headlight switch smoking! URGENT!!!

I have an 89 Formula, and a few days ago, my headlights refused to raise, and to turn on. The fog lights work just fine, and I don't think it's my motors because they raise manually, and close by themselves.
BUT!!! I noticed a small pulsing in the headlight switch inside the car, not when the fog light switch is pushed in, but only when I push the switch for the headlights themselves. That led me to believe it was the switch.
So, I went to the junkyard and bought 4 more identical switches figuring at least one had to work. I brought them home, cleaned all the copper tabs where the switch plugs into the wiring harness, then opened them up and cleaned the insides also.
Here's where I get stumped...I took each switch and am having the same issue with all four...
I plug them into the harness and the fog lights work just fine, but when I depress the headlights' switch, I hear some crackel noise and smoke starts coming out of the little black switch box!
I opened the switch boxes up and nothing looks burnt, but I don't know much about electronics or electricity. Could this be a problem with the wiring harness, or a fuse problem? PLEASE HELP! I can't drive at night right now, and night school starts NEXT WEEK already!!!

Sounds to me like you have a short in there somewhere. I would track the wires from the switch to the motor and see if you can find any damage.

Holy Jeez, that sounds like a nightmare. It looks to me as if the wires disappear into a bottomless pit behind all that dashboard.

Well, I guess I have an adventure ahead of me. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can have it ready before the local f-body get-together this Friday night.

Wish me luck! Oh, and if anyone has ever done this before, please let me know. I could use some first hand hints. And as always, thanks for the good advice!

Did you happen to check to see if you had the correct size fuses? You could possibly have a larger fuse than you need, which in turn could be frying the switches. Check that just to make sure. If all is fine, then do as Formula said and check for any shorts in the wiring.

OK, I checked the headlights themselves and the motor relays at the headlights with an ohm meter and they were fine. I also checked the switch itself and the wiring harness that the switch plugs into. Finally, I located a black "box" under the hood against the firewall and behind the master cylinder stuff, unplugged the lower harness to that box, replugged it and tried again. Wah lah!!! Success!

The lights came on when correctly operating the switch! :iceslolan

BUT, if I start the engine, then turn on the headlights, after about 30 seconds, the lights start to flicker, the headlights close and the switch starts making that clicking noise again. :mad:

So, the problem is now only occurring when the car is on. I'm thinking, it is a faulty black box thing under the hood. What do yall think???

And what is that box called?

OK, I got another "headlight door actuator module/ voltage regulator" (that's the black box) at the junk yard. I tried the replacement one and it didn't solve my problem, but then I put the original back and the problem was solved until I started the engine and ran it for a few minutes.

Now, I've got the service manual, the Chiltons, and the Haynes books and I think that I'm going to have to go thru all those wires and look for a faulty ground or exposed wire somewhere.

Can someone please tell me that I am not going to have to go thru that nightmare? :crying:

And why would running the engine for a few minutes have anything to do with it? Something getting hot? :dunno:

Could it be a faulty Relay?

tg1hq, sounds like a ground. I had an 89 formula and the headlight switch started smoking when I turned them on. I could hear sizzling and crackling in the dash around the headlight switch. I bought a new switch and it quit. I seen you said you had goten some from the J.Y. they probely have had moisture in them from sitting out side. check the grounds to the HDAM/VR (black box) and see if its been wet from rain and stuff. Hope this helps \,,/