[IonicRipper]

New member... Hi

Heres my problem: The headlights on my 91 Caprice Classic wont turn on

Sometimes when i start the car they will come on automatically but most of the time they stay off

The switches still turn the park lights and the tail lights on but the headlights have a mind of its own

Any ideas where i should start looking?

 

[IonicRipper]

The head lights should open along with the tail lights when i press the light switch right? All im getting in the front is the parking lights when i put the light switch on.

 

[thebigbadWOLF]

have you checked the fuses yet?

 

[IonicRipper]

First thing i checked, but only the ones in the dash... Maybe there is some other elsewhere?

 

[2ndtonone]

check the ground wire on the harness connected to the 9004 bulbs. then check the resistance on the tan wire in the harness(low beam) then the (high beam) light green. had the same problem when I installed the ddm hid kit. you need a heavy duty light wire harness. the tan wire(low beam) on your old harness probably has some heat damage, which is causing the light switch to over work and maybe over heat. I wrote a post about how to build this harness do a search for ddm kit not working in the exterior section under my name.

 

[SSnow]

Could be the headlight relay on the steering column, in the middle on the right, up to the "apply brake to shift out of park" solenoid.

There a metal road around here for the high beam trigger too.

 

[IonicRipper]

When the headlights DO come on the high beams dont work... But i think its a problem with the lever it self. For now i can live without high beams, as of right now i cant even drive at night

 

[SSnow]

On my old 91 the wires where pretty much burned up under the column steering on the big long plastic connector too. problem could be there.


But im pretty sure your headlight relay is bad, the thing I mentioned earlier. When activating the low beam, try to wack it off with a screwdriver, i found a bad relay that was working when it wanted like that. Also check out the rod under the column its easy to put back in place for the high beams.


How many kms on the thing? i had 367000 on mine.

 

[IonicRipper]

230,000 KMs

 

[IonicRipper]

After 2 days of rain i finally had time to check my Caprice a bit and this time i was lucky, the headlights turned on when i put the ignition to ON. I then started checking the wiring...

All the wiring under the hood look good and strong, didint see any signs of heat damage. All the grounds seem to be connected and solid (apart from a bit of corrosion) so it seems the problem isint here.

After that i went to take a look under the dash and found the relay you where talking about, SSnow. I started fiddling with it and found that when i push the black connector with the tan and green wires forward (e.i. towards the front of the car) it makes the headlights blink fast and when i put the light switch (while the headlights are still blinking) on the night lights it stays on the high beams.

The lever on the steering doesnt seem to change from high beams to low beams, i have to go under the dash and pull the black connector towards me to bring back the low beams.

Could this relay be the reason why my headlights wont always turn on?

 

[IonicRipper]

Ok now im pretty sure (90%) the relay is my problem.
I was fingering the connection (lol) and saw the head lights go from high beams, low beams and off depending on the direction i was pushing.

 

[SSnow]

All the big current for the headlight is routed there.

I would disconnect it to check the connectors, and if its bad i have 3 units somewhere around.

both high and low current is supposed to pass in that.

 

[IonicRipper]

I managed to take a few pictures just to be sure (sorry for the horrible quality)

Here it is without the headlight wiring

And here it is with the wires plugged back in (not fully seated)

I am very sure this white relay... switch... thingy is the cause of my problems. SSnow you said you might have some laying around?