Headlights Suddenly Not Working

Hello,

A quick question. I just replaced my battery cables, and now realize my headlights stopped working. The parking lights and signals work, but the headlights do not. They will flash when I pull the signal lever, but will not operate with the normal dash switch.

Any ideas?

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John
73 911S

I'm at work now, but the thing I woudl have to do is to stare at the electrical diagram(s) long enough to see where there is a circuit that powers both high and low beams, but not park lights and not headlight "flasher" lights.

FYI, I lost my (I believe) high beams once. I took the switch off the steering column and, using BROWN emery (fingernail file)cardboard (sometimes having females in the house is useful) I scraped the contacts. It worked great to restore high beams, but I don't suspect this is your problem. DON'T use the black or grey abrasives and they are metallic and conduct electricity.

You might want to turn the lights, and the key, on and wiggle wires and relays. Check fuses.

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'83 SC

Check the simplest things first...sounds like a fuse to me! At least on my 70 there are separate fuses for each side and for lowbeam/highbeam. Do the highs work?

Also you may have forgotten to reconnect one of the grounds. For instance, there is a little brown ground wire that goes under the left side main braided battery strap on my car. It is for the lights!

Also possible that your highbeam/turnsignal switch has crumbled apart. Any change when you fuss with that?

[This message has been edited by campbellcj (edited 09-06-2000).]

Try swapping the horn and headlamp relays, and check carefully for corrosion on the socket!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Fellas,

I am at a bit of a loss here. Tonight I pulled the Pelican wiring diagram and legend and studied the headlight circuit closely. I then went to the car, and tried to trace things back. No fuses are blown, and the three relays I checked all seem to be working (not sure which one supports the headlights however.) I have one in the front fusebox, horn I presume; one in the engine compartment on the left side, and one in the trunk up against the driver's side firewall. They all seem to check out fine, as does the ground.

With a test lamp, however, I am getting no power at the fuse box for the headlight circuit.

Again, this seemed to happen when I was redoing my interior and changing battery cables. I have to believe that something came apart, as it would be a big coincidence for some part to fail at the same time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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John
73 911S

If they work on the flasher but not on the headlight switch, perhaps the switch has become faulty. I have never pulled one of these, so don't know how to check it, sorry.

Cam

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Cameron Baudinet
1975 911S

Same thing happened to me when changing headlight bulb, Headlights would not work, They only worked when I pull on hi/low dimmer, everything else worked, ended up being directional switch and I changed it myself, sometimes you can get in there and adjust the terminals and make it work, but when I got in there it was all corroded. Hope this helps. Bob 88 930