car wont start

[Larry Jones]

I noticed that when I went out tonight I only had a high beam and no low beam. Plus no backup light either. I turned the car around like right and headed home. I read the 62 manual. The turn signals could be a bad fuse. But when I lifted the hood I noticed that one of the two wires was off the stoplight sender. I reattached that wire still nothing. The two wires coming from the sender on top of the master cylinder one was completely off. Is one of these wires a hot wire and the other is a ground wire. With one of these wires off for maybe a day No I take that back I had my turn signals earlier today I recall. So I would say the wire was off about four hours. With that being said Would you say something got shorted out or maybe blew a fuse in the process. I will pull the turn signal fuse tomorrow. I do have lights in the rear but no backup lights plus no low beam to the front. Is the sender the culprit. Please advise if anyone can. Thank You Larry. Ps I haave a high beam but no backup lights or turn signals.

[simplyconnected]

First of all, NONE of those wires go to ground; the light bulbs do. If you put the Stop Switch wires together your stop lights should work. If not, check the fuse.

You are right about one wire being 'hot' all the time. If that wire came off and touched ground, it probably blew a fuse. I heard NO report about whether you stop lights work or not. It is impossible for them to work with the power wire off.

Replace all wires that are off, make sure your connections are tight and then replace the bad fuses. - Dave

[Larry Jones]

no backup lights

Will check the fuses today Thanks to you Dave. Larry

[Larry Jones]

Hi Dave

Checked the fuses and they appear good. Tighten the two wires on the stop light switch and low and behold I now have the backup up lights. Now for a ohms law question. I still don't have a low beam on the front headlights. I have a high beam but no low beam. I pulled the hi beam low beam on the floor board out.As looking at the switch marking it has on one brass fitting the word Fomoco and on the plastic that the three prongs our attached too It reads Little Fuse written on it. One of the three prongs to be loose. Now hooking up my DVM to the top prong Which is the negative lead to that With the high beam engaged I get on each of the two prongs infinite readings . Now when I engage the buttom again I get o ohms on one of the terminals and the one across from it reads infinite. Would that right there tell me I have a bad switch or not. Even shot some electronic cleaning inside of the male three prong plug but to no availe. Please advise. Thank You as Always. Larry

[jopizz]

Larry,

If your ohmmeter has an audible signal use that instead of the readout. With the switch in one position you should have a beep when you connect to two of the terminals. With the switch pushed on you should have a beep on the other terminal. The switch is readily available at most local auto stores and is not very expensive. You can take it apart and clean it but I'd just recommend replacing it.

John

[simplyconnected]

...One of the three prongs to be loose. Now hooking up my DVM to the top prong Which is the negative lead to that With the high beam engaged I get on each of the two prongs infinite readings...

Larry, NONE of these go to ground, the light bulbs do. If you touch one to ground with he headlight switch pulled out, you will short the circuit (and bad things will happen).

The High/Low Beam Switch is JUST LIKE a household 3-way switch; one connection is fed from the headlight switch and in turn, it feeds either the LOW beams or the HIGH beams.

Push the headlight switch in (no power). On your High/Low Beam Switch, find the one terminal that is fed from the headlight switch and connect it to your OHM meter, your readings to the other two terminals should show; zero ohms (a continuous path) and to the other terminal you should read 'infinity' (an open circuit). When you press the switch, your results should be opposite.

More importantly, I want to know why all these electrical connections are loose! They should be VERY tight. All of them. Wires that fall off aren't going to make it in a vibrating car.

So again... Replace all wires that are off, make sure your connections are tight and then replace the bad fuses. - Dave

[Larry Jones]

hello John.

Replaced the switch. Its not the switch. Still no low beam on the front headlights. The main ground wire was somewhat loose on the engine block so I retightened that.Both low beams on each head light couldn't have burned out at the same time. Later today I will take off the front facia from the head lights and look at the wiring and go from there I don't no what else could be done from the last point about the wiring that goes into the headlight. Any other suggestions what to look for. Thanks for your interest. Larry

[simplyconnected]

Larry, your meter also checks for voltage. There was no reason to buy a new switch when the meter will indicate whether power is passing or not.

I once had a Pinto that burned both headlights out at the same time. I refused to believe it but the volt meter never lies.

[jopizz]

Larry,

Did you test the old switch as I suggested. You would have found out that way that it was not the switch. A lot of times the trouble is a bad ground if both go out at the same time although I've also had two bulbs burn out. I would check all the connectors near the headlights. Sometimes they get corroded and need to be unplugged and cleaned.

John

[Larry Jones]

looking at the sockets tomorrow

I will tomorrow John pull the socket off the headlights. Look at the wiring for frays spray some electronic cleaning fluid in the sockets. I switch out the old headlights awhile ago for the Halogen ones. Nothing ever comes easy for me with this car. Thanks again for staying with me on this appreciate it. Larry

[simplyconnected]

It doesn't go easy because you are making this much harder than necessary. All the sprays etc., don't mean spit if you don't check for voltage at the sockets.

We gave you the procedure for testing your switch. I don't know why, but instead of proving the switch, you are throwing parts at the problem. This kind of troubleshooting will produce an expensive bunch of good but useless parts regardless of the outcome.

The High/Low switch is not the best place to start your troubleshooting. If the headlights don't work, you should start THERE. CHECK FOR VOLTAGE AT THE SOCKETS. If they have none, work back toward the firewall, then toward the source.

As this story unfolds we learn more details. Did you add relays to your halogen setup? Are the headlights separately fused? BTW after asking three times, you have not answered about how that oil leak was resolved.

[Larry Jones]

checked the low beam socket.

Ok. My low beam is not the Halogen headlight just the high beam headlights on both sides our. I have always had my low beamat least for several years now never had to use the high beams at all. I indicated I purchased another dimmer switch for the car same results High beam on with the low beam being on at the same time. I unplugged the low beam headlight today from the socket and when I engaged the high beam both lights came on checked for voltage in the low beam had voltage. Now when I engaged the dimmer switch again I hav no voltage in the socket. I have Jims Osborn Electrical manual .It appears A little confusing when you have a cluster of wires. On the plug side of the dimmer I have voltage coming from that. Could I have another bad dimmer. Next move I will jump it and go from there. All my thanks to you Dave and John. Larry

[jopizz]

Larry,

You have three wires on the dimmer switch.

Red/Yellow- power from headlight switch
Green/Black- High Beam/Low Beam together
Red/Black- Low Beam only.

Since you say you have low beams when the high beams are on then the Green/Black wire is ok. You need to check the Red/Black wire from the headlight socket back to the dimmer switch.

John

[simplyconnected]

Larry, let's start with the high beams because they seem to work. Let's get something straight...
Outside lamps have TWO filaments, one for low and one for high beams. That means those sockets have three stabs, one ground and two power leads. Inside lamps only have one filament and sockets with two stabs.

All four lamps light with High Beams. Your electrical diagram will show, they ALL use the same GREEN & BLACK power wire. Pay attention to the wire color.

The low beams use a different color wire. It is RED & BLACK.

Turn the low beams on then check voltage on the RED & BLACK wires, starting at the sealed beam sockets. Do not get sidetracked. These wires are neatly arranged using convenient plugs. You can take advantage of this by checking voltage at the plugs. Pay attention to and check the RED & BLACK wires.

...Since you say you have low beams when the high beams are on then the Green/Black wire is ok..

John, I doubt this is true. - Dave

[Larry Jones]

jumping the dimmer switch

By jumping the dimmer switch putting one wire from the power inside the socket and touching the other two brass prongs on the switch itself going to tell me I have a bad switch but if its in the wiring itself the jumper wont tell me what I need to no Is that correct John. Thank You Larry