High Beam trouble
 

ok, so my '82 has some highbeam trouble.

The high-beam lights work when the light switch is pulled toward the driver (when flashing the lights), but they do not come on when the light switch is pushed to click on (towards the front of the car).

When I try to 'click' the high beams on (pushing switch forward), ALL of my lights, inside and out turn off. ...by the way this scares the crap out of ya.

I've check the wiring diagrams and I can find nothing on the light switch or any relays that this might be caused by.

any ideas??

Yep, I had the same problem..it's the combo switch.
You can try taking it off and apart and cleaning the contacts.
Do a search on 'Combo Switch', you'll find lots of info.

Good Luck!

Hah! I had that problem too. Yeah it does kind of scare you to be driving 60 MPH at night and have your lights go completly out.

Mine used to do that too until one day I got mad and clicked it back a forth a whole lot really fast while cussing a lot and it suddenly worked.

~T.J.

i just found this problem...thanx for the tips!

I had the same exact problem with my '83 a few months back. It's a fairly quick and easy fix. You'll need to remove the combo switch from the steering column and work on the switch on a clean flat surface. You don't want to lose the ball bearings that are in the switch (they make switch 'click' into position), nor do you want to get any dirt into the grease. Carefully take apart each switch at a time (they'll all need cleaning since you're in there) and using a small file (a nail file works well- just make sure that it's made of metal) lightly file the flat surface of each contact to remove the oxidation and dirt until they shine- maybe ten strokes each. As they say in the Haynes manual- "installation is the reverse of removal"
Good luck.

It's funny just how often that can work. hehe

thanks for the tips. I'll have to do a search for the 'combo switch' to find out where it is exactly.

P.S. I tried the flipping it back and forth several times on night to see if it would work. ....alas it did not, but I did scare the crap out of the passenger.

The combo switch is the whole switch which holds the headlight/flasher stalk as well as the wiper stalk. To remove it, you'll have to remove your steering wheel with a puller. Then remove the steering column covers. There's a metal collar underneath with a screw, then pull out your combo switch.

I had the same problem with my headlights in my 83 GX. Freaky...

On both of my '83's I haven't had to use a puller. All I did was pull with the left hand-push with the right; then push with the left-pull with the right over and over again while you work the wheel towards you. Just be sure to mark the wheel's position in relation to the column's nut before you remove the wheel so that it's centered after installation. Liquid Paper works well.

Thanks allot for the tips guys. I took out the combo switch this morning and cleaned it out and now the high beams work fine.

I didn't need a puller for the steering wheel...although it was stuck in there pretty good.

Oh well, mine needed the puller, that sucker was really stuck in there!