Lost my headlights tonight,,

Has to be the switch, the only time I had that problem on a beater years ago was a fusible link issue - it didn't fail due to overload, GM put the damn thing down low where it was getting splashed with water and road salt in the winter and it corroded and finally just fell apart a mile from home. I'm guessing your build wouldn't have those things on it, or if it does they're not the issue, but figured I'd mention it.

 

I lost my headlights one time and tracked it down to a corroded dimmer switch..

Rick

 

I lost my headlights once before, it was almost too dark to find them again.

 

I had a little extra time to work on the lights,,the fuse/relay that I picked up the first of the week didn't work,,the lights went out just like they did previously as soon as the switch got warm.

So today I pickup a good headlight switch made for marine use and since it's mounted under the cowl vent I figured it won't hurt if for some reason it leaks,, so I came home and scratched my head a few minutes trying to decide how the wires worked on a entirely different type of switch,,I figured it out tested it and can report that the new switch has cured the problem.

The old switch was indeed bad and one of the post was broken where it is riveted the the plastic top of the switch,,it was extremely brittle.

The lights are considerably brighter than they have ever been and I'm sure a lot safer. HRP



.

 

I just ordered a new switch for my 55'(OEM) only later to find out the wires at it were mangled. Guess I shoulda looked before assuming it was the switch. Learn from my ignorance. Upside... I'll have an extra!

 

I believe that's called percussion tuning.

 

I drove my old beater OT truck for years with the smell of burning plastic inside the car. the entire fuse box was hot to the touch all the time while driving. I figured I'd fix it when something caught fire and burned up but nothing ever did.

 

I had the same problem. Thanks to this thread, just took care of it. Never snapped to the fact there was a breaker on my almost new headlight switch. Had already tried replacing dimmer switch for $20. Turned out to be the $3 breaker. Had a 20 amp breaker on it running a 30 amp circuit. Put on a new 30 and no more problems. Thank God!

 

Had the headlight switch on the Suburban get flaky on me... it didn't blow a fuse, but it damn sure burned up wires! Melted all the wires going to the dimmer switch, and melted one of the wires under the dash.
I didn't realize I didn't have tail lights until the nice officer pulled up next to me and SCREAMED at me to turn on my lights.
It was leaf-burning season, so I couldn't tell if that smoke I smelled was me or the ditches full of smoldering leaves. Turned out it the answer was "Yes."

With no way to fix the tail lights, I drove slow in the right lane with the left turn signal blinking so people would get the idea. I guess it worked, because nobody plowed into from behind.

I replaced a lot of wire and the dimmer switch before I finally figured out it was the light switch.

Like I said in another thread... I'd rather roll naked in broken glass and take a bath in rubbing alcohol than chase electrical problems.

-Brad

 

I had it happen on a caddy driving 75 down an interstate highway with very little traffic. I was able to see enough with the parking lights to pull over. I could hear the breaker in the light switch trip. I opened the hood and moved he wiring and saw a spark in the darkness. The harness had rubbed on the battery box. Somebody had knocked a wire clip off probably when installing a battery. Wrapped it up and drove home.

When I worked at a Ford dealer in the 70s we had many problems with light switches and the plug that connected them. The riveted terminal would come loose, get hot and melt the plug. Eventually, Ford came up with a different switch and a repair kit for the plug.

 

Glad to see that you got it taken care of HRP. I'd still think about putting in a pair of relays on the headlight side of the dimmer switch. That made life so much nicer with my daily driver 71 GMC that Has H=4 Halogens in it. I'' put them on the 48 when it goes back together and on anything else I build.

 

Just something to think about: Mercedes have relays for each beam on each headlight making it four relays total. You could almost never lose more than one lite at a time.

I did the same with my bike (two headlight system, four relays)


Cosmo

 

HRP. I just wired 30 amp relays into my truck and the upgrade is amazing in brightness,my low beams look like my old high beams,even my dash light are brighter,!!! by using relay's (1 for low beams,1 for high beams)bypassing the power from the switch straight from the battery to headlights and upgrading wiring to 14 gauge wires,and grounds(if your running smaller gauge wires) will gain you 30% power that is potentially lost running through the head light switch and small wires!and the only power being used by your headlight switch is to activate the relays so the problem of the switch failing is basically deleted here's a diagram i used for my truck it says for chevy trucks but can be used in about any classic car application. Im also going to do this in my 54 ford parts cost me $25 wire,relays,fuse:

Here's my low beam with stock sealed bulbs in the daytime!

 

Its good that you brought this up here on the HAMB. All electrical circuits that carry heavy steady currents are time bombs. These old light switches will silently decay and overtime get worse as the circuit resistance grows, also heat relaxes the contacts. properly sized relays are built to carry these loads, thats why the newer cars have them.

 

you can find high current relays with sockets in a lot of full size ford products, do the two fuse deal, one relay and fuse for the low beams, one relay and fuse for the high beams, the switch simply controls the relays, if one fuse blows you still have either the high or low beams,

 

these are a Ford part number Foab14b194dc I found them in a 94 Continental paid 2 bucks for both the relays and sockets, you can find these in a lot of Fords, these are the heavy duty ones

 

I didnt think about using two fuse's one for each relay so you always have high or low beams if the other fuse blows ill update my truck now.... thanks something i overlooked i plan to run sealed relays also....
I pulled a set of sealed relays for my 54 ford i need to pull a set and update the trucks relays, they came out of a ford probe car at the junkyard, they are located right by the drivers side hood hinge,undo one bolt and cut the wires and your done and you get a relay bracket holder also. if you get these kind of relays the numbers for each wire are marked on the bottom inside of the relay when you pull it off the wire connector cost a couple bucks. Part# kc28 d5222