Headlight Fuse Issues (1 Viewer)

[Doc]

Ok, update:

As far as I can tell, that is block C-14. It has the right number of PIN-outs and is the right color. It was located directly under the steering coumn and is part of a larger block of connections.

There are three wires coming out of the light 'stick' on the left hand side of the steering wheel. Two are White, one is red. All three go to this side of the block, further re-enforcing that this is indeed C-14. I was looking for a stamp on the plug that said C-14 but did not see one.

To test the switch reinstall the head relay and ground pin 13 (black and orange see diagram for pin out) of the headlight switch connector the headlights should come on, if they do then everything up stream is OK, if not post up and we will move on,

Raven, I grounded pin 13, and nothing happened. Now what? Bad switch?

If grounding pin 13 works next test the ground by shorting pin 13 to pin 11 (one of the two white & black wires) the headlights should come on, if they do the headlight switch is bad, if they come on when 13 is grounded to bat – but not when to pin 11 the ground for the switch is bad, if they never come on more troubleshooting in needed but you have the problem cornered to in-between the headlight switch and headlight relay there is nothing expensive between the two but it is all hard to get to

Great.

If you need headlights for now you could fashion a jumper with spade terminals to short pins 1 and 2 of the relay socket with the relay removed, this will turn on the lows,

This little hint saved my butt last night, thanks.

 

[Doc]

Um, I just grounded pin-13 to the chassis, do I need to ground it to battery? I'll go try that next.

 

[RavenTai]

Hi Doc, sorry to leave you hanging but I was in FL without Internet access thanks to hurricane Jeanne

Ok, update:

As far as I can tell, that is block C-14. It has the right number of PIN-outs and is the right color. It was located directly under the steering coumn and is part of a larger block of connections.

What do those quick splices (red plastic things) go to? Looks like someone hooked in something aftermarket, possibly fog lights? The one on the black and blue wire look like it is picking up a ground when the switch is turned to the parking light position, I don’t know what the blue and white wire is for, I cant find it in the lights portion of my 96 schematic, It may be for something else in the column

If I were to bet that would probably be related to your problem. I do not like those, they are quick and easy to use, a flat price of metal in those pierces the insulation of both wires to make a connection, but they often cut strands and leave the remaining wire exposed to the elements, they also do not handle current very well as the contact area is very small, my parents had an RV that was wired with those, they were a constant problem, fortunately they can be disassembled and examined pop the cover and pull the metal out and it will come apart

There are three wires coming out of the light 'stick' on the left hand side of the steering wheel. Two are White, one is red. All three go to this side of the block, further re-enforcing that this is indeed C-14. I was looking for a stamp on the plug that said C-14 but did not see one.

Are you saying that there are 3 wires that pass around to the body side connector (c-14) instead of passing through the connector like the rest of the wires from the steering column? Do they look factory?

Raven, I grounded pin 13, and nothing happened. Now what? Bad switch?




This little hint saved my butt last night, thanks.

If grounding pin 13 did not get the lights to turn on then the switch is not your problem, next is to check resistance between pin 13 on C-14 and pin 4 of the headlight relay, there are semiconductors in that path so polarity of your ohm meter is important, positive should be at the relay end, this advise is getting kind of inaccurate because we don’t know what was rewired,

Can you traces that orange and black wire back to the headlight retainer relay? are there any splices on it?

 

[Doc]

Update:

Those splices are OEM. They go to the alarm module under the seats, makes sence- alarm goes off, lights flash. OK.

I'm curious how the original splice into the marker light provided power to the headlights. Was is just providing ground? If so, can I just cut the wire coming out of terminal 4 on the headlight relay and ground it to the battery? That would be an easy fix, even if it wasn't a 'factory' fix.

I'm seriously reluctant to go back to the dealership with this, as they've really been messing with me on my FJ60.

I was not able to trace that black and orange wire much further than under the dash, but did not see any splices on it there.

 

[RavenTai]

if you ground pin 4 the headlights will not turn off even if the key is removed, not a good option \

did you check resistance between pin 4 and pin 13 with the key on?

if so I think the next step is to find that headlight retainer realy ( transistor in the schematic)

I'll post more tonight

 

[RavenTai]

with everything hooked up and lights turned off does pulling the light stick back to the "flash" position give you all 4 headlights?

 

[Doc]

with everything hooked up and lights turned off does pulling the light stick back to the "flash" position give you all 4 headlights?

Nope, I get noting, nada, bupkis.

did you check resistance between pin 4 and pin 13 with the key on?

Yes, sorry- there is no deflection of the needle at all between pin 4 of the headlight relay and pin 13 of C-14 block. On pin 2 of the headlight relay there is infinate (open?) resistance, and Pin's 1 and 3 have much less, but some deflection.

 

[RavenTai]

That is odd, the "Flash" position bypasses both the diode and the light retainer relay to provide a ground to pin 4 of the headlight relay, if the diode or light retainer relay were your problem the flash would still work,

Still could be a bad ground to the headlight switch knocking out both normal and flash portions of the switch but grounding pin 13 did nothing, what did you ground pin 13 to? It could also be upstream of the E-12 splice ( L-1 splice on my 96)

Lets try to further isolate this thing, just outboard of the under hood fuse box there is a large gray 12 pin connector, this is bundle to bundle connector "EA1" push down on the little lined tab on top and pull the aft section aft, the foreword section is attached to the fender and will stay put, be careful with the aft portion of the connector as it does not have much freedom in the wires

On the foreword plug that has the male pins: bottom row second pin from the outboard (if you are facing truck foreword looking at the open connector second from the left) is pin 11, need to short this pin to the neg post of the battery, just tried this on my truck by wrapping bailing wire around the neg lug and then touched the other end of the bailing wire to the #11 pin, careful not to touch the + post or any other + connections, I did it engine running, should still work engine and key off, low beams should come on parking lights will not, if the low beams do not come on pull the headlight relay and check resistance between pin 4 of the headlight relay socket and pin 11 of the EA1 connector, the needle should deflect like it does when you touch the two probes together

While that connector is apart look for corrosion, bent pins or other damage, also if the above checks out OK check resistance between pin 11 on the female side of EA1 and pin 13 of the switch connector

 

[RavenTai]

I made a mistake in post # 36, I dont get a ground on pin 4 either, something funky with the semiconductors in that path, I get 456 Mohms switch on or off, it must need 12v in to create a ground, but there is no checking for continuity through the headlight retainer relay

do the EA1 pin 11 test from above if you dotn get headlights check continuity between pin 11 and pin 4, if you have continuity replace the headlight relay

 

[Doc]

Still could be a bad ground to the headlight switch knocking out both normal and flash portions of the switch but grounding pin 13 did nothing, what did you ground pin 13 to? It could also be upstream of the E-12 splice ( L-1 splice on my 96)

I grounded it to the door jam initially, I just went back and grounded it to the battery, still no lights. Tried it with the key in too.

On the foreword plug that has the male pins: bottom row second pin from the outboard (if you are facing truck foreword looking at the open connector second from the left) is pin 11, need to short this pin to the neg post of the battery, just tried this on my truck by wrapping bailing wire around the neg lug and then touched the other end of the bailing wire to the #11 pin, careful not to touch the + post or any other + connections, I did it engine running, should still work engine and key off, low beams should come on parking lights will not,

Low beams do illuminate, w/o parking lights.

if the low beams do not come on pull the headlight relay and check resistance between pin 4 of the headlight relay socket and pin 11 of the EA1 connector, the needle should deflect like it does when you touch the two probes together

It does. (is this the same test you tell me to do below? I get easily confused)

While that connector is apart look for corrosion, bent pins or other damage, also if the above checks out OK check resistance between pin 11 on the female side of EA1 and pin 13 of the switch connector

I did, and there was no continuity, or no deflection of the needle.

do the EA1 pin 11 test from above if you dotn get headlights check continuity between pin 11 and pin 4, if you have continuity replace the headlight relay

Ok, like above, the needle goes to infinity, so ..... buy a new headlight relay?

 

[RavenTai]

"Ok, like above, the needle goes to infinity, so ..... buy a new headlight relay?"


I am not quite sure what you are seeing on yoru meter when checking resistance, does it look the same as when you touch the teo probes together (continuity) or like when they are not touchign anything (open) when you say "goes to infinity" I think you are stating that the needle sweeps when you touck the two indicating continuity, but "infinity" would also imply infinant resistance or no continuity or an open

there should be continuity between pin 4 and pin 11 and that path works to turn on the headlights, it must have contunuity?


anyway no need to buy a relay,


from that EA1 pin 11 test we can eliminate the realy its socket and almost all the underhood wiring

do you still have access to the light connector in the dash? might try shorting pin 14 on the C-14 connector you should again get low beams but no parking lights

 

[Doc]

Ok, "shorting" means grounding it out right?

I will try that.

 

[RavenTai]

Ok, "shorting" means grounding it out right?

I will try that.

yes

 

[Doc]

do you still have access to the light connector in the dash? might try shorting pin 14 on the C-14 connector you should again get low beams but no parking lights

Shorting pin 14 didn't do squat.

I grounded it to the batter with the key in and key out, made no difference.

 

[Doc]

Ok, if the wire from the drivers side low beam to the drivers side marker light was providing a ground for the circuit to be completed, is there a way to ground the headlights to the chassis or something so that I can be functional?

Like tap off of the wiring going to each side... somehow get both low and high back until we find the source of this problem?

I temporary fix that goes beyond the shunt across the relay? I was going to wire a switch across those terminals, but that doesn't address the brights.

 

[RavenTai]

your brights do not work with the shunt? They should, didn’t they work before with the wire from the parking lights?

I don’t think the parking lights were providing a ground, your low beams always have a ground they are switch on the + side by the relay, the relay is negative switched but from the earlier posts I take it the parking lights were tied directly to the headlight harness? If so they were providing + to the headlights bypassing the relay altogether

Need to know what color wire was shorted to what wire to tell exactly what they were doing. Asked that in post # 24 did not get an answer

I think we may have your problem cornered, take a look at the diagram, shorting pin 11 on EA1 (just below the relay on the schematic) gets the relay to close, but shorting pin 13 nor pin 14 on the C-14 connector gets the relay to close either both paths are bad (unlikely) or more likely the portion where they take a common path is bad (the splice below that in the diagram) , that leaves a 3 foot or so piece of wire from the pin 11 on the EA1 connector to the E-12 splice (named I-1 splice on my 96 EWD) and the connections at both ends of it, this wire runs along the DS fender through the firewall and then to the splice

Need to get to that splice, in my 96 EWD it is in the left hand side of the dash fairly high inside the bundle, I would assume it is in the same place in the 93? But you know what assume does

Kind of vague but the best pic I have of the location of this splice

 

[Doc]

Need to know what color wire was shorted to what wire to tell exactly what they were doing. Asked that in post # 24 did not get an answer

drivers side low beam bulb, red wire with blue stripe shorted to the green wire with no stripe on same side marker light.

Sorry, Must have missed that question.

 

[Doc]

Oh, and yes, the relay shunt does allow me to use the high beams as well. I figured it wouldn't and didn't try them.

Tonight I wired up a toggle switch across the relay terminals to give lights as it's getting darker earlier now. Brights work too. Nice HIR brights!

Okay, now how do I get access to those splices? remove the gauge cluster?

 

[RavenTai]

drivers side low beam bulb, red wire with blue stripe shorted to white wire with black stripe on same side marker light.

Are you sure?

Red with blue stripe is the + side of the left headlight harness, electrically the same wire for all for bulbs, this is the area that the relay provides + to via the fuses

The white with black is a ground doe the parking bulb, putting ground to the + side of the bulbs should have done nothing


Are you sure it was not the green wire? Hooking into the ground side of the parking light also would not have blown the tail fuse,

/

Oh, and yes, the relay shunt does allow me to use the high beams as well. I figured it wouldn't and didn't try them.

Tonight I wired up a toggle switch across the relay terminals to give lights as it's getting darker earlier now. Brights work too. Nice HIR brights!

Okay, now how do I get access to those splices? remove the gauge cluster?

I am glad you have usable lights during this; those Hir's are nice

I have not gotten that deep into the dash of an 80 so I am not any help there, all I have is that vague diagram from the 96 EWD, you might try to get an eyeball on the harness from the pedal area and then form a plan of attack

I would like to get confirmation from a 93 EWD owner on this part is the same, Safado are you still reading this?

 

[Doc]

Yep, I'm sure about that wire splice. I had to put electrical tape around the splice area to re-insulate it, so I know it's right.

I just bought that EWD from Safado, so maybe I can post some pages on Saturday or Monday when it arrives.

I figured it'd be a good investment.

I'll try to take a pic tonight of the splice area again.