k9sar Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 Ok guys, this one has me baffled. A few days ago I noticed that both my headlights were out. As it was getting dark, I decided to throw on my fogs so I had at least some hope of seeing. Nothing there either. Additionally, the little indicator light on the console that saus your fogs are on was not illuminated. Marker lights come on fine and turn signals work fine. Checked the pair of 15A fuses on the side of the engine compartment and they are both fine. Naturally, I thought it was the combination switch which was listed as one of the common problems. I pulled it out real quick and checked the pin to pin connectivity in all positions and it all matched the diagram in the service manual. I threw a meter on the plug hanging from the steering column and I got 12V where I was supposed to. Around 11 last night, I got tired of the mosquitoes eating me alive and made one last check. I grabbed my ohmmeter, pulled the front right headlight bulb and checked the plug. 3 wires (matches diagram) Black should be ground.... checked that.... yup. Red w/ black should run to the combo switch (which was still laying on my bench). Checked that to ground... nope (that's good) Checked it to the connector on my column... yup. that's where she goes. Red w/ yellow should also run to the switch but when I checked it to ground.... BEEP! I should have checked to see if it had connectivity to the connector or if the connector was to ground (shouldn't be, I don't think) but it was late and I get up early for work. Anyone else have a similar issue? Any guesses on where to look for the short (if that's truely my problem)? Any ideas why, if there was a short to ground on that wire, would it affect both headlights and foglights? Thought I'd ask here first before tearing into the main harness and trying to trace the circuit. On a funny note, it looks like someone tried to steal my truck. The column cover is off and laying on the floor, plugs and things are dangling down, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrvanas Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 They tried to steal your truck recently or in the past? Hope all works out... ~jrvanas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 They tried to steal your truck recently or in the past? Hope all works out... ~jrvanas I'm thinking he mean's its all tore apart from working on it and looks like somebody tried to steal it. I was working on my stereo on my lunch break in the parking lot at work once and a cop cruised by. He stopped and gave me a good look over, then I realized how it had to look to see a guy in a truck yanking the stereo out. Oops. -thnkboutit- Anyways, back on subject. I'm not sure, but I had one of my headlight plugs melt and short at the bulb, and the other still worked. Not sure if a short on 1 would affect the other, although you'd think it would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSM_guy Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 but you are getting power all the way to the bulb harness for sure correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 are you grounded properly there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted September 10, 2004 Author Share Posted September 10, 2004 Solved. The problem was a leaking battery. Here's the story... Back in 1999 (apparently, from my receipt) I bought a new battery for my truck. It was of universal fit type so it had both top posts and side terminals. Well... apparently, the positive terminal on the battery decided to start leaking The stupid board won't let me upload the pics so I'll throw them out on cardomain. (you can get at bigger pics here) Anyway... the acid dripped down and ran into the connector which is the fusable link. It proceeded to eat the metal within the connector. With the reduced ability to conduct electricity, every time I turned on my headlights, it got hot... real hot... like, melt the connector to crap hot. Because of the positioning of the connector and the fact that it was laced to the one next to it, it maintained connection (very poor connection) to the circuit. Since acid is a conductor, I was reading 12V and getting connectivity when I checked the connector on the steering column. As I said before, when I threw power to it, it would just get rid of the 12V of energy in the way of heat instead of making the trip to the lights. I cut away all the bad stuff, dumped a bunch of baking soda in the engine compartment to neutralize the acid that was currently eating at other things (like the high pressure line for the AC) and did some quick soldering. Threw in a new battery and we're good as new. more pics (sorry for the focus issue) the melted connector Notice the 3 wires (the fusable link) that fell out of the connector threw baking soda on it... copper fizz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 aghh! that's ugly, glad you found the prob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now