No Headlights

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

red66toy

red66toy

20 Year 15 Year 10 Year
Joined
Feb 25, 2003
Threads
290
Messages
5,209
Location
Seattle, WA
My headlights just stopped working. I didn't drive my cruiser for a week and then last night I wanted to take a drive and no headlights. All the dashlights, taillights, blinkers and parking lights work! I took out and cleaned the fuse block and cleaned the connection blocks on the fenders. I took out the lights and hooked them up to a 12v source and they turned on so they are not bad. Any ideas, help me. :confused:
 
theres a relay in my wiriing diagram. it powers the fuses to the headlights. its just one relay but it goes to 2 fuses. pull the fuses and probe the fuse holder with your meter for voltage( with the headlight sw on) there should be power. if not you need to check the relay. the smaller wires turn on the coil to activate the relay. they get their power from the battery and find grnd thru the switch. now this looking at my 60 manual. your might be diff. but I would make sure the fuses are ok. but possible the relay is stuck due to not being used. if you find it give it a tap with a screwdriver handle. might free it up. but would still need to be replaced.
 
Ok, I cleaned all the switch posts and redid some of the wire ends. Still no lights. I am not sure where the headlight relay is? :confused: I know there is a horn relay but that is about it. :D
 
I don't believe you'll find a headlight relay in your 66. Do your dash/instrument cluster lights work? If not, your problem is probably at the fuse box, which may have dirty contacts or (as I recently experienced) a broken rivet. OR, a bad fuse, which I have found don't always blow in the middle. SO, a fuse that looks OK at first glance may be bad.
 
the dash lights work. I just took apart the fuse box and cleaned the crap out of it. I replaced the fuses as well. I don't get it. :confused:
 
I am getting voltage to the hot post on the switch and none really to the other posts on the switch but when i disconected the wires and put the hot wire to the others the lights still didn't come on. Any more ideas? Thanks. :confused:
 
Broken wire somewere between switch and lamps? While it was setting did any mice or squirrels get in the engine bay?
 
No animals to my knowledge got into it. I can't see any broken wires and don't see how they could have been broken. Thanks for the help. My cruiser must not like me anymore. :doh:
 
Kick the hi beam switch. Don't ask me why I know this.
 
the early model 40's have a strap behind the lights mounted to the fender. your headlughts go through that. Those terminals corrode. I got cheap replacements at napa 7 years ago and has worked out fine since.
 
Well, I kicked the switch and even hit it with a hammer but still no lights. I cleaned the strip connections already to those should be good. I am getting no power to the strips though so the wires are loosing power before them somewhere. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Hell, just take a wire from the battery pos and touch it to the proper lamp wire (RG).
 
Could be, too, that a wire just pulled off of the dimmer switch. Even if you still have the boot, there isn't much protection down there.

Another thing you could try, just to isolate your headlight switch itself, is to pull the connector off of the back and directly connect the hot lead to the other wires (headlights, parking lights, and dash lights) using a short bit of wire.

When I had issues in that area, it was due to corrosion inside the headlight switch connector. I had to get in there with a mini-file (available in the fine chinese tool rack at the grocery, for 99 cents) to clean up the contacts. I've had dimmer switch problems, too, but again, because of wear and corrosion or broken wires, not yet because the switch was crapped out.
 
Last edited:
Chase, the three wires going into the hi-beem switch are bare-lead wires. You should be able to disconnect them from the switch and connect the power lead to one of the two light wires and complete the circuit. If your lights turn on, you have found the problem.

The OE switch is obsolete, but I have an aftermarket replacement that works well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

IH8MUD Forum | Toyota, Lexus & Off-Road Community
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.

© 2000-2026 Tie Rod Media LLC

Back
Top Bottom