The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Lights are out

1946 Chevy Stylemaster Sedan 216

Went out for a ride last night, put the headlights on. When I got to a dark back road I hit the high beams on the floor...... all the lights in front went out. hit the high beam switch again to shut them off, all the low beams still stayed off. I think a blew a fuse? Not sure if it has fuses or where they are. What do you think?

DG

You probably have a bad dimmer switch. That's a chronic problem on older GM products, cars and trucks. Disconnect the 3-wire plug at the dimmer and use a jumper wire to bypass the switch. There should be one hot wire from the headlight switch, and a high beam and low beam wire. The headlight switch has a thermal circuit breaker built into it, so the lights will flash on and off, not quit entirely, in case of a short.
Jerry


Edit: The older switch might have screw-type contacts instead of a plug. Troubleshoot it the same way, with a voltmeter or test light, plus a jumper wire. Find the hot lead from the headlight switch, then use the jumper wire to bypass the dimmer switch.
Jerry