punishercarr

Hello,

I cant find the fuse box for the headlight... I clearly see the one under the steering wheel but i can not find the other. I have a 1965 Olds dynamic 88 and simply dont know where it is; if that's the problem.

The bright lights do work but im sick of being horned while driving.

Help me out if you can

MDchanic

There is no fuse for the headlights.

There is a circuit breaker, and it's the same one for the high beams and the low beams.

Better start looking through your connections. Most likely culprit is your high / low beam switch. You can get a genuine Delco switch from Advance Auto for about ten bucks.

- Eric

joe_padavano

There is no fuse for the headlights. There's a self-resetting circuit breaker built into the headlight switch. If the lights are on but dim, a fuse isn't the problem anyway. Check all the grounds and the contacts at the headlights for corrosion. Clean them and reinstall with a good dielectric grease. Also, have you upgraded to halogen headlights? The original sealed beams were awful.

punishercarr

Thanks guys but let me be a bit more clear... one of the only on of the low beam headlamps is working and when I step on the high beam switch ALL high beams work in all four lights. I purchased new lamps and put them in properly and the problem still there. I check out the high beam low/beam switch too

punishercarr

I dont think its the switch though becuase when i press the highbeam switch they all turn on high beam just fine

CQR

Sounds like you have a broken wire leading to that low beam. The low beams have 2 powers in and one ground, the high beams have one power one ground.

chequenman

Check your plug on your dimmer switch for corrosion and clean the plug itself as well to confirm it's making a complete connection when you activate hi-beam and lo-beam

GAOldsman

x2

joe_padavano

If at least ONE low beam lamp comes on, it can't be the switch or connector, since only one low beam wire comes out of the switch. This wire runs to the LH low beam bulb. In the connector to that bulb, there is a second wire that runs from the LH low beam to the RH low beam. If you are SURE that BOTH filaments in BOTH low beam bulbs are good (hint: swap the bulbs and see what happens) then the problem is either in the connectors or the wire.

And please help us understand exactly what your problem is. Are you asking about DIM headlights (as your thread title suggests) or a lamp that doesn't turn on, or both. Sorry, but the mind reading STILL isn't working.

MDchanic

chequenman

A very confusing question...... just not clear!!!

punishercarr

TO be clear... the problems it my low beams are not working... excluding one of the lowbeam. The high beams ARE working. I have replace the lamps and the problem still is present

punishercarr

non of the headlight work except 1. the light all work when i step on the highbeam switch near the brake pedal

MDchanic

To clarify further:

Is this correct?
ONE of your Low beams IS working.
ONE of your Low beams is NOT working when set to LOW, but IS working when set to HIGH.
BOTH of your High beams are working.
The ones that work are working normally with no problems.

Question: WHICH Low beam is not working - Left or Right?

- Eric

CQR

I think this will be your problem ^^^

punishercarr

All lights work when set to high, when not on high the only light working is the right low beam, no others

MDchanic

Okay, so the Low beam filament of the Left Low beam bulb is not working, and the bulb was recently replaced.

Everything else is working fine.

The location of your problem eliminates all possibilities except for

1. A burned out filament in the bulb (even though it's new), and
2. A bad connection at the plug on the back of the bulb.

So

• go to your car,
• disconnect the plug from that bulb,
• connect a jumper wire from the terminal that had the BLACK wire on it to a good ground,
• use a jumper wire from a 12v source (like the battery or the horn relay) to touch each of the other two terminals, one at a time - the light should light up each time.
• If it only lights on one terminal, then the bulb has a bad filament - take it back to WalMart.
• If it lights on both terminals, then the connector is dirty -
  • remove the connectors from the plastic plug by inserting a very small screwdriver from the Front side, in the little notch above the slot, and pulling the terminal out through the back,
  • then clean each connector with the weapon of your choice (I like a battery-powered Dremel with a tiny wire brush) until they are all shiny inside,
  • then use your screwdriver to pry up the little retaining tabs that you flattened when you removed them from the plastic plug,
  • then push each one back into the position it came out of.

Your lights should work now.

- Eric

punishercarr

Cool.. I'll work on it ASAP and let you all know whats good... or bad

joe_padavano

You ARE aware that only the two low beam bulbs should be lit when the switch is on low beam, right? So, to recap ALL your lights work as they are supposed to EXCEPT that one low beam filament does not light.

pops1958

I apologize for resurrecting this headache but confess I am embarrassingly lost; even with Joe's and MDchanics & others help.
In my 69 cutlass, when I go from bright lights (wherein all 4 lamps are illuminated) to dim, I loose all headlamps (the bright inside lamp should shut off but not the low beam outside lamps.)
The dimmer switch is a brand new AC Delco, the plug has no corrosion.
All we're working fine until July 4th when my wife and I dropped the top to watch the fireworks.
I was back and forth using high and low beam until all at once I was w/o any lights when I depressed to dimmer switch. So, I ordered the switch, checked the plug in w/o any different results. One of my low beam lamps is less than 3 months old.
The only difference between my issue & punishercarr is that one of his low beams worked, neither of mine do.
Do I follow the steps as suggested by MDchanic or could it be broken wire leading to low beam (not that I have a rats *** chance of figuring out either, but I have some buddies who are not nearly as inept as I am; I want to be able to tell them what yall's suggestions are.
As always, much appreciated...

oldcutlass

Remove the connector off the hi/low beam switch on the floor. Jumper the blue to pink wire and turn on the head light switch. Do the low beams come on? If yes, change the switch, if no remove the plug to the low beam lamps. Measure with a meter or test light for voltage at the pink wire at each connector. If you have voltage there, your lamps are bad, if no voltage, there is a break in the wire between the switch and the light plugs. Find the pink wire on the firewall bulkhead connector, poke through the pink wire or into the connector and check for voltage there. If yes then the break is between the bulkhead connector and the lamps, if no its between the bulkhead connector and the hi/low beam selector switch.

joe_padavano

I have one thing to add to this. When testing for voltage at the headlight connectors, use either a high impedance VOM or a test light. A cheap, low impedance VOM (like the ones you get free at Harbor Freight) will show 12V even if there is a resistive connection, and the headlights will still be dim or off. My money is on the firewall connector. I've seen the terminals back out of that connector, causing continuity issues.

pops1958

Again, as always...thank you.
And look forward to meeting you guys in a few weeks!

joe_padavano

Just not after dark, apparently...


(Sorry, that was too easy )