Hi/Lo beam reversed

[Pinz712M]

i am a newbie 911 owner and pelican forum member.

When i turn on the lights, the hi-beams are on by default (blue indicator light in the tach is on as well). when i use turn on the "hi-beams" the low-beams will com on as well. Any idea on how i can fix that? i know i can change the polarity on the plug, but would that fix the hi-beam indicator light issue?

thanks,
Christian

[76FJ55]

First. What year car do you have?

I'm assuming you are using the stalk correctly? forward for high beam. middle for low beam and rear (temporary) to flash high beam?

What headlights are you running? Stock, stock lights with relay kit, LED conversion.....?

[Pinz712M]

It’s a ‘73.
No relay kids or LED conversion.
They are H4 lights but not sure if they are the original ones.

Yes in the stalk usage...although I was questioning myself for a while

Thanks
Christian

[mo-mon]

Welcome to the forum Christian! I have an '88 so can't really help but others will.

It is customary to post a picture of your car when new to the forum. We'd love to see it!

[Pinz712M]

Here’s a pic.

[RSTarga]

You must have relays somewhere with those many lights!

[RSTarga]

Nice looking car

[Pinz712M]

I just followed the cables from the switches to the Lights. No relays to be found.

[jpnovak]

Either the wires are reversed at the headlight plug or at the fuse box.

Looking at the back of the plug the wiring should be

L - ground (brown)
Top - low beam (yellow)
R - high beam (white).

The fact that you have both low and high on simultaneously makes me think that someone jumpered the high/low at the fuse box. This can help with lighting but can cause current overload to ground connection if not updated to lower gauge (thicker) wire.

It is possible that the ground and high beam are reversed causing feedback through the low beam circuit. This would give you low lighting output though.

YOu will need to search for a wiring diagram and do some wire tracing.

[Arne2]

Someone tried to jumper it for H1 lights, but did it backwards? Maybe?

[Pinz712M]

Thanks. Found a wire diagram and will some wore tracing this weekend.

[E Sully]

I had a few problems early on with my 1973. It could be a wiring issue, but it may also be a problem with the contacts in the turn signal switch. I fixed mine by replacing the turn signal switch, adding a relay kit, and cleaning the ground connections.
One thing you should consider is installing the JWest relay kit to protect the contacts in the turn signal switch. https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/JWSTERLYHLPR.htm?pn=JWST-ERLY-HLPR&bt=Y&fs=0&SVSVSI=5878
Here are a couple of threads that may be of help.
Headlights ONLY work on high-beam???
Headlight Switch Wiring Help!

[theiceman]

i would say if he is running to the switch with that many head lights without relay the stalk is likely burnt out and shorting the highs on .

[Pinz712M]

Thanks guys. I ordered the relays.

I did look at the stalk switch and it looks very clean and seems to function properly. (From a novice point of view

The extra lights go to their own and separate pull switches. Not sure if they are also connected to the stalk and regular light switch. What’s the beat way to check that?

Getting dizzy looking at the wiring diagram.....need a bigger print out. But I am wondering if the switched the high and low beam wires between the switch, stalk and the headlight-flasher-changeover relay when they put the car back together. What is the headlight/flasher/changeover relay and where is it located? Based on the diagram, the wires attach to all three. I will try and trace them in the car

[timmy2]

Changeover relay is a really bad translation. It really just makes the brights on lamp illuminate in the gauge.

[jpnovak]

The flasher relay is a black square box located behind the oil pressure combo gauge (Second from left). It would be really difficult to change wiring anywhere up there. The switch, main harness, relay are all terminated with factory plugs, bulkhead connectors, etc.

I would be looking closely at the fuse panel and individual light housing plugs.

[Pinz712M]

Had some time to trace wires and experiment.
I reversed the wiring coming from the light switch at the fuse box. White to yellow and yellow to white.

With that setup everything works as expected. Including the ho beam indicator lights.

For some reason the lo beam (yellow) coming from the dash area...thinks it’s the high beam.

But it also saw that the hi-beam indicator cable was connected to the yellow lo beam cables.

So I am good for now, but have some Cleaning up to do on this harness

[M491Cabriolet]

Good going. Since you’ve just gone through it, I hope you know... I’m looking at the factory manual and it shows a headlight relay is under the left floorboard. Is this wrong? If not, where exactly is that relay and what does it look like? Thanks

[timmy2]

Originally Posted by M491Cabriolet

Good going. Since you’ve just gone through it, I hope you know... I’m looking at the factory manual and it shows a headlight relay is under the left floorboard. Is this wrong? If not, where exactly is that relay and what does it look like? Thanks

Headlight relay in the early cars just switches the signal to the high beam indicator light.
Doesn’t control the current to the stalk like the headlight relay kits.
It is actually mounted by the flasher relay in the trunk by the gauges.