High Beam Turns Headlights Off??

[lachi3r]

hey guys. so my headlights work fine and when i pull the lever to flash high beams they work but if i push it to leave them on, its just turns my lights off completely. I have taken the steering wheel off and had a brief look but i don't really know what goes on there so i couldn't figure it out. has anyone had the same problem or know why it could be happening??

[altezzaclub]

RW is a red & white wire, RY red & yellow, RG red & green, RB red & black.

 

The headlight 'on' switch turns on the lowbeam relay, (via RW) which sends power through the 'common' wire (RB, marked in black) to the bulbs. The power going back through both high & low filaments at once gets earthed by the dipswitch on the column, either one of them at a time. (RG, green and RY, yellow)

 

From the drawing of the dipswitch you can see that the 'flash' function earths high and low, the low beam selection earths RG, and the high beam selection earths RY.

 

Check you have power at RY as it goes up the steering column with the headlights on, but don't pull the big connector apart or you won't heve power to turn the lights on. Slip a pin or needle up the wire as it goes into the junction and put a voltmeter on the pin. Alternately use the resistance function and see if there is a circuit from the headlight bulb end to the connector end of RY

 

If you have power in RY going back to the dipswitch, then the problem is in the dipswitch itself. You can pull them apart and see if power gets back to the contacts, or if the RY is broken in the dipswitch itself.

Edited March 23, 2013 by altezzaclub

[lachi3r]

Wow. Thank you. I'll have a crack at that tomorrow and if I can't figure it out I think I can get a whole new unit from a wrecker. Thanks mate.

[Taz_Rx]

Have you recently installed a new head unit?

Strange question I know but.....

[lachi3r]

yeah i have... why?

[Taz_Rx]

If you earthed it to a wire in the dash it might actually be an illumination wire not an earth. Earth directly to something metal and see if that fixes your issue.

[lachi3r]

Ahhh yeah it is earthed to a wire. I'll check that out. What do I do with the wire then? It's the second after market head unit that's been in the car and I didn't do the first one so I just copied the first one.

[Taz_Rx]

Hmm, didn't do it with the previous hu?

Just leave wire disconnected. Should always earth straight to chassis when you can.

[lachi3r]

no the high beam didnt work with the other head unit either.

[snipesleher]

Had something similar on my 95 series prado ,both low beam filaments where blown and laying across the high beam ones .New globes,probalem solved