69 Charger headlights no worky

[Todd Wilson]

The headlights on Frankie tonight decided to not work. Was wondering if anyone has been there and done that and can offer some thoughts or suggestions.    The running lights do come on. I hear a click when I go to headlights and the warning buzzer does work if I open the car door with the lights on.   I have pushed the high beem dimmer switch many times and it appears to be clicking properly but have not verified voltage with a meter. I have in the past had the dimmer get hung up on other Mopars creating a non working situation.  Havent poked around with a volt meter yet. Thoughts or suggestions. They been working just fine and went to leave tonight and thought maybe the doors didnt open but they were open and no lights.


Todd

[Chryco Psycho]

where I would start is see if there is power going into the dimmer switch , if not there has to be a problem with the headlight switch , if there is power to the dimmer then see if there is power out to the headlights , red & purple go to the lights , green should be power from the headlight switch . if there is no power out to the headlights the dimmer switch is bad .

[resq302]

I agree with Neal, I would pull back the carpet and check the voltage at the dimmer switch.  99% of the time, the contacts corrode and then breaks the circut.  If you have power there, then I would pull the plug off the head light itself and check for power there.

[Dino]

The good news is that apparently the dash switch works so it's likely the floor switch or maybe the ground on the rad support came loose.

[triple_green]

do the hl doors open or no power to the lamps?

When I was changing out the + battery cable, I bumped the connector in the harness that runs next to the + cable. After cleaning the connectors and some dialectric grease, my headlights are operating fine again....

[billschroeder5842]

Give a wiggle to the electrical connection on the block at the firewall. You might also want to check the connection of the connection near the battery. Mine would always work with a wiggle until I got tired of doing that and cleaned it permanently.

[Cooter]

Time to rebuild headlight switch and turn the sliders inside around.

[Todd Wilson]

Still no luck yet. I had a short amount of time today to check things.   Once again the running lights are on in both positions. Doors open but headlights dont come on.

I had a new dimmer switch. Swapped it out and nothing.  The dimmer connection has 3 wires. The center (green) wire had 12volts.  Other 2 wires had none.

Checked the headlight grounds at the front. They are fine.  DId clean the connector by the battery. Have wiggled everything from bulkhead to headlight bulbs.


Like I said I havet had time to really probe around with a voltmeter.


Todd

[Todd Wilson]

Time to rebuild headlight switch and turn the sliders inside around.

I think the switch is bad.   How tough is it to take apart and do this to the sliders?

I can get an entire new ballgame for 140$ on ebay. New repro switch and vacuum switch as well.



Todd

[A383Wing]

if you have 12v at the green wire at the dimmer switch, the headlight switch is good....if no power out of the dimmer switch, it's bad

Bryan

[Chryco Psycho]

I agree 

[Todd Wilson]

Yeah I poked around with the voltmeter and green has nothing at the dimmer switch.


Todd

[Chryco Psycho]

is the green wire powered at the headlight switch ? Ifthere is no power to the green it sound more like a headlight switch contact problem .

[Cooter]

Again, time for a new headlight switch. Being you couldn't get these jsut a few short years ago, i had to come up with a rebuild procedure. isn't that hard to do, but MUST BE PATIENT..LOTS of little springs and sh*t to get dropped and lost.