A Different Type Headlight Problem

[littlewillie]

Just bought a 95 J30 two days ago. I’m really impressed with this car. I’ve read all the threads here about the headlight problems. Seems like all of the problems I’ve read about are related to the relay under the hood. There is not a thread on the headlight problem I’m having & was wondering if someone could troubleshoot this one with me. The high beam indicator on the dash stays lit no matter which position the dimmer switch is in; forward (high) or rearward (low). The passenger side high beam headlight stays on all the time no matter which position the dimmer switch is in; forward (high) or rearward (low). The driver side high beam works properly with the dimmer switch. I have the passenger side high beam bulb removed, until I can repair it so I can drive at night without spotlighting everyone. The high beam indicator on the dash is still lit with the passenger side hi beam bulb removed. What do you think?

Willie

[appleman10]

could it be the headlamp switch? probably not...thats the best input I have to offer though.

[Speedy_1234]

What it could be is one of the wire might be bare and it touching ground or the relay's may be touching each other . because when I try to make my relay work by force it did the same but no light came in the dash

[littlewillie]

I found the problem. It was the headlight relay & the 2 wiring harness connectors that connect to the headlight relay. Before I describe what I did to fix the problem, let me say thank you to infinman & royallap. There posts in this forum gave me a guideline to troubleshooting my problem.
I removed the headlight relay, opened it up & re-soldered each circuit board joint. I re-installed the relay to check the repair. I checked the 2 wiring harness connectors that connect to the relay. While wiggling the wiring harness connectors with the headlights on bright, I found that the headlights would flicker & the bright light indicator on the dash panel was going off and on. The wiring harness connectors were loose. I removed the headlight relay, opened it up & added solder to each circuit board prong too take up the slack when connected to the wiring harness connectors. I added too much solder to the prongs and the prong housing would not fit. I used a small file to file each circuit board prong until the housing fit properly. Another method for tightening the wiring harness connectors is to use a 90 degree “O” ring tool (scribe) to pry each connector out. Make sure the headlight switch is in the off position before trying the “O” ring tool (scribe) method.
All the headlight problems are fixed & everything is working properly. The cost to do this repair was $0.00 & about an hour of time. Hopefully someone else can use this information.

[infinman]

Cheers

[littlewillie]

infinman , I raise a toast to you. It’s really nice having someone like yourself hanging out here helping folks out. I’m sure we will talk again in the near future. I’ll be changing the timing belt on this thing real soon. Thank you again for your help.

Willie

[infinman]

Thanks.Glad I can help.If I ever travel south of the border You owe me a real beer{s}.

[littlewillie]

You've got a deal. Once you get south of the border, keep going alot deeper south. You'll find me where Bar B Que, cornbread, greens, chicken & dumplins and a cat named Elvis are all popular. Come on down.