Wedge TR8 Headlights

Hello All,

My headlights stopped popping up out of the blue. The lights come on, but do not come up. ANY suggestions I check all the fuses, and they appear fine. Thanks!!!

Rod Marks
rsm@loumarks.com

If I remember right, I had the opposite problem long time ago where the light would pop up but wouldn't shine. It was the hazard switch. Check all your light switch connections for corrosion or malfunction and give them a good cleaning with contact cleaner. This is just a suggestion but I hope it works.

The most likely culprit is the headlight switch itself. There are several sets of contacts within the switch, and the ones that control the motor circuits is corroded. First check the motors themselves by turning the knobs on the end of the motor. with a few turns, the motor should take off & run through an up/down cycle. That will tell you the motors have power to them. By the way, the hazzard switch isn't involved with the headlights in any way. The turn signals are powered through the hazzard switch, but nothing to do with the headlights. If you are very, very careful disassembly & cleaning is sometimes possible. the best solution is usually to just buy a new switch.

Thanks for all the info. Will keep you posted!


Rod

Ok, here is the latest, the motors are not receiving any power. But the actual lights come on. I am thinking maybe the breaker is bad? What do you think. I feel if the switch was bad, then the lights wouldn't light up either?! Thanks!


Rod Marks
rsm@loumarks.com

What about the relays?

Any way to test or to know if the relays are good without replacing them? I do seem to hear a click from the golve box when I turn the switch on. It is just most odd, as they were working perfectly last week. The only electrical thing that has been done to the car lately, is that I had a new voltage regulator put in. Could that have done something to the lights or relays?! I assume you are referring to the ones in the glove box next to the fuse box correct? There appears to be one on each side.

Thanks!

Ok, I still need help. The relays and the switch have both been replaced by my mechanic, and still nothing. The only thing that has been done to the car is a new Voltage regulator. Before this was put it I never had a days trouble out of the lights. Just a coincedence? My mechanic thinks they are not related, but the bottom line is that they were working fine before he put in the new voltage regulator. I need help, he is stumped! Thanks!!

Rod
rsm@loumarks.com

i think that there is a circuit breaker between the 12 volt source and the common contact on the headlamp run/stop relays. make sure that you are getting 12 volts to the relay contacts (the brown/pink wire). then check the output of the relay (blue/grey) for voltage when the switch is on.

Ok,

Here is the latest. Just spoke to my mechanic. The headlights are popping up, but extremly slow. The he says once they finally go up all the way, one side closes real quick and pops up at full speed! Help!!

Rod
rsm@loumarks.com

Sure sounds like something simple - like faulty connection somewhere. Double-check all your connections, especially grounds. Pull 'em apart and clean 'em up - use some dielectric grease to reassemble.

Yesterday, I was checking the wife's B. One headlight was dim. One of the bullet connectors was just barely connecting (ground). The fact that they're working, but slowly sounds like it may be a simple case of not getting enough current, due to a bad connection.

Mickey

sounds like a high resistance connection somewhere?!

My mechanic now thinks it is the circuit breaker. I was not aware there was a circuit breaker for the headlights. We already replaced both relays. Where is the circuit breaker located?!, and could that really be the problem?

Thanks!
rsm@loumarks.com

its near the relays and fuse box I think. but I would have thought that a circuit breaker was either good or bad, not almost bad.

The latest is that the motors are getting power, lights pop up SLOWLY and go down slowly, and when I say slowly i mean like over a minute! then the breaker goes off. Then at some point ther breaker will go back on. Also, each time the lights inceremntly move, you can see the other lights dim, and once they get all the way up, the right light will go down quickly, then pop up quickly and stay up!!!! Help! My mechanic is at a loss. Also, now the high beams are not getting juice even in the glove box (high beam fuses). Also, again I had the voltage regulator replaced, and that is when all the problems with the lights started! A coincedence?! or could this be related?!


Thanks!
rsm@loumarks.com

Another update.........They took the small circuit breaker out of the loop, and now the headlights go up and down at full speed but, after the right side comes up, it goes down and comes back up again, and stays up! Any suggestions?

Thanks!

rsm@loumarks.com

Well, as they say when it rains it poors! Things went from bad to WORSE. While trying to diagnose the problem, they took the circuit breaker out of the loop and used a jumper in its place. Once they did that, the lights started to work at the correct speed. They did this several times and it was all working. Then on say the 12th test of the lights going up and down, all heck broke loose, wires starting smoking and melting!!!!!!! So now they are going to have to re run several wires. The conclusion from all the mess was that a ground wire and a live wire must be touching some where, and the reason the lights were going up so slowly was that the breaker was getting too hot and shutting off, and as it cooled of a little bit, it would then raise them a little at a time! So the question now is, where are they touching? Any suggestions? Thanks to all this nightmare, I am now going to miss the Car Show this weekend in which I was entered, to say the least I am extremly disappointed, but still trying to stay positive that it can be all figured out. So any help is greatly appreciated! Also, when they were going up and down propperly for the short period of time, the right side would " wink" go up go down, and then up again and stay up. A seperate issue?! No one is sure. Also, the high beams were not working at the time either. The fuses were not getting any power.

Rod
rsm@loumarks.com

did they remove the lamp assemblies while troubleshooting? maybe one of the adjustable links, or the limit switches got jarred out of position. My right lamp assembly used to be a lazy one, go up and then slowly drop down to halfway. I adjusted the link and that seemed to cure that problem. One other problem I had was an alternator putting out around 18 volts instead of around 14, after curing that several other electrical anomolies disappeared. I'm not an expert, but if the motor contacts suffered an over-voltage maybe they got a little crispy and need to be cleaned or burnished? a case of too much is just as bad or worse than too little.