Headlights will not go up or down. I've tested fusible links and all three are working. I've tried bypassing the switch by removing it and closing the circuit with a piece of wire. I've looked at the wiring diagram and it looks pretty straight forward..... Battery to fusible link, to switch, to light motors. Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

Is your battery charged ?

 

Battery is brand new. Everything else works.

 

How did you check the fusible links? Sometimes they will look fine, but are actually toast internally.

Are the lights coming on even though they don't go up? Or are the lights completely nonfunctioning?

 

Best way to test the links is to remove them and test them with an ohm meter. Some people make the mistake of testing them in place and jumpering each end where they plug in. All that does is complete the circuit, bypassing the link. You might try replacing the the wire style with the FC style. If that doesn't solve the problem, then you will need to chase down wire faults, starting with the plug connectors coming off of the lights and the headlight switch itself.

 

THe lights themselves do come on.

I tested the fusible links by moving the top one(retract) to the bottom one(headlights). Since the headlights came on when I plugged it in, then that means the link is good. I did the same with the middle link...moved it to the bottom and the lights came on.

I don't have an ohm meter at home so I'm going to take the switch to work and test it there.

 

But if the lights come on with the switch, then I doubt that the switch is your problem. Check the factory service manual, there is a pretty good troubleshooting section on headlight retractor issues...

 

Do you hear the motors try to come up or anything like that?

 

I checked the retract switch for continutity and it checks out fine. With the switch in down position, I get continuity between red/white and red/yellow wires. With switch in up position I get continuity between white/green and red.

The switch for the lights themselves is on the steering column and functions independently as far as I know. However, the wiring diagram shows the red/white wire going to the retract switch coming from light switch, so there may be something there that I am missing.

No, the motors make no noise at all.

I'll check the FSM and see if that gives me something else to try.

Thanks.

 

It sounds like your headlight motors themselves are bad.

 

So the headlight motors work via the switch on the left of the gauge cluster? If so it sounds like it's the headlights switch having issues actuating the motors from that end of the circuit.

 

No 84RX_Se7en, the headlight retract motors are not working at all. The headlights do light up when I turn them on. But nothing from the motors.

I'm going to test the voltage at the motor when they should be moving. That should tell me if the problem is in the circuit or if it the motors themselves.

 

Unplug the motor and run jumpers from the battery directly into the open switch pins. You won't hurt it and you'll know right off the bat if the motor is good. Then PM Midwest 7s for parts if you need motors...

 

the motors are probably toast, if the lights work.

 

Not very likely that both motors would fail at the same time. Most likely a problem in the wiring...

 

had the same problem. i replaced the orig "cloth" links with new ones, stil did not work. I replaced both brown boxes which the links plug into, and all better.

 

Okay I can finally put this one to rest. This is one that I get to do my mantra "I'm a dumb ***, I'm a dumb ***". After checking the fusible links, and the switch, and reading the the wiring diagrams, etc...I checked the connection on the motors and they were disconnected. WTF. I asked the previous owner about it and he had trouble with it and had it in the shop. I guess the technician never plugged them back in. The previous owner never ran the car at night after that so he never noticed.

All lights working, all systems go.

Thanks for all the input, you guys are a great help.