Headlight wiring issues

[redneckpunk]

Well heres the issue I've changed the headlight switch 3 times. And everytime its the samething you got to play with the switch just to get the running lights to work about a week ago the headlight just quit working all together. The problem is that it was after I thought I smelled wires burning but I retraced the wiring harness and the wires are all in good condition. the fuse is good and I still cant figure out why they quit working. I tested the wiring pigtail and three of the 9 connections have power I figured out whitch ones work the running lights but I dont know whitch ones run the headlights. I dont really want to run the lights on a toggle switch but I will If I have too for now. h34r: /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Seabronc]

Have you checked for voltage at the head light plug? If not, do. If the voltage is OK there you probably have a grounding problem. One way to check that is to use a wire #12 or better and attach one end to the battery (-) and the other to the Black lead on the headlight. If that works, then you know where the problem is and what to do next.

While you are at it, you might want to consider a headlight wiring upgrade. It will do wonders for increasing the brightness of your head lights.

Good luck,

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[redneckpunk]

How would I go about upgrading the wiring system cause my lights are awfully dim and that would be great

 

[Seabronc]

It is a relatively simple job. The easiest way is to buy an already built wiring harness or you can easily build the harness yourself. Painless makes one and so do numerous other auto wiring places, see the item labeled Halogen Headlight Harness, http://www.painlesswiring.com/assets/07Catalog/page44.pdf. To build one your need to collect a few parts like wires, relays and connectors. What the upgrade does is use your high low beam switch to trigger the relays and gets power for the lights directly from the battery. That also helps in the dash since the voltage drop caused by the headlights is eliminated. If you need a more detailed explanation, I'll expand on it in another post. I can also post a wiring diagram for a do it yourself build.

http://www.painlesswiring.com/07_catalog.php

Good luck,

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[redneckpunk]

Well You guys are gonna think I'm retarted but I figured out my problem. After all the crap It was the foot dimmer switch. I changed it and it works fine but thanks for all your help.

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[bobstrat]

If you need a more detailed explanation, I'll expand on it in another post.

please do

 

[Seabronc]

please do

This is not an original idea of mine. I originally got the information from the Big Broncos board years ago. This method has been used by many people in many different cars over the years and can be applied to most any vehicle. Basically what you are doing is to change from running the headlight power from the same line that powers many other elements in the vehicle to running them on their own dedicated circuit. It is easily constructed with a few parts and some auto wire. I built mine using some wire and relays that I stripped out of some Ford junkyard vehicles. Several harness builders also make a prefab harness to do the job. One thing I did when making mine is to make it a "plug and play harness", in other words, if a relay is acting up, I can just disconnect the harness at the connection point and replug the headlights with their original plugs. I did do that one time when a fuse failed and I didn't have one to replace it with.

Here is the link to article by Erik Marquez http://ford.off-road.com/ford/article/arti...l.jsp?id=198401

If you decide to build one and need any help or have any questions, PM me.

Good luck,

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