No Headlights: What next. (1 Viewer)

[mjosoba]

Evening everyone. I hate to post this because I read so many threads with similar problems and tried to emulate their solutions, but I'm stumped. So here goes...

'93 FZJ, No low or high beams, and "flash to pass" doesn't work. They came and went a couple times and now just don't work at all. Marker lights and blinkers work. Also, dash lights dim when the headlight switch is turned on. Like there is current draw.

What I have done:
1-Cleaned headlight grounds.
2-New relay. No dice.
3-Got a used light/turn signal, cruise stalk from CruiserParts. Now cruise doesn't work so I'm not convinced the headlight switch would be good.

What I have not done:
Replaced bulbs (can't see both going out, they're less than 3 years old.)

I cannot figure out what the noise I hear when I turn the headlights off is. It doesn't make it until the switch is all the way off, like headlights and running lights. And it only makes it when it's turned off, not on. It is not the relay, it is in the upper Driver footwell area. I just can't figure out exactly where it's coming from.
Also, relay doesn't make any noise that I can tell.

So, any other parts I have missed? I am going to try and take my original stalk apart and clean the contacts and put it back in. I need cruise and headlights.

Thanks, Michael.

 

[bigredmachine]

without sounding like a dick have you checked the fuses, it would be odd if they were all out but its possible. do you have an aftermarket remote start, when they go bad they can cause issues and if so first thing i would do is remove it and than continue diag.

maybe theres someone close by that you could try swaping headlight stalks with, try a known good one and see if the problem gets better or worse. also sounds like your probably going to want to get an ewd to help with diag

 

[inkpot]

Are you running an aftermarket headlight harness. I bought my rig with one installed, but after I started getting part time operation from one light I pulled it out and just run the OEM harness with no problems, just 100% lights.

 

[mjosoba]

@bigredmachine -Fuses are good, forgot to mention that, and no remote start. I'm inept enough with electrical that I'd probably have to take it somewhere before the manual would help me.

@inkpot -Stock harness sir. But thanks for the thought.

 

[pengfinn]

Did you check the body ground? Mine was poorly grounded and revving caused the lights to blow. No issues since replacing.

 

[mjosoba]

@pengfinn -I do not believe I have. Is it in the Driver side area under the dash? I've heard an odd noise up there.

 

[shocktower]

@pengfinn -I do not believe I have. Is it in the Driver side area under the dash? I've heard an odd noise up there.

The body grounds are in several places, one it connected to the transfer case another is by the battery, and another is by the power steering unit, also change the bulbs I had some die in 6 months

 

[mjosoba]

I shall check those. The one off the battery is new within the last six months.

 

[pengfinn]

The ground in question was the one going from the neg post on the battery to the body itself. On my '91, this is directly to the left of the battery and is a short black wire which runs into the - clamp.

 

[mjosoba]

@pengfinn That one is new, but thanks for mentioning it as it may've come loose or something. I'll check it tomorrow.

 

[bigredmachine]

does you hazard switch work?

 

[Malleus]

If you've checked the headlight assemblies for continuity, then:
your best bet is to get the FSM and walk through the harness and body grounds. With a meter. If they check out, check the harness connectors, from both sides as described in the FSM; it would be a good time to open them and clean them, while you're at it (you're not going to do this again).

The last place I'd go is the switch. If it wasn't under the steering wheel, I'd go there first, but it's several hour's wasted work if you have a harness failure somewhere. Those are easy to find if you look, especially this part of the harness.

The EWD for the early years is really easy to read; I wish they hadn't given it to an electrical engineer to revise in the later years. Here's the '92 section on the headlight switch, for example:

Really easy to read.

The buzzing is a relay. There is one, and several fuses, but I'd bet they're all good, since you hear the relay. My money'd be on a harness failure, since you can hear the relay; there's reason to believe the switch is working.
HTH

 

[landcrshr]

Does the '93 have the light-retainer relay? That's another piece of the puzzle.
Maybe @Malleus has a diagram of the '93 headlight circuit?

 

[Malleus]

No, I have a '92 FSM, which is where the images came from. I can't guarantee the '92 and '93 harnesses are the same; I've never compared them.

However, the '92 does have a light reminder relay and a light retainer relay. I assume the '93 does too. I'd recommend downloading the '93 FSM from TIS. Unlike the '94 -'97 FSM, the EWD is in the chassis manual in the early manuals. The benefit of using TIS is that there is more there than you would get from the paperback FSM (campaign documents, quick training documents, repair manuals, service bulletins, etc), and it's up to date; the published manuals, which is what people scan from, were only up to date on the day they were printed, and then maybe not.

If you want the '92 images, PM me, but you'd be better off with the '93 edition.

$15 gets you a 48 subscription. I pulled a '94, a '95 and parts of the 2008 FSM down in that time.
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInf...nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ti_home_search_docs_page

 

[mjosoba]

@Malleus thanks sir. I will start taking steps to get all of this started. My wife is driving the Cruiser and I'm driving her LR3 since I leave early. So the sooner the better.

 

[Malleus]

de Nada

 

[mjosoba]

So I wanted to update, didn't want to be that guy that left a thread hanging for a couple years. I made a temporary fix. For clarity, I have a diesel swap in the works and neeed to fix my odometer and trip meter so will have the dash apart then and will actually fix it then.

The headlight relay was not getting a ground where it was supposed to. So we made some short extensions for the relay, and kept it in to fuse box. Then drilled a tiny hole in the fuse box cover and ran a new ground and a toggle into the cab.

Now I have to turn on the lights on the normal switch (this gives me marker lights only), then flip the toggle. Once I do that the stalk works still to turn on the brights. The toggle turns on the lights regardless of whether the truck is on or not since the relay always has 12v. Just need to remember to toggle it off.

I will update this further once it's corrected for real. Thanks all!