Re: [AMC-list] headlight not lit

[Joe Fulton <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Other that the suggestion regarding poor grounds, I'm betting it's the dimmer 
switch.   Relays would be a good suggestion but if it's a show car they are a 
little hard to hide.

Joe



----- Original Message ----
From: markprice242 <wrambler242@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Rambler AMC, Nash, Jeep and family" <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, July 24, 2011 5:48:05 PM
Subject: Re: [AMC-list] headlight not lit

I'm going to say your hlamp switch is worn out, The breaker is in it. 
Unless this is a concourse resto I would change the hlamp outputs to engage 
relays. 

It takes the load off of the Hlamp switch. your headlights get the full 13-14+ 
volts and that 

existing switch only needs to trigger the relay. 
With halogen sealed beams the increase in lumens was noticeable, well worth 
doing 




----- Original Message -----


From: superglider@xxxxxxxx 
To: amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 1:28:22 PM 
Subject: Re: [AMC-list] headlight not lit 

Have you looked at the high beam switch? The headlight current passes 
through that floor switch/button and those contacts get real corroded 
over time. 

Wayne 
Wayne & Lisa, Bolton Landing, NY, http://www.superglider.thinkhost.com/ 
66 Ambo 990 wagon, 327 auto, PS,PB,AC,PW; 69 Ambo 2 door 401, M12 
78 GMC Motorhome Royale 403 EFI 
03 FLHTCI - Patriot guard rider 
01 XJ, 02 Seville, 05 Sebring Coupe 



On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:18:03 -0700 (PDT) C The <kwtheaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
writes: 
> 
> 
> Marc, Matt, and those thinking the same thing 
> but saw their answers: 
> 
> the ground post on the firewall was indeed crusty & the nut merely 
> hand tight, so with great hopes i took it apart 
> and shined all the parts up, put it back together 
> and pulled the headlight switch, and nothing 
> happened, which ya know, can it ever be that 
> easy? 
> 
> - i did notice the park light fuse blown, which 
> i somehow missed the 13 times i checked it 
> or during all the mushing around it happened. 
> anyway replacing that got the park lights working 
> small victory, but progress. 
> 
> - took the headlight connecters off and measure 
> ~8V at each. cleaned them up a bit put the 
> pass side back on, no change. dejected i 
> do the same to the driver side, measure put 
> back on, i crawl out from under the car 
> and that headlight is on! jeezopeete. 
> 
> repeating process w/the pass side, you 
> know hoping i get extra credit for repitiiton 
> but still not on. 
> 
> the high beam indicator now works correctly, 
> was alway on when lights on before, but 
> the hi beam doesnt come on on the driver 
> side. 
> 
> mmm, so either burned out, or could that 
> be due to a bad connection? 
> 
> the pass side could also be burned out, 
> but gee seems unlikely. i think i'll 
> purchase a headlight, could be good 
> backup one day anyhow. 
> 
> so any other suggestions, welcome, 
> 
> our old cars just don't want you to 
> have total victory, you have to 
> grind out each step! 
> 
> --carl 
> 
> 
> - 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
> Message: 1 
> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:56:45 -0400 
> From: Matt Haas <mhaas@xxxxxxx> 
> To: "AMC, Rambler, Nash, Jeep and family" 
> <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> Subject: Re: [AMC-list] headlight not lit 
> Message-ID: <4E260BAD.3030200@xxxxxxx> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed 
> 
> This is for sure a ground problem (my 68 American did the same thing 
> 
> with a loose ground). I'm not sure where the ground wire attaches on 
> an 
> AMX. On Americans, the ground wire is by the fan motor in the engine 
> 
> compartment (it attaches to a stud). It looks like it will have 3 
> black 
> wires going to it. If it helps, you can see a color version of the 
> wiring diagram at 
> http://www.mattsoldcars.com/techinfo/images/68jav.gif . 
> 
> The headlight circuit breaker is part of the headlight switch. 
> Usually, 
> a problem there will cause the headlights to blink. 
> 
> Matt 
> 
> On 7/19/2011 1:05 PM, C The spouted this sage advice: 
> > 
> > 
> > hey all, 
> > 
> > i recently got my '68 AMX back from the paint shop where 
> > they had the fenders off& therefore -headlights. 
> > 
> > didn't notice till i got home& a few days later, the 
> headlights 
> > don't come on (neither do parking lights). 
> > 
> > i see from the chilton's wiring diagram there should be a 
> ground 
> > on the headlight wires. 
> > 
> > perhaps that's the problem? i traced the headlight wires and 
> don't see 
> > any where obvious that something should be connected to the body, 
> > though i don't really know what i'm looking for, an obvious wire 
> > going into a screw? 
> > 
> > but hey upside down and backwards i could be missing something. 
> > 
> > so if that is a good guess can someone tell me where to be 
> looking? 
> > or if not a good guess, what else? 
> > 
> > 
> > other info : 
> > 
> > - fuses all ok 
> > - headlight hi beam is always on when light switch on 
> > - headlight warning buzzer works when light switch on 
> > - brake lights work, fan 
> > - chilton's AMC book shows the headlights on a circuit 
> > breaker. assuming that resets itself if there was a problem? 
> > 
> > --paint looks good though, carl 
> > -------------- next part -------------- 
> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 
> 
>URL:<http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachment 
s/20110719/f6969367/attachment.htm> 
> >> 
> > _______________________________________________ 
> > AMC-list mailing list 
> > AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> > http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com 
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> mhaas@xxxxxxx 
> Cincinnati, OH 
> http://www.mattsoldcars.com 
> 1967 Rambler American wagon 
> 1968 Rambler American sedan 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------ 
> 
> Message: 3 
> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:27:11 -0400 
> From: Marc Montoni <Freedom@xxxxxxxx> 
> To: amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> Cc: C The <kwtheaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> Subject: Re: [AMC-list] headlight not lit 
> Message-ID: <20110720031505.C6E7F984001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 
> 
> 
> C The <kwtheaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said: 
> 
> 
> >didn't notice till i got home & a few days later, the headlights 
> >don't come on (neither do parking lights). 
> > 
> >i see from the chilton's wiring diagram there should be a ground 
> >on the headlight wires. 
> > 
> >perhaps that's the problem? i traced the headlight wires and don't 
> see 
> >any where obvious that something should be connected to the body, 
> >though i don't really know what i'm looking for, an obvious wire 
> >going into a screw? 
> > 
> >but hey upside down and backwards i could be missing something. 
> > 
> >so if that is a good guess can someone tell me where to be looking? 
> 
> >or if not a good guess, what else? 
> 
> 
> You're on the right track. I just traced out the exact same problem 
> on my 68 
> AMX. 
> 
> My test light attached to ground indicated I had power through the 
> light switch 
> and through the dimmer switch, as well as power at the headlights, 
> but they 
> still weren't lit. Realized the test light had a good ground, the 
> headlights 
> did not. 
> 
> Eventually figured out that the wiring for the headlights goes to 
> ground THROUGH 
> the right side headlight. The right side headlight has a black wire 
> that runs 
> to a single ground terminal, right above the heater area, on the 
> right side of 
> the firewall. There should be like three or four wires attached to 
> the same 
> screw. Unscrew it, take them all off, wire brush the body contact, 
> the screw 
> post, and the metal crimp terminals attached to each wire, then put 
> them all 
> back on and screw the nut back on securely. 
> 
> I'll bet they'll work fine, and that it's just a matter of a bit of 
> corrosion on 
> a 40 year old post & nut assembly -- no fault of the shop (unless 
> they removed 
> the wires and painted the area and so interrupted ground; or just 
> didn't screw 
> the post nut back on tight enough. 
> 
> By the way, AMC wired the parking lights to go off when the 
> headlights were on. 
> I never did like that arrangement, but that's the way they're made. 
> You might 
> want to turn on parking lights only and see if they work by 
> themselves. 
> 
> 
> >- chilton's AMC book shows the headlights on a circuit 
> >breaker. assuming that resets itself if there was a problem? 
> 
> 
> The circuit breaker is, as I recall, inside the headlight switch 
> itself. If it 
> overloads it will shut off. I forget if it automatically resets or 
> if the act 
> of turning the headlights off and then on again resets it. 
> 
> I think it's a GM unit -- not that it matters. 
> 
> -- Marc 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------ 
> 
> Message: 4 
> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:15:08 -0700 (PDT) 
> From: C The <kwtheaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> To: Marc Montoni <Freedom@xxxxxxxx>, amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> 
> > 
> You're on the right track. I just traced out the exact same problem 
> on my 68 
> AMX. 
> 
> My test light attached to ground indicated I had power through the 
> light switch 
> and through the dimmer switch, as well as power at the headlights, 
> but they 
> still weren't lit. Realized the test light had a good ground, the 
> headlights 
> did not. 
> 
> Eventually figured out that the wiring for the headlights goes to 
> ground THROUGH 
> 
> the right side headlight. The right side headlight has a black wire 
> that runs 
> to a single ground terminal, right above the heater area, on the 
> right side of 
> the firewall. There should be like three or four wires attached to 
> the same 
> screw. Unscrew it, take them all off, wire brush the body contact, 
> the screw 
> post, and the metal crimp terminals attached to each wire, then put 
> them all 
> back on and screw the nut back on securely. 
> 
> I'll bet they'll work fine, and that it's just a matter of a bit of 
> corrosion on 
> 
> a 40 year old post & nut assembly -- no fault of the shop (unless 
> they removed 
> the wires and painted the area and so interrupted ground; or just 
> didn't screw 
> the post nut back on tight enough. 
> 
> By the way, AMC wired the parking lights to go off when the 
> headlights were on. 
> 
> I never did like that arrangement, but that's the way they're made. 
> You might 
> want to turn on parking lights only and see if they work by 
> themselves. 
> 
> 
> >- chilton's AMC book shows the headlights on a circuit 
> >breaker. assuming that resets itself if there was a problem? 
> 
> 
> The circuit breaker is, as I recall, inside the headlight switch 
> itself. If it 
> overloads it will shut off. I forget if it automatically resets or 
> if the act 
> of turning the headlights off and then on again resets it. 
> 
> I think it's a GM unit -- not that it matters. 
> 
> -- Marc 
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