Moparts
Headlights all OFF when high beams activated * UPDATE*
Posted By: MONC
Headlights all OFF when high beams activated * UPDATE* - 10/25/13 06:51 PM
When I turn on the headlights from the instrument panel switch, the low beams go on as expected.
When I click on the high beams from the high beam switch on the floor not only do the high beams NOT go on, the low- beams go OFF too.
I replaced the high beam switch already so I know it's not the switch?
Could it be a grounding issue on the high beam switch?
Anyone have the same issue, or have suggestions on what to check.
Going to try and work on car over the weekend.
TIA
Posted By: John_Kunkel
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 07:54 PM
The headlamp switch has a built-in circuit breaker, it's probably tired and won't carry the extra
The floor-mounted dimmer switch doesn't need to be grounded.
Posted By: denfireguy
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 08:03 PM
I would double check with a voltmeter to see if the voltage goes away at the switch. The wiring sockets for the switch are notorious for corroding with all the tracked in water and snow that soaks in there. Make sure they are clean.
Also, this would not be the first time a defective switch made it into the marketplace.
Craig
Posted By: Mick70RR
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 08:16 PM
This happened to me once when I was doing 60 mph down an unlit country lane in pitch darkness. Switched main beam on and all the lights went out. Slammed the brakes on and stopped in the middle of both lanes. Couldn't get the lights to work at all and had to wait for another car to come behind me and use the light from his headlights to get me onto a street lit road. Removed the floor switch the next day and cleaned all the connections and used some electrical grease and it's been ok since then.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 08:33 PM
Quote:
The headlamp switch has a built-in circuit breaker, it's probably tired and won't carry the extra
The floor-mounted dimmer switch doesn't need to be grounded.
Did you mean the high beam switch/dimmer has a built-in circuit breaker or the switch at the dash?
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 08:35 PM
What make/year vehicle are we working with? Mind the colors at
www.mymopar.com Seperate the bulkhead connector that has that circuit & see if the high beam wire is hot when it's supposed to be. That'll tell you to work toward the headlight connectors up front or back inside toward the dimmer switch for the open. Wires go bad at the terminals/connectors on the ends (unless there's frayed insulation from rubbing or heat/broken strands from flexing/burnt strands/insulation from excessive amperage flow which ain't the case here)so check the terminals either forward or inside from the bulkhead (& the open might be in the problematic bulkhead, an easy fix)
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 08:36 PM
Quote:
I would double check with a voltmeter to see if the voltage goes away at the switch. The wiring sockets for the switch are notorious for corroding with all the tracked in water and snow that soaks in there. Make sure they are clean.
Also, this would not be the first time a defective switch made it into the marketplace.
Craig
I did check the wires and connections for corrosion that go into the high beam switch/dimmer, they all looked good from what I could see.
When you say check to see if the voltage goes away at the switch, you mean at the wires that connect to the high beam switch/dimmer, correct?
Posted By: John_Kunkel
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 09:57 PM
Quote:
Did you mean the high beam switch/dimmer has a built-in circuit breaker or the switch at the dash?
The headlamp switch (on the dash) has a built-in circuit breaker.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 10:29 PM
Quote:
What make/year vehicle are we working with? Mind the colors at www.mymopar.com Seperate the bulkhead connector that has that circuit & see if the high beam wire is hot when it's supposed to be. That'll tell you to work toward the headlight connectors up front or back inside toward the dimmer switch for the open. Wires go bad at the terminals/connectors on the ends (unless there's frayed insulation from rubbing or heat/broken strands from flexing/burnt strands/insulation from excessive amperage flow which ain't the case here)so check the terminals either forward or inside from the bulkhead (& the open might be in the problematic bulkhead, an easy fix)
69 Charger.
Didn't understand what you meant by mind the colors?
Are there wiring diagrams available on mymopar?
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:06 PM
Quote:
69 Charger.
Didn't understand what you meant by mind the colors?
Are there wiring diagrams available on mymopar?
My bad I meant to say find the colors. yes, click on mymopar tools/reference then scroll down a bit & click on wiring/electrical then click on mopar wiring diagrams then click on the group that covers your year (69) then schematic A will have the rear half & schematic B will have the front half. I like to bring both of em up then I can click on either header on the bottom of my screen to easily pull em both up as that makes it easier to trace a wire as each schematic has a cutoff on the diagram. EDIT ohmed a 3 terminal headlight today & got 1.7 ohms side to side & 2 ohms from one of the side (parallel) terminals to the odd one & 2.2 ohms from the other side terminal to the odd one
Posted By: RJS
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:25 PM
I have the same problem with my 71 Demon, changed the dimmer switch first but still NG
Then I changed the headlight switch still NG
Traced, cleaned and untapped the forward light harness still NG
I have power on one side of the connector at the headlight and then on the other side as you switch from Hi to low beam. The indicator works in the dash when in Hi mode.
Even changed both headlights in the off chance.
Had to walk away for another time.
Ron
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:32 PM
Quote:
I have power on one side of the connector at the headlight and then on the other side as you switch from Hi to low beam.
Even changed both headlights in the off chance.
If there's fire to both of the respective headlite terminals when you hit hi/low & the headlites themselves are good all that is left is the black (3rd) ground wire circuit
Posted By: RJS
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:34 PM
Quote:
Quote:
I have power on one side of the connector at the headlight and then on the other side as you switch from Hi to low beam.
Even changed both headlights in the off chance.
If there's fire to both of the respective terminals when you hit hi/low & the headlites are good all that is left is the black (3rd) ground wire
With my car (2 headlight system) show both wires be hot or switch from one to other?
Mine the power switches from one to the other.
Thanks Ron
Posted By: Slotts
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:42 PM
If you have a short via the wiring on the high beam side, the internal circuit breaker will open. The question is if you gave it enough time in that condition to see if the lights come back on and then off again without touching anything. That would show the breaker trying to work. Once the arm cools down, it should make contact again.
I clean lots of corrosion build up between the two breaker contacts all the time. You can test the breaker only without taking the switch apart. Disconnect the switch connector from the switch. You can check the breaker separately by using an ohm meter and connect one lead to the top vertical terminal on the headlight switch. Touch the other lead to the small tab that is rolled over to the right of the bottom horizontal terminal. That will test to see if there is resistance (corrosion) going across the breaker. That should read 0 ohms.
Then connect the second lead to the bottom horizontal terminal and read that impedance with the switch in the headlight on position and that too should read 0 ohms.
While you are testing the switch, take a look at the two inner terminals to see what sort of reading you are seeing. Once again, your meter should read 0 ohms. The parking lights are fused and do not run through the internal relay.
Anything less than 0 ohms and shows a negative reading is reducing the light output of either the headlights and or parking lights.
Jim
Posted By: RapidRobert
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/25/13 11:45 PM
The red wire at both lights would be hot on high beams & the violet wire with tracer at both lights would be hot on low beams. The third wire (black on each headlight) connect together then T to a ground
Posted By: Supercuda
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 12:22 AM
You realize that the head light circuit is the same high or low for both ground and up to the dimmer switch. Only the supplied voltage changes between high or low, so ground should be ok if the lows work. the floor mounted dimmer or the wiring to the lights is your issue.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 12:27 AM
Quote:
I have the same problem with my 71 Demon, changed the dimmer switch first but still NG
Then I changed the headlight switch still NG
Traced, cleaned and untapped the forward light harness still NG
I have power on one side of the connector at the headlight and then on the other side as you switch from Hi to low beam. The indicator works in the dash when in Hi mode.
Even changed both headlights in the off chance.
Had to walk away for another time.
Ron
Well that's encouraging ... 
Thanks for the other replies, I'll see if I can do some further testing of the headlight switch in the dash, check wiring at bulkhead etc..
Posted By: Mopar-Al
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 12:29 AM
I can only give my info learned that happened on my 72 cuda years ago. I went through the same issue. Everytime I hit the brights, they quit working. A guy at the dodge dealership told me my voltage reg was putting out too much and running wide open full charge. Turned out the ground was bad on the volt reg and was the culprit. I went through 2 regs before I finally got the gremlin. I changed all that everyone else said also
Posted By: RJS
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 01:40 AM
Quote:
You realize that the head light circuit is the same high or low for both ground and up to the dimmer switch. Only the supplied voltage changes between high or low, so ground should be ok if the lows work. the floor mounted dimmer or the wiring to the lights is your issue.
OK so if I follow what your saying since the low works the third wire (ground) at the headlights is good
Then when you tap the dimmer I see with a meter the power come off the wire that lit the low beam and the wire to the other filament is hot but the high filament doesn't come on so the dimmer switch is the culprit because both of those wires should have stayed hot???
The dimmer is new but that doesn't mean much nowadays.
I'm still confused
Posted By: RobX4406
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 01:48 AM
Nope
When the low beam is on the violet wire will be hot. In high beam the violet goes dark and the red wire should go hot.
I'd run a fused hot to the dimmer input and see if you get any action at the headlights. Will help you figure out where the issue lies, upstream or downstream from the dimmer switch.
The ground get double the load in high beam on 4 headlight cars with stock wiring IIRC.
The headlight wiring circuit on these cars sucks in factory form. Voltage dropping POS
Posted By: Supercuda
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 02:01 AM
Only one wire should be hot at any time. One for lows or one for highs. I would test at the switch and at the socket for the lights. Sounds like you may have an issue at the high beam power splice under the hood. Again, the ground circuit SHOULD be ok, but since the current is doubled up in high it doesn't hurt to double check it, but you'd usually have weak lights with a poor ground, not completely zero light.
Posted By: RobX4406
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 02:04 AM
Check the bulkhead connector as well because it's a separate wire for each circuit from dimmer to headlights
Check power in and out of dimmer in each setting with headlight disconnected, no load. Continuity test or whatever to determine the dimmer is OK
Posted By: moparfan53
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 05:23 AM
I had the exact same problem with my '69 Charger. After checking switches, bulkhead connectors etc, it turned out to be a corroded/dirty terminal in the wiring connector beside the battery.
Regarding the circuit breaker in the h/lamp switch, I had one go bad in another car. In that case, the high beams would come on for a few seconds, then go out.
Let us know what you find.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 07:49 PM
Quote:
I can only give my info learned that happened on my 72 cuda years ago. I went through the same issue. Everytime I hit the brights, they quit working. A guy at the dodge dealership told me my voltage reg was putting out too much and running wide open full charge. Turned out the ground was bad on the volt reg and was the culprit. I went through 2 regs before I finally got the gremlin. I changed all that everyone else said also
Thanks very much for the reply. This feedback is helpful. As I have found most of the time my electrical gremlins had to do with bad grounds. The fact the car was just painted makes me lean toward this as well.
That's why I asked if the hi-beam dimmer switch needed to be grounded as well.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/26/13 07:52 PM
Quote:
I had the exact same problem with my '69 Charger. After checking switches, bulkhead connectors etc, it turned out to be a corroded/dirty terminal in the wiring connector beside the battery.
Didn't think of this either. Thanks very much.
Will check that out too 
Posted By: RJS
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/27/13 01:14 AM
UPDATE with my Demon today!!!
Went back out to the garage and pulled out the headlights to meter the pigtails again.
I do have power on Violet for low beams and red when in Hi Beam mode.
So I took the forward harness off the bulkhead and unwrapped it again but still saw no physical problems.
So now I put the meter on OHMs and started checking the Red wire from headlight pigtail back to bulkhead connector and what do I see?
Wait for it,
NO CONTINUITY!!!!!!!!
Started to sex-up the wire (wiggle it) and it was making and breaking.
Bad crimp on the RED at the bulkhead side of the forward light harness.
Now Hi beams and Low beams like everyone else.
Thanks for this thread to motivate me again and thanks for the help from people with suggestions.
Ron
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/27/13 08:22 PM
Ok well we got RJS' light problem fixed now mine.
I first went to the connection by the battery as that was the easiest to get to.
The connections were all gummed up.
I cleaned them the best I could put some dialectric grease in there and now...
When I activate lights the high beams go on
, BUT should the lows go off or stay on??
I haven't had a car with 2 lights on each side in a while I can't recall
Posted By: a12rag
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/27/13 08:37 PM
Your low beams should stay on when you hit the high beams - that is why the low beam headlight has 3 connection points : 1) ground, 2) low beam, 3) low beam with high beam
If the headlight goes out with the low beam, check the bulb . . . probably bad filament for the high beam circuit.
Cheers
Mark
Posted By: Supercuda
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/27/13 09:54 PM
Quote:
Your low beams should stay on when you hit the high beams - that is why the low beam headlight has 3 connection points : 1) ground, 2) low beam, 3) low beam with high beam
If the headlight goes out with the low beam, check the bulb . . . probably bad filament for the high beam circuit.
Cheers
Mark
The low beam bulb has two filaments, one for lows and one for high. So it should turn off the lows and turn on the highs when the high beam is selected by the dimmer switch. IOW, in high beam mode you should have all four lights lit up.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/28/13 12:10 AM
Thanks
Would 1 low beam bulb not having a good high beam filament cause both not to light up?
I noticed I have 3 newer bulbs and what looks like an original GE bulb in one of the low beam spots.
Posted By: Supercuda
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/28/13 03:06 AM
Quote:
Thanks
Would 1 low beam bulb not having a good high beam filament cause both not to light up?
I noticed I have 3 newer bulbs and what looks like an original GE bulb in one of the low beam spots.
Nope, if one's out then that's all that will not light up, assuming no one funked up the wiring.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/28/13 04:50 PM
Then I suspect it's more than a bulb issue.
So now I have alternating lighting bulbs.
Outers ( low) are on when light switch from dash goes on and inners (high beams are off)
Inners ( high) go on when hi beam dimmer switch clicked but Outer bulbs (lower) go off...
I am thinking it still could be that electrical connector by the battery. It's real tough to clean all the gummed up female connectors.
The male spades cleaned up nice.
Tried getting the female connectors out of the housing but couldn't.
Posted By: Supercuda
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 10/29/13 03:46 AM
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 11/05/13 04:23 PM
Appreciate the info Supercuda.
I knew there was a tab to release, but have had difficulty in the past getting them to release, and now my old eyes can't see that close anymore, making it more difficult.
Good info though, thanks.
Posted By: GTX MATT
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 11/05/13 04:49 PM
Maybe I'm pointing out the obvious here and missed part of your problem, but '69 and up the low beams always go off when the high beams are on. '67 and '68 all four will stay on.
Posted By: buildanother
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 11/05/13 06:09 PM
As pointed out, the low beam low filament gets switched to high filament when high beams are activated. All 4 bulbs should light.
Posted By: MONC
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 11/10/13 06:22 PM
* UPDATE *
Fixed the issue.
It was that connector by the battery. Went back and cleaned it up some more and now when high beams are one, all 4 lights are on, low beam only the lows are on.
Thanks to everyone for their insights and special thanks to Moparfan53 for the pic reference and the answer to my problem
Onto much bigger issues...
Posted By: moparfan53
Re: Headlights - all OFF when high beams activated - 11/11/13 01:07 AM
Glad to hear you got it fixed.