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I don't think you've got all your wiring correct yet. When you turn on the headlights you should have 12v on EITHER tan or green at the dimmer and up to the white wire connection, depending on where dimmer is. There should be NO voltage on the other. When you step on the dimmer, that voltage should switch to the opposite color and NONE on the previous color. At the same time you have 12v on the tan wire you should have it ONLY on the yellow wire for the low beam relay and not on the high relay yellow. When you step on the dimmer, that should disappear and you should ONLY have 12v on the yellow wire at the high relay. If you have cut the tan and green wires as you should have where you connected the relay, they no longer touch each other so the only place you can get voltage to the bright bulbs is out of the relay when you shouldn't or the voltage is feeding back from another bulb because it isn't grounded or it's wired wrong. If the inside lights go off on dim with the relays bypassed, and the outside lights stay on, and then you step on the dimmer the outside lights should stay on, but switch to the other filament in the bulb, and at the same time the inside bright bulbs should come on. You should be able to find where the voltage is coming from very quickly with a voltmeter and a diagram. Since I can't physically look at the wiring and the video didn't have enough content to show how it's wired, I'm afraid I have exhausted my ability to help. Sorry, but it was fun trying.
I don't think you've got all your wiring correct yet. When you turn on the headlights you should have 12v on EITHER tan or green at the dimmer and up to the white wire connection, depending on where dimmer is.
No voltage at the dimmer. (relays jumpered) headlights work normally.
There should be NO voltage on the other. When you step on the dimmer, that voltage should switch to the opposite color and NONE on the previous color. At the same time you have 12v on the tan wire you should have it ONLY on the yellow wire for the low beam relay and not on the high relay yellow.
Yes. with relays installed, the above is true. With footswitch set to dim, one relay has no voltage at yellow or white. Click switch again and the opposite has no power and power switches to the other one.
When you step on the dimmer, that should disappear and you should ONLY have 12v on the yellow wire at the high relay.
If you have cut the tan and green wires as you should have where you connected the relay,
my car has both tan and green running down the driver's side. I mounted the relays near the power source which is on the other side (alternator pass. side)
So I simply ran the white wires across the nose and connected each (using multimeter to keep circuits correct) before those wires hit the headlight harness.
they no longer touch each other so the only place you can get voltage to the bright bulbs is out of the relay when you shouldn't
Yes - that is correct that is Not happening
or the voltage is feeding back from another bulb because it isn't grounded or it's wired wrong.
feedback from a bulb sounds like the last thing it could be.
If the inside lights go off on dim with the relays bypassed, and the outside lights stay on, and then you step on the dimmer the outside lights should stay on, but switch to the other filament in the bulb, and at the same time the inside bright bulbs should come on.
Yes - it works normally with the relays bypassed.
You should be able to find where the voltage is coming from very quickly with a voltmeter and a diagram. Since I can't physically look at the wiring and the video didn't have enough content to show how it's wired, I'm afraid I have exhausted my ability to help. Sorry, but it was fun trying.
Thanks for your help. You've gone beyond the call of duty. I've been all over this car going on 16 hours with the multi-meter and diagrams.
I have established that the issue is in the front headlight harness. I've redone the grounds so they are good. With relays, the only thing that is odd is the inner high beams stay on - the outer headlights work normally.
I've also tried switching the power wires - tan to green and vice versa - no change.
Question: Does it matter which way the two prong connector goes on the bulb terminals? Seems to me as long as one is ground and the other is power it doesn't matter.
Last edited by TJefferson2020; Mar 11, 2018 at 05:19 PM.
I successfully did the conversion. If you are in So Cal, let me know and I will come take a look.
I recall that I had a problem in that the old cross harness to the driver's headlight was creating an issue that would not let the system work properly. When I look at my wiring, I can see the old plug sitting unused on the driver's side with a replacement plug bringing the power over from the relays.
Last edited by toddalin; Mar 11, 2018 at 05:59 PM.
Because I have a 1-wire alternator, I put my relays in a gutted voltage regulator. This shows the wiring as yours should be.
Your appears to be wired correctly from what I can see. It would be my suggestion to abandon the old harness from the point where you took it from the dimmer switch and run new, heavier wire, such as I did, from the relays to the headlight plugs. Part of the idea of the headlight relays is to get rid of the old, undersized wire and corroded plugs so you can take advantage of that new-found current.
Last edited by toddalin; Mar 11, 2018 at 06:45 PM.
I may be about to tell you things you may already know, but sometimes hearing them in different words will cause something to click into place.
As best I can read the wiring diagram in my shop manual, here is a list of the connections involved in your situation.
Dim feed before the dim relay.
Bright feed before the bright relay.
Ground and power to the relays (2+2).
Dim output from the relay to the left headlight assembly.
Bright output from the relay to the left headlight assembly.
Left inside headlight ground connection (one black wire in from ground and another out to the left outside headlight).
Left inside headlight bright connection (one green wire in from relay and one green wire out to left outside headlight.
Left outside headlight connection to ground (black from left inside headlight).
Left outside headlight connection to bright circuit (green wire in from left inside headlight).
Left outside headlight connection to dim circuit (tan wire from dim relay)
Junctions at or near left outside headlight connecting dim and bright circuit from left headlight assembly to right headlight assembly.
Right outside headlight connected to bright circuit (green wire from right inside headlight)
Right outside headlight connected to ground (black wire from right inside headlight).
Right outside headlight connected to dim circuit (tan wire from left headlight assembly).
Right inside headlight connected to ground (black wire in from ground and out to right outside headlight).
Right inside headlight connected to bright circuit (green wire in from left headlight assembly and out to right outside headlight).
It would be a tedious process, but one way to find the problem is to turn on one circuit (e.g, dim) and check each connection with a multimeter to see if it has power or ground as intended.
Disregard earlier comments in this space.
Last edited by kellsdad; Mar 11, 2018 at 06:51 PM.
I may be about to tell you things you may already know, but sometimes hearing them in different words will cause something to click into place.
As best I can read the wiring diagram in my shop manual, here is a list of the connections involved in your situation.
Dim feed before the dim relay.
Check
Bright feed before the bright relay.
Check
Ground and power to the relays (2+2).
Check
Dim output from the relay to the left headlight assembly.
My output from relay goes to a “T” splitting off to left and right.
Bright output from the relay to the left headlight assembly.
Output goes to T then right and left.
Left inside headlight ground connection (one black wire in from ground and another out to the left outside headlight).
Check
Left inside headlight bright connection (one green wire in from relay and one green wire out to left outside headlight.
Check
Left outside headlight connection to ground (black from left inside headlight).
Check
Left outside headlight connection to bright circuit (green wire in from left inside headlight).
Check
Left outside headlight connection to dim circuit (tan wire from dim relay)
Check
Junctions at or near left outside headlight connecting dim and bright circuit from left headlight assembly to right headlight assembly.
Mine has dim and bright splitting and going to each bucket.
Right outside headlight connected to bright circuit (green wire from right inside headlight)
Check
Right outside headlight connected to ground (black wire from right inside headlight).
Check
Right outside headlight connected to dim circuit (tan wire from left headlight assembly).
Check
Right inside headlight connected to ground (black wire in from ground and out to right outside headlight).
Check
Right inside headlight connected to bright circuit (green wire in from left headlight assembly and out to right outside headlight).
Check.
It would be a tedious process, but one way to find the problem is to turn on one circuit (e.g, dim) and check each connection with a multimeter to see if it has power or ground as intended.
I think I’ve done that. I’ll do it again.
Disregard earlier comments in this space.
Thank you for taking the time to write that. Everything works right up to the relays. Then, something is going wrong from there.
The only thing that is different is the green and tan wires go from the relays, then split in a Y that goes to each bucket.
I’ve checked the relays with multimeter and they check out fine.
Bypassing the relays, the system works fine. Doesn’t that tell us that the wiring to the headlights is correct?
Man this is a weird deal. I wired the entire car. Nothing unusual and it’s worked for a decade.
The only thing that changed was the bucket wiring (new internal harnesses) and the relays.
I think I’ll go one wire at a time with the buckets. Long day today working on the car. In addition to this, I installed a new PS pump.
I feel like I’ve been in a fight.
Last edited by TJefferson2020; Mar 11, 2018 at 10:26 PM.
If bypassing the relay (i.e., reconnecting the two ends of the one tan (or green) wire you cut to install the relay allows everything downstream to work correctly, then the problem must be either inside the relay (stuck switch) or in where the wires are connected. A stuck switch should be easy enough to find if the multimeter shows low resistance between terminals 30 and 87 on the relay even when the lights are off.
I'll make an offer, you choose whether you want to accept. If you'll pm me your phone number and a time that you can be in front of the car to answer a few questions and have a voltmeter handy, I'll call and I think we can sort this out in a timely manner. It's taken way to long and I think we are going in circles. I have an appointment in the morning (Monday), but any time from noon on would be fine. If you prefer not to do this, let me know and no hard feelings. Jack
Nice catch there Mr Buns ....Hopefully he will be a happy camper in the morning.....Looks like he went to bed for the night, I see his light is turned off......
These show the wiring at the headlight bulbs. But couldn't you have the wiring wrong at that plug between the main harness and the small harness, in the picture, that goes into the headlight fixtures and the bulbs?
Last edited by toddalin; Mar 12, 2018 at 01:49 PM.
I have to think his issue is at the headlamp connections. Relays are sending power forward and change with operation of the dimmer switch.
All four lights are on in dim mode and when he goes to bright one lamp only goes bright. Somewhere the high/low connection is reversed and the all four on at low indicates possible backfeed through an incorrect common ground.
It’s time to trace the tan wire and assure it is connected to the low beam filaments on the outer lamps only. Then it is time to trace the green wire to the high beam filaments on the outer headlamps and continuing to the inner high beam only bulbs. The grounds need to be checked to assure that they are not connected in error to either the green or tan feeds.
I have to think his issue is at the headlamp connections. Relays are sending power forward and change with operation of the dimmer switch.
All four lights are on in dim mode and when he goes to bright one lamp only goes bright. Somewhere the high/low connection is reversed and the all four on at low indicates possible backfeed through an incorrect common ground.
It’s time to trace the tan wire and assure it is connected to the low beam filaments on the outer lamps only. Then it is time to trace the green wire to the high beam filaments on the outer headlamps and continuing to the inner high beam only bulbs. The grounds need to be checked to assure that they are not connected in error to either the green or tan feeds.
I suggested that several posts (#46)back to trace one wire at a time and attached pictures and gave instructions. Response was, "mine all looks like that". Hoping he accepts my offer to troubleshoot over the phone. I hate to let something so simple become so troublesome.
Last edited by 65GGvert; Mar 12, 2018 at 02:22 PM.
These show the wiring at the headlight bulbs. But couldn't you have the wiring wrong at that plug between the main harness and the small harness, in the picture, that goes into the headlight fixtures and the bulbs?
I wired it like this at the headlights. Also here is an updated drawing that shows where the wires actually run.
I was overwhelmed with chemo and work the last few days. Plus major computer meltdown and replacement.
Last edited by TJefferson2020; Mar 16, 2018 at 10:05 PM.
It appears that the top of the three way connector is ground, Green on the left (looking from the back) and Tan on the right.
I wired it like the picture you posted in the post right before this. Maybe that's wrong?
Weirdly it works perfectly without the relays.
AND thank you guys so much!
I'm not sure if you meant that's the way they are or they should be, but the lt green high beam wires in this drawing are still going to the low beam relay. Tan from the dimmer should ONLY go to the low beam relay and the two outside bulbs. Lt Green wires should ONLY go to the high beam relay and all four bulbs.
I wired it like this at the headlights. Also here is an updated drawing that shows where the wires actually run.
No..., this omits the small extension harness that I am referring to. You show a line going from the relays to the headlights but are omitting a set of connectors along the way where the wires meet the buckets, and that is where the trouble may lie.
Last edited by toddalin; Mar 14, 2018 at 10:51 PM.
I'm not sure if you meant that's the way they are or they should be, but the lt green high beam wires in this drawing are still going to the low beam relay. Tan from the dimmer should ONLY go to the low beam relay and the two outside bulbs. Lt Green wires should ONLY go to the high beam relay and all four bulbs.
The forward towards the front of the car is low beam. The other high beam. Look at my drawing again. That is exactly how it is wired. (Tan to outside bulbs, green to all four.)
I have a feeling that I followed Buns first images of the headlight plugs which he said were actually wrong. I’m going to change that again to his new image tomorrow (and the 67 AIM) and see if there is a change.
Last edited by TJefferson2020; Mar 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM.
....Hopefully he will be a happy camper in the morning.....Looks like he went to bed for the night, I see his light is turned off......
