JustAnswer > Car
Ask A Question|Register|Login|Help
JustAnswer

Car

Ask a Car Question, Get an Answer ASAP!

Have your own Car question?

38 Auto Mechanics are Online Now
characters left:
Not a Car Question?

Related Car Topics:

  • 12v
  • ,
  • Box
  • ,
  • Car
  • ,
  • Dim
  • ,
  • Key
  • ,
  • Lot
  • ,
  • Low
  • ,
  • Two
  • ,
  • Fine
  • ,
  • Fuse
Bookmark and Share

Question

Street rod- Ron Francis wiring harness, Dakota Digital, Tri-Bar halogen headlights. Floor mount dimmer switch-new. Problem-Pull on light switch, brights work fine, kick lights to dim and they dim to lo slowly and illumination is lower than it should be. It happens if I'm driving, not driving or the key is on or not on. If its a grounding issue, why does it switch to high beam crisply with good illumination but down to lo is slow and weak?

Submitted: 57 days and 20 hours ago.
Category: Car
Value: $23
Status: CLOSED
+
Read More
Posted by Jan Andersson 57 days and 19 hours ago.

Answer

 

 

I have seen just this happen when the high beams and low beams stay on at the same time. It's hard to see, and the high beam indicator would also be on. It puts a high load on the ground wire and all other components in the circuit.

 

In fact I just found this very problem on a 55 Porsche speedster last week. The high/low floor switch was bad, allowing both high and low beams to get power at the same time. The switch was replaced about a year ago. The root cause of the problem in that case was undersized wires to the headlights... they caused too much resistance and overload on everything in the system. I don't know what gauge wires you have going to your headlights, but they need to be pretty heavy. The ground wires as well.

 

 

57 days and 17 hours ago.

Reply

Jan, I replaced the switch yesterday (Friday) and I still have the same problem. If I understand you correctly, when I switch from hi to lo beam , in fact, it is not going from one to the other, rather, they are both activated at the same time and dim together very lo?
The wiring harness is from a reputable aftermarket company that has their harnesses in a lot of street rods. Could it be there are crossed wires at the headlights? Could I bypass the floor switch (3 wire) and do a test of some sort apart from the switchto see if it is bad?

Accepted Answer

yes you can bypass the floor switch. One wire is 12V coming in, and teh other two are of course high and low. They each get split to left and right somewhere between the switch and the headlight assemblies, likely at the fuse box. Maybe your fuse box wiring is wrong. I don't know if you have a separate fuse for left/right, but you should have a separate fuse for low/high beams. Pull one and see what still works, to narrow it down.

Picture
Expert: Jan Andersson
Pos. Feedback: 100.0 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 9/27/2009

ASE Master Tech

20 years of automotive repair & modification, USA, Asian, Euro, old & new cars.

56 days and 22 hours ago.

Reply

Jan, I'll give it a shot. I didn't wire the car so I'm going trial and error. There are four connecting points on the fuse block, 2 for the left headlight hi/lo with the switch at those connections, 2 more for the right side headlight. I discovered the right and left dimmer# 2 wires were reversed so I corrected those with still no results. Next I'm going to pull the 2 single headlight connections from the fuse block to see if I have the headlights reversed. I suspect the fuse block is wrong. Thanks for your help, Jim Davis

+
Read More

Related Car Questions

  • 1998 Olds Silhouette, Driver Information Center doesn't turn
  • Hello I have a 1995 Mitshubshi montero with a manual tran...
  • hi, 95 saab 900s fuel pump died, replaced with complete scan...
  • Okay - third try to get answer to my SUZUKI question. First
  • cooling fans will not come on replaced the relays they come
  • Question concerns 2001 Kia Sportage and relates to the repla...
  • i have a Porsche 1980 911 sc i am trying to hook up a metr...
  • I am considering bidding on a 2003 Land Rover Freelander SE3...



Disclaimer: Information in questions, answers, and other posts on this site ("Posts") comes from individual users, not JustAnswer; JustAnswer is not responsible for Posts. Posts are for general information, are not intended to substitute for informed professional advice (medical, legal, veterinary, financial, etc.), or to establish a professional-client relationship. The site and services are provided "as is" with no warranty or representations by JustAnswer regarding the qualifications of Experts. To see what credentials have been verified by a third-party service, please click on the "Verified" symbol in some Experts' profiles. JustAnswer is not intended or designed for EMERGENCY questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals.
Question List | Become an Expert | Terms of Service | Security & Privacy | About Us
© 2003-2009 JustAnswer Corp.