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headlights out

Wiring diagrams flow from the top down, so start at the fuse and go down. My bet is that you will find that fuse link blown. Basically the fuse link supplies power to the headlamp switch, and the foglamp switch. When the HL switch is turned on it sends power to the dimmer switch for the high beams, and also to the fog lamp switch. activating the foglamp switch provides power to the fog lamp relay coil, which then closes the relay contacts and allows power from the fuse link to flow to the fog lamps. Confused yet?
without that fuse link you will not have High or low beam headlamps, park lamps, or fog lamps,
turns, and brakes would funtion normally since they are on a different circuit
 
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Like it was said, start from the problem area like the wires leading to the foglamp, check your grounds and power wires.When mine went I lost headlamps,foglamps,markers ,tail lights, dash lights and brake lights, so I started testing and my power wires all had ground instead, so I then found my short, (bunch of fused wires) made my repair and still nothing but the power wires were no longer grounded. Take your battery out to gain access to the power dist block and check the fusible links (thing looks like a ford style solenoid,I forgot what its reaaly called), very hard to see the fusible links IIrc they are on the bottom of it. If you need I can get a picture tommarow morning
 
Blkxjkrawler said:
Wiring diagrams flow from the top down, so start at the fuse and go down. My bet is that you will find that fuse link blown. Basically the fuse link supplies power to the headlamp switch, and the foglamp switch. When the HL switch is turned on it sends power to the dimmer switch for the high beams, and also to the fog lamp switch. activating the foglamp switch provides power to the fog lamp relay coil, which then closes the relay contacts and allows power from the fuse link to flow to the fog lamps. Confused yet?
without that fuse link you will not have High or low beam headlamps, park lamps, or fog lamps,
turns, and brakes would funtion normally since they are on a different circuit
Click to expand...

this actually IS starting to make sence. So i assume the fusable link is near the battery?

bcmaxx said:
If you need I can get a picture tommarow morning
Click to expand...

pic's are great when u don't know what yur looking for. thanks.
 
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you mean this thing ? (also - Edit: i realized i have no brake lights either)
100_0143.jpg
 
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Thats the critter, check all the green ones, I had two gone, they didn't look blown but they were
 
Yeah they burn internally like a blackpowder fuse,while still looking fine on the outside
 
yup, how'd they check out? You can put a atc style minifuse holder in there and just use replaceable fuses or replace the fusible link if its blown. I was on a roadtrip when my b.s. happened so I took the brake lamp fuse out of the underdash fuseblock and ran fused power to the good side of the brake fuse to get brake lights so I didn't get rearended
 
Fusible links should be right off of the starter relay. Usually have a large black "connector looking thing on them. Right at the starter relay. They work like a fuse with a jacket on. They blow inside and the outside looks fine. Pull on them one by one like already mentioned, if any of them "strech" replace with the SAME size fusible link.
CP
 
Can somebody tell me where the fog light relay is? I am not getting any power to my fog lights so I am hoping it's just a bad relay. I don't have a manual or anything to tell me where it's located. Thanks! Ok, I just found something that said it's the relay "behind the d-side headlight"...it is the one mounted to the inner fender wall? It also said it's the same relay as the headlamps...is this true? If so, that would defeat my theory of a bad relay since my headlights work. How do you test a relay?
 
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i cant tell whether they're good or bad. i can see and feel the obviouse ones. but there are a few that feel soft, but don't look like the thick black ones.
 
grab the link wire and try an pull it apart with your hands, if its bad it'll fall apart or stretch,if its good it'll feel like a normal solid wire
 
for future reference incase someone else comes across the same issue. It turned out to be one of the fusable links.

Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction.
 
mojojojo said:
a silver box with a crapload of wires going to it. i assume this is the distribution thing? quote]


That is the power distribution think. The red and green wires coming off of it are the fuseable links. grab one at a time at both ends and pull, if the insolation streaches then there you go. b urned out link.



Hope this helps,

Pigpen
Click to expand...
 
To add to this, just in case someone runs across it in the future, i had a very similar problem.
My 1990 did not come with factory fog lamps, but i added them to make it "Look like factory". It turned out that behind where the fog lamp switch goes, there is the fog lamp harness. I traded someone for thier fog lamp / rear defroster panel w switches and swaped it into mine connecting it to the harness that was already wired in my Jeep. In the engine compartment, there is a harness connection (around where the airbox is if you still have one) that connects to the headlights and turn signal lights. There was a wire coming from the firewall to this harness, and then it didnt go anywhere else. With a little bit of testing i concluded that this wire was for that factory fog light harness. I connected everything up to this, and it all worked great for months. One day, my headlights stopped working and or would work intermittently. Since i wasnt thinking very logically at the time, i never put a relay in this circuit. What happened was that it got my dimmer switch really hot melting it, and the harness that plugs into it (Which btw is a PAIN to replace). I hope that helps someone.
 
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