The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Headlight Problem

It worked when I parked it...

Well typical mid 70's headlight wiring should be (high,low,ground) correct?

I installed new head lights last night, now when I plug in the light, and use the tester (keep in mind this headlight is very dim) all
three sockets have power... two wires light the tester very dim, and one is bright.

If I unplug the headlight, and just test the socket. It seems fine

Does this sound like a grounding issue?
or maybe a bad socket?

Now, I'm using the new H4 headlights I bought. I thought maybe the bulb was bad.

So I went out and got a new one, same thing, I haven't tried using the old sealed lamps again yet.(try that when I get home)

The other headlight seems to work fine.

(help)

-RT1

-R

RT1,
I just went through this exact same thing on my 54 3100 (12 V). 1 dim, 1 bright . . . We did every complicated thing we could to make it work. Replaced the socket, got mad, threw tools, argued with each other (husband, dad, sister, and me).

No surprise - It was a ground problem. We just got so frustrated with it, we didn't slow down and trace each wire from front to back. Found a worn ground eventually. Felt like a dope. Hopefully, yours will be solved so simply.

You said that all three sockets have power. Are you using a voltage meter? If so, are you getting full power?

Let us know how it goes and good luck.

"You said that all three sockets have power. Are you using a voltage meter? If so, are you getting full power?"

Kimberly, No I'm using one of those cicuit testers, looks like a cross between an ice pick and a screwdriver, with a light in the handle.

Its weird without the bulb in the socket, one has lowbeam power, and one has highbeam power. I'm assuming the black wire is ground. Seems to work fine. It is when you plug in the headlamp they all get power.hmmmm
-R

The power is feeding through the filamints in the bulb because there is no ground. They are grounding through the test light.

I think Wrenchbender is right.

I'd recommend that you invest $10 or so in a cheap voltmeter, the kind with two leads and a read-out to tell you if you are getting full power to each of those slots in the socket or not. We've used the light-style testers too, but when you are chasing a problem, it is nice to get real numbers.

Trace your full circuit. Don't trust that your black is necessarily your ground. After all these years a lot of patches get made in the wiring harness. You might want to pull out your other headlight and verify they are wired the same.

Maybe one of the other guys (who are smarter than me anyway) have another suggestion, but I'm betting on the ground.
K

i am having somewhat the same problem just started. have low been on left only have hi and low on right. could it be the dimmer switch, the other day no lights on til i hit the dimmer switch. RON

Thanks you all, I found it! the ground wire had come out of the wire connector. I ran a seperate ground wire and it worked. Replaced the end all is better now. Thanks again...

Its good to know that the power would feed through the filaments, who would have thunk it.

-Randy
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