Wiring, Stereo & Electronics Audio Components | Radars | Alarms - and things that spark when they shouldn't

Headlight Problem...

Old Jul 11, 2010 | 05:49 PM
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I have a 98 Z28, for some reason my headlights wont turn on, fog lights still work though. Anyone know what could be wrong? I have tried searches and I have yet to find someone with this problem
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 05:55 PM
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dont want to be a turd, did you check both the bulbs and the plugs to the bulbs?, unplug it and see if it's fried
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 06:06 PM
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bulbs and wiring is fine...
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 06:31 PM
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Any other symptoms from anything or just headlights?
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 06:35 PM
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If you done any mods, gotta be careful with the ground wires on alot of things. I accidentally knocked the ground wire of my buddy's rear tail light, the wire was no where near the light so took awhile to figure out why his rear tail light stopped working, traced the ground wire, saw it wasnt bolted to body, re-bolted, and problem solved
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 09:42 PM
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Do the high beams work? If so, you know that the problem is between the headlight dimmer switch and the headlights. If not, it could be ground but each side has an independent ground so that is unlikely unless you removed the radiator recently (the two grounds are on opposite sides of the radiator). Do the automatic headlights work but not when manually switched (or vice versa)? That will tell you if the headlight switch could be the problem. There's also the possibility that it's the fusible link under the hood but you would have to have one hell of a short to make that burn out.
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Old Jul 11, 2010 | 09:51 PM
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Also could check the headlight relay. The one in my sister in-law's old SUV broke, and caused that to happen. I would start doing a trace with a tester - getting power to the headlight switch, to the relay (both feed and signal), etc.
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Old Jul 12, 2010 | 09:39 AM
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There is no relay in f-body headlight systems.
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Old Jul 12, 2010 | 10:41 AM
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High beams dont work and I believe the previous owner disabled the automatic headlights, they can only be turned on by the switch.
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Old Jul 12, 2010 | 05:46 PM
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Originally Posted by WhiteBird00
There is no relay in f-body headlight systems.
Oh, I thought there was. You mean all that current goes through the switch? Geez....
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Old Jul 12, 2010 | 05:56 PM
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I took my car to a shop today and they fixed it, apparently some switch was messed up and they ended up having to take off the whole dash to get to it! Didnt really want to spend $150 on that but I had to because my inspection is due this month... Thanks for the suggestions guys.
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Old Jul 13, 2010 | 07:42 AM
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Originally Posted by SparkyJJO
Oh, I thought there was. You mean all that current goes through the switch? Geez....
Yeah, it seems strange that they would route all the headlight power through the switch and yet use a relay for the foglights but that's what they did.
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