one when you pull the switch out 1 click? (with fog light switch on)

You know you're gonna need the workshop manual don't you.

S'nut

 

They were working fine and suddenly quit. I think its a power problem. I looked at a schematic but the identification of the fuse was confusing (no pun intended). It could be a switch, you know "the switch broke cause it's old". Thanks. Any recommendation on a manual for a '90?

 

I had this same problem on my '91 a few years ago. I tried everything I could locally, checking the fuses and switches and everything looked right.

Finally took it in to a car shop and believe it or not, it was the simple fact that the bulbs had simply burned out. They put in new headlamps for me and 30 minutes later I was running fine again.

 

Walt, I still feel like a 'newbie' having only owned my 88 for 18 months - many people have helped me here on the forum, I'd be lost without their help - I'm hoping that one of the electrical Guru's will pop up and tell us what the problem is.

Meanwhile.......the best manual by general concensus here is the GM service manual - it comes as two books, very thin pages and lots of them, one book is devoted to electrical with full wiring diagrams. Expensive. Invaluable.

It's definitely the manual to have....BUT... I can NEVER easily find the thing I'm looking for in them - I guess I'll get more cunning with time. When I do find the right page, I put a coloured sticker on it. My Manual looks like a coloured porcupine !

I just ordered the 'el cheapo; Haynes manual - it's about 15% of the size of the service manual but it has photo's, the service manual has diagrams - I'm hoping the combination of the two sets of manuals will help me.

I began my Corvette owning experience thinking I could get the car serviced and fixed locally but there's almost zero C4 expertise here in Cairns - over the 18 months I've realised that I have to take charge and locate and fix problems. Here's a short list of things I've done so far http://www.users.bigpond.com/mpheale...aintenance.htm

So, like most vette owners, I now have a fuel pressure guage, digital multimeter, service manuals, jack, jack stands, huge box to put used parts in (never throw anything away), set of Torx bits, spanners sockets, etc etc etc.

If your lights suddenly stopped working then Fuse, fusible link (if there is one for lights) and switch are the things I would check, in that order.

I would think there's two sets of relays -Hi and low beam, can't see both of them blowing at the same time but that would be the thing to look at after going through the list.

You need a multimeter, or even just a test lamp, and find where the power stops. It's easy to check the back of the switch to see if power is getting there, just remove the dash lid, very easy.

S'nut

 

I'm having the same problem. What did you have to do to resolve this? I'm trying to test the switch by jumping the wires at the connector but I cant seem to locate the terminal that powers the lights. I have power to the orange and red wires. They flip up and down just fine.

Section 8-A is missing from my manual. Is that sold separately?

Its a 90.

Thanks!