headlights etc

[AusRs]

OK
some of this may be normal for a Canadian car i am not sure as when i got t he car ALL bulbs were blown
the front parking lights come on ,also the side markers at the front fenders are also on the outer red of the tailights are also lit ,when turning the turn signals on the front flashes then the side flashes ,on the back the only light that flashes is the large red lens
hopefully that makes sense !

and i have one other issue when the headlights get turned on the high beam glows dull ..............an earth issue ? if so where do i start to look as both earths at the headlight are connected (on the radiator support )

[gerbsinmd]

sounds like a ground issue. I know you said it is connected at the radiator core. The question is, did you get the ground wire to bare metal? My dad had similar issues when he removed the front clip and detailed it on his car, he painted all of the ground connections.

[AusRs]

ground=earth LOL
i think i have a decent earth all wiring was removed from the car so nothing got painted as such ,i re fitted the earth straps with self tapping screws that hopefully bit down to the metal ,i know it will be a pita to track the problem .ohh well earth/ground issue and the rear brakes should keep me busy for a day or so !

question just in case i missed any grounds
1 each side near the headlights
1 at the back of the engine
1 from the neg side of the battery
1 at the back in the middle (near the lock )

horn works its just the headlights

[gerbsinmd]

How about inside the car? Did you take the dash out and paint in there? Maybe the ground at the switch or dash is bad. Or on the fuse block. Sounds like you have the other ones taken care of.

If the high beams are glowing maybe a relay for the headlights is not grounded good enough? I don't even remember if there is a relay for the headlights on these. I know my 97 Blazer has relays for the headlights.

Maybe the switch is bad or the dimmer switch is bad or not grounded, if you painted the floor while it was stripped.

[AusRs]

i took the harness off at the firewall thats all the dash assembly and dimmer switch was never removed from the car

grounds are well connected ,no issues with that ,

i HATE electrical as in all honesty its one part of cars i never really understand !

HELP

switch turns lights on and off and dimmer switch appears to work ....just that the current is not getting where it is supposed to go !

[spencerforhire]

Other than the main connection between the battery and the body, the only ground that really matters when you're dealing with headlights is the one at the rad support near the lights themselves. Just using a self-tapping screw does not guarantee a good connection; the paint should be scraped off and the use of a "star" washer between the ring terminal and the body is highly recommended. In the absence of a test light or meter, you can still diagnose it - To test for an incomplete ground path, just stick a jumper wire between the black wire on any of the 4 lights and the negative battery terminal. If that makes no difference, try a jumper from the battery positive to test both the high(l.green) and low(tan) wires. Then work backwards through the dimmer switch to the headlight switch(yellow); one or the other test will point you to the problem.

[AusRs]

Ok full explanation time
when i bought my car in to Australia it did not have 1 globe in it that was not blown ( i thought that was strange ) so i had no starting point to work with so i figured i would wait until i had completed the car and work through any issues that came up when i got to that stage
I decided to convert from the sealed beam headlights that were on the car to H4 outers and H1 inners ..sounds simple enough the reality is
you need to convert the wiring as well
the earth is on the opposite side of the holder and the high /low beam wires need to be reversed ..everything now functions as it is supposed to earths are perfect and were all along (thats what puzzled me !)

[spencerforhire]

Over the years, I've done a bunch of H4 sealed beam conversions, and shame on me for not picking up on the classic symptom! The Bosch and Hella H4 lights used to come with the adapter plugs in the box, but lately, some of the cheaper conversions I've see don't have them. Due to space considerations, sometimes you have to leave out the adapters and re-wire the headlight pigtails, which can create troubleshooting nightmares for future owners.

[AusRs]

Over the years, I've done a bunch of H4 sealed beam conversions, and shame on me for not picking up on the classic symptom! the adapters and re-wire the .

me to .......it was only when speaking to a friend of mine it jogged my memory