Headlight issues for Wagoneer / Quad lights?

OK, so my son's ' 87' Wagoneer has some headlight problems and I have not been able to track it down.

The bright lights work, but when you hit the dimmer switch you get NO dim headlights. I removed the headlight and there is no power to the wires.

When you pull the dimmer switch the bright lights work, mostly... they wouldn't work two nights ago and today when trying to track down the problem they do work.

My thoughts are that possibly the dimmer switch has gone bad, but it does work for the HI beams and also the wipper blades work using that switch... however when you pull it back for Low beams only, the Low beams don't work.

I couldn't find any blown fuses and not sure if there are any relays that control the headlights.

Any help is appreciated. Any way to test or know for sure if the dimmer switch is ok or bad?

Thanks,

1. Fuse? check that there is nothing broken on the fuse block.

2. Have you checked for power at the disconnect for the front clip? you will have to remove the airfilter box to get at it.

3. Have you pulled the switch and looked at it? Mine worked fine on and off but it had had a fire in it or had gotten really hot at one point and was intermittent. Additionally I had to replace the ignition switch cause that showed signs of excessive heat as well.

4. If it is not at either of those I would pull the firewall connector and check for it there as well as getting resistance readings of anything you can while you have it apart. If you go this far make sure that you clean all the connections good the old dielectric will look like tar, no worries its just old. Once you are done cleaning and possibly repairing ensure that you use a dielectric grease. I preffer silicon types however they get messy (Not reffering to RTV), and I am not sure what the torque value is on that bolt but I usually got till I know its all seated and nice and tight; but not too tight (I use a 1/4" ratchet with a thumb and two fingers). good luck and let us know what you find!

Stihl029 said:

2. Have you checked for power at the disconnect for the front clip? you will have to remove the airfilter box to get at it.


4. If it is not at either of those I would pull the firewall connector and check for it there as well as getting resistance readings of anything you can while you have it apart. If you go this far make sure that you clean all the connections good the old dielectric will look like tar, no worries its just old. Once you are done cleaning and possibly repairing ensure that you use a dielectric grease. I preffer silicon types however they get messy (Not reffering to RTV), and I am not sure what the torque value is on that bolt but I usually got till I know its all seated and nice and tight; but not too tight (I use a 1/4" ratchet with a thumb and two fingers). good luck and let us know what you find!

Click to expand...

I could not find any blown or shorted fuses/wires at the fuse panel under the drivers side kick panel.

Regarding #2 & #4... Do you have any pics of the "at the disconnect for the front clip" ... I can pull the air filter box, but is it pretty obvious what I'm looking for? And " I would pull the firewall connector and check for it there" which connection at the firewall? I'm not sure what group of wires to double check. My Haynes manual is almost worthless on this one.

I have pulled the light out and there is NO power at the Low Beam Light. I'll start at the easiest point and pull the air box and see if there are any coroded or busted wires there.

It appears that a previous owner made the wiring look like a spaghetti mess under the dash and some of the wiring in the engine bay is pretty coroded. Just not sure which group of coroded wires to start with... but appreciate the suggestions and any more help or pics you can post.

There is a multi-conductor plug near or under the air cleaner that the front clip harness plugs into. Quite often the contacts are corroded. My son's '95 has the Waggy front end on it, and the plug actually fit, and the pin-out was correct. BUT, the Waggy donor car had factory driving lights, and the relay, which is in the harness, was bad, and started to melt when the headlights were turned on. Does your car have the driving lights? Also, when I put a new front end on my '92, I ended up cutting out the harness plug and just soldering the wires, as there's virtually no way to clean the contacts, and now everything works better. Be aware that the Waggy quad headlights don't work the same way other four light systems work. The low beam bulb is only that- low beam. When you pull the stalk for brights, the low beams turn off, leaving only the two bottoms, the high beams, to light your way. Personally, I like the look, and was tempted to do it when I started to rebuild my '92, but I feel that the light offered by the smaller headlights is inadequate, and we haven't found any brighter aftermarket units in the odd size. So, start at the plug, but it may be a bad hi-beam switch, or the main headlight switch, all of which I've had go bad through the years.

I have replaced the main On/Off Headlight switch in the past year. Hopefully that's still good, as it looks good. When it went out before ALL the lights went out and you could smell the burning/burnt smell in the switch. When I removed it you could obviously see the burnt/melt plastic.

Hopefully it's something pretty simple and basic... meaning the harness under the air box. Will look at that tonight if possible to see if we can get it fixed.

OK... so I pulled the air box out last night and could not find anything that resembled corroded wires. Perhaps I'm not smart enough to see it. There are several bundles of wires, but w/out pulling the wrap off all of them and going thru each wire I'm not sure how to find a busted set up. Unless the wires behind the headlight and tucked down in the fender are shorting I'm thinking that this isn't it. Here's a picture of what I'm looking at and let me know if this is what I'm supposed to be looking at?



The air-box sits flush on the fender so there shouldn't be any wires under the bottom of the air-box.

Comments/suggestions appreciated.

(PS... I like working on my '96 SO MUCH more... there is just SO MUCH clutter under the hood on this '87... vacuum lines galore and wires everywhere...)

Bringing this back up to the top as now ALL the headlights quit working... both the Hi and Low beams.

Trying to track down a few suggestions before getting to work on this later this week.

I'm still not sure about the "multi-conductor plug near or under the air cleaner"

The only multi-connector plug I see is up near the firewall on the drivers side.

Redsnake said:

Bringing this back up to the top as now ALL the headlights quit working... both the Hi and Low beams.

Trying to track down a few suggestions before getting to work on this later this week.

I'm still not sure about the "multi-conductor plug near or under the air cleaner"

The only multi-connector plug I see is up near the firewall on the drivers side.

Click to expand...

See other thread: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=990155

I just saw this thread again, and I still feel that it's the front clip plug, in the general area of the airbox. Your photo shows a rather thick wire loom going through the radiator support, just behind the left headlight. This should be wires to all the bulbs on the front clip. Given the age of the car, anything is possible. What I've always found is horribly corroded wires and connectors. You've got to troubleshoot the wires- is there voltage before the connector- if so, where's it end, if not, why not? Start by eliminating the connector, to take away the biggest variable. There are threads on this forum addressing the undersized conductors in the lighting circuits, and they're an interesting read. Just a few suggestions. Let us know what you find, because all of our XJs ain't gettin' any younger.

The dimmer switch was only 10 bucks, but it did not fix it for me. I see you were in my thread so I guess you knew that. I still have not fixed my issue.

Ok... So I found the connector in front of the bundle of wires/plug behind the drivers side headlights. It was very corroded, I cleaned it as best I could, there was 12v power f/the big red wire so I plugged it back in, pulled on the headlight switch & still had NO power to either the HI or LOW HL plugs...

Still couldn't figure it out. I was thinking it could be a bad relay or fusible link... Or the dimmer switch. I haven't had a chance to check that yet. Still looking for more suggestions?

Thanks