So heres the situation: I had the motor pulled out of my 77 and had all the wires pulled back into the cab so i could clean and paint the engine compartment. I ran all the wires back and hooked everything up, and now my headlights do not come on. The front corner markers come on when i pull the switch, but not the headlights, and not the brights. What am I missing here? A relay? if so, where is it and what color are the wires that go to it? Also, my tail lights come on, but they are very dim. when i have the hazards on, anyway. I get both the brake light and the turn signal lighting up, but at maybe 10% of the brightness they should be. Any clues, anyone? Battery is brand new, and wipers, hazards, dome light, and blower all work just fine.
The fuse for the headlights is the fusible link connected to the positive battery post, its a ring connector with 2 wires going back to a square plug, 1 wire is the headlights, the other main power lead. Sounds like you might have a ground problem with the dim lights.
Nook: thanks. I DID redo the 2 wires that go to the positive terminal, as well as the fusible link. I know the fusible link is okay, or nothing would work. I'll check those two wires and see if something is missing getting contact. Thanks for the heads up. I was afraid that the dim lights were a ground issue...I guess I will have to figure that one out next.
Might wana the double check the voltage on the battery. And since u painted the engine compartment did u samd down the grounding points to bare metal?
I did sand down the grounds. They were at least sanded down enough that everything else works on the truck. Battery voltage is ar 12.85, so thats not an issue.
had that happen on my 77, THREE of us couldnt figure it out, few weeks later messing around under the hood I noticed a green plug and sure as **** the ONE damn wire I forgot was the lights, talk about a face palm moment
so i was checking the wiring harness to see if i had power once the wires on the passenger side came in from under the hood into the cab (passenger side). I noticed that the wire from the battery (red with blue stripe) was NOT in the harness once it got inside the cab. I cut the wrap off the harness until i found it. About 6" to 12" from the battery (about where the side marker light harness comes out of the main harness) it was there, and not connected to anything. Also right there is a solid red wire thats tied into the headlights, and a somewhat smaller gauge wire thats red with a white stripe on it. Just to make sure, I touched the red wire (that has the factory crimp splices on it) to the red and blue wire, and sure enough, the headlights came on. I briefly touched the red and blue wire to the red and white wire and it got hot, so i immediately separated them. is there a relay thats missing from here? That's all I can figure. these wires obviously go together to light the headlights, and I'm assuming the red wire with the white stripe came off the switch. Is this correct? Now the question I have is "who took out the relay and why?" The headlights did not work when i bought the truck, so anything is possible, i guess. I just want my damn headlights to work when i hit the switch, so any advice you guys can give would be appreciated. Thanks again in advance.
Nevermind. Headlights are fixed. I hope toyota nation isn't upset that I used a volvo relay. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Now for that pesky problem with the ground... Since it's the tail lights that are giving me problems, is that the most likely place to fix grounds?
start there, if I remember right the lights ground to the body through the mounting studs, pull the cover from the inside of the bed, 3 bolts? been a few years since I sold mine
