Head light have no power

[gpacella]

All of the sudden....Out of the blue my headlights won't work from the switch, just both front lo-beam headlamps, the fuses are fine(checked both 15 amp fuses for lo-beams) but i checked for power and none is getting to the lamps. the wires are good. The hi-beams work fine. What do I check ? The car is in great condition except for the head lights now.Can it be the delay or the light switch ?

[pcv]

More than likely you may need a headlight switch. However, you need to go thru the light schematic to see if power is going into and coming out of the headlight switch. If power is going in but not coming out when switch is turned on, the switch is faulty. Good Luck.

[helpful]

Originally Posted by gpacella

All of the sudden....Out of the blue my headlights won't work from the switch, just both front lo-beam headlamps, the fuses are fine(checked both 15 amp fuses for lo-beams) but i checked for power and none is getting to the lamps. the wires are good. The hi-beams work fine. What do I check ? The car is in great condition except for the head lights now.Can it be the delay or the light switch ?

Be happy that you did not have the fire that my customer did. The problem that you are having is in the turn signal/high beam/wiper stalk. The internal switching is shot and you need a new switch. The headlight switch is most likely fine. The way the system works is as follows:

Headlight switch sends power when switched to on to the Highbeam stalk. When high beams are not on power is allowed to pass through to the headlights. The internal contacts are cheap to the problem doubles. By the use of these cheap contacts within the high beam stalk, resistance builds to such a level that the wires begin to heat seriously. This heat then melts the wire insultaion causing direct shorts with other wires running to the switch. My customers car had the head lights go out, the wiper turn on, smoke filled the car, and a small flame was seen around the column. The harness was shot, the plus was literaly melted into the switch. I obtained a new complete column from a local scrap yard to patch the car back together for this customer. Total cost was as follows:
Column from salvage yard $100.00
Diagnois problem and damages 2 hrs $120.00
Replace switch and repair harness by soldering in a new harness 3 hrs $180.00

Total cost of poor design $400.00 plus local taxes.

[jc62]

Same problem with my '96 (135k) -- looks like I'm headed to the dealer for a new turn signal/wiper control/high beam stalk. Already replaced the stalk about 4 years ago when the high beams were stuck on...

This looks like a "professional" job -- I'm ok at simple jobs (oil changes, spark plug wires, replace interior console, etc), but this looks beyond my capabilties...