Help!! Headlight switch Failure?

[justjones]

The strangest thing happened to my '83 911 tonight. I was driving on some back roads with poor lighting and was actively switching between low and high beams as cars passed. There began to be serious (30 second) delays when switching from 1 beam to the other. Then I experienced an electrical burning smell for a few moments followed by dead headlamps. All fuses and relays check fine, these are the original headlights and I plan to crawl under the dash in the morning. My question is are the delays between beams followed by electrical burning smells indicative of a headlight switch failure? Ive been searching but haven't found the answer. I still have my parking lights, and all instrument lights controlled by the headlight knob including the instrument dimmer, just no headlights or fogs.

Any help would be appreciated!

[yelcab1]

Say good bye to your switch. $175 later...

[timmy2]

Yep, I let the smoke out of mine the first month I owned it, 3 years ago.

New switch and the Jwest headlight kit and an in line dash lamp fuse is the remedy.
You may want to check the headlamp bulb filaments as well. I lost a set of H4's when the new switch started acting up even with the relays!
Yes, even the new switch needed adjustment after 2 years.

[DRACO A5OG]

Search and Find WON's post on the fix and take apart the stalk and see if it can be salvaged.

There are 5-6 contacts that need adjusting/cleaning. You should see clearly where it shorted out.

If not as others posted time for a new stalk and get those relays or build your own but you must have relays to keep tis from happening again.

[porwolf]

How about relay failure? Where did the electric smell come from. That smell hangs around the guilty part for quite some time. Worth using your nose. Plus if some component has burning failure there are usually visible signs on the outside also.

[justjones]

Thanks for some of these confirmations on the switch. I'll go snooping around for the culprit this afternoon but I fear I will find a burnt up switch. Seems like a pretty common-ish issue. I looked through the owners manual but did not see there was a relay that corresponded to the headlamps??

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by justjones

Thanks for some of this confirmations on the switch. I'll go snooping around for the culprit this afternoon but I fear I will find a burnt up switch. Seems like a pretty common-ish issue. I looked through the owners manual but did not see there was a relay that corresponded to the headlamps??

Your high/low switch smoked. Mine did the same thing. There's a procedure on here as Draco mentioned for cleaning and somewhat repairing the switch. I opted to go the new switch route and installed the headlight relay kit.

If your high/low switch is too far gone I can see if I kept my old one that still worked and just needed tweaking. I'll give it to you if I still have it. You just have to pay for shipping. I'm not sure if I kept it but I can check my boxes.

[911s55]

Give this a look.
turn signal switch quick fix pictures

[86 911 Targa]

^^^^^
Hope this helps.

Gerry

[Craig_D]

+1,000 on getting the headlight relays. When I first bought my 911 the previous owner said that on occasion the high beams would go out, and when it happened to me a few days later, I got the relays immediately. That was over five years ago and I've never had the problem since (plus the light output was notably higher as soon as the relays were installed).

Good luck.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by 86 911 Targa

Hope this helps.

Gerry

Where do you get that nifty inline fuse?

[Robey5]

I wish I could have seen this post last night, I suppose that I would just add on at this point.

I struggled tracking down a head light issue for a while (like months) - and I ended up getting another head light switch, and the relay kit.

From a "work" stand point, the relay kit is worth about an hour of your time. Maybe less, as your car may be cleaner than my sample - as I struggled a bit with the grounds (which were corroded bad on my project).


The turn signal switch is about 2+ hours of time, depending on how your wire harness and how many zip ties are there to clip. Take your time.

As a fine sidebar: I thought for SURE that I started an electrical fire in the car when I was trouble shooting to determine why the lights weren't working and I ran all over the place armed with my fire extinguisher. There was smoke bellowing out of the dash for a minute there, and I thought that I was in real trouble.

[jellonailer]

Don't mean to hijack the thread but is this a Pelican "kit" for the relay? I need a new switch also. (Turn/High/low beam) Thanks

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Where do you get that nifty inline fuse?

PEP Boys.

[JWest]

Originally Posted by jellonailer

Don't mean to hijack the thread but is this a Pelican "kit" for the relay? I need a new switch also. (Turn/High/low beam) Thanks

Yes, type JWST-911-HLPR in the Pelican search box.

[redranger]

You may have a bad ground somewhere. I had my headlight switch burn on me, very scary. The hot wire for the clock light somehow came in contact with the ground. Had to rewire all the gauge lights, which isn't that tough to do. I also installed the inline fuse for those lights.

Aren't the headlights fused already? He said he had stock lights. I would look behind the gauges and checked for melted wires, and then testing continuity between hot and ground...if you find it, you've got your problem. Do your parking lights work?

This pic helped me out tremendously.

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by redranger

You may have a bad ground somewhere. I had my headlight switch burn on me, very scary. The hot wire for the clock light somehow came in contact with the ground. Had to rewire all the gauge lights, which isn't that tough to do. I also installed the inline fuse for those lights.

Aren't the headlights fused already? He said he had stock lights. I would look behind the gauges and checked for melted wires, and then testing continuity between hot and ground...if you find it, you've got your problem. Do your parking lights work?

This pic helped me out tremendously.

This is a pic from my '86 which I posted a while back.

Gerry

[redranger]

Yep, and it was a tremendous help. Can't thank you enough for it!

[justjones]

Do your parking lights work?

Yes they do. I am going to start having a look this afternoon for faulty wiring/burnt switch.

Thanks everyone!

[ghamilton]

Sounds like your high/low dip stalk. Same symptoms happened to me on my trip bringing my SC home from oh to Boston. Stalk & relay kit is under $200.

2-3 hours work. Be sure you mark your harness; both sides with labels and pics.

I bought a stick on label kit in the elec. Isle at home despot. It has a bunch of sheets with small stickers in pairs. Just randomly put same label on switch and the old harness before you unplug it.
Then put same label on new harness and match it up. Easy peasy!