2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.

Head Lights

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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 12:30 AM
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Head Lights

Tring to figure out why head lights are not coming on, when I turn the switch they pop up but are not on, the park & tail lights are on but not the head lights. Is this a common problem with the 2nd gen?
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 01:35 AM
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headlight relay. Flash the high beams and have a buddy listen near the row of relays in front of the radiator, find the headlight relay and see if its fried. Mine got water in it and the short blew the relay.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 04:12 AM
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try the headlight fuse in the engine bay first.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 07:17 AM
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No offense, but you're turning the main headlight switch all the way, right? You're not moving the healights up with the switch above it, are you? Just wanna get the obvious out first.
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Old Feb 19, 2009 | 11:24 PM
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Thanks for responding, 1st I didn't know the head lights had a fuse but I will check on that. 2nd The guy that I bought the car from said that it took in a couple inches of water on floor durning the last flood storm, which one of those relays is for the lights anyway? 3rd Yes I did turn lights all the way I went just to double check but still no luck! Let you know what I find when i find it, Thanks again!
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 08:14 AM
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There is a lot of useful info in the 2nd gen FAQ
here are the fues box diagrams
https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...72&postcount=3
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 08:28 AM
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3 inches of water on the floor board?

The CPU is under the carpet where the passenger feet go.

Any Gremlins in your engines ability to run smoothly??? I'd be suspect from this point forward if there are.

This news is not catastrophic as you basically can swap that CPU if you need to.....I'd just want to take a moment and point that out ahead of time for you.

Think about how a 20 year old lap top would perform after being submerged........
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 08:37 AM
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CPU on the left of the drivers foot and the ECU on the passengers floor board are not players.

The man asked you: What happens if you flip the headlights to BRIGHT? I didn't see an answer.

Headlight fuse is shown in the FAQ thread.

The jpgs attached can be downloaded for free from the FSM link in the FAQ. Called the Body Electrical section. They came from the S5 FSM because we don't know what year/model car you have.

When you turn the Headlight switch on, you put a ground on the Headlight relay, which already has power on its coil from the Headlight Fuse. That pulls it in and makes the lights work if the filiments are any good. So feel the relay as the switch is turned on. You should feel it click.
Attached Thumbnails Head Lights-headlight.jpg   Head Lights-headlighttwo.jpg  
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 07:29 PM
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Thanks for all the good advice, I've not yet had anyone around to turn the switch from high to low so that I could feel the relay, will be back on it first thing in the morning.
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 07:31 PM
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Oh yea my car is a 87 gtu
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 10:23 PM
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the headlight relay is is located somewhat in the front bumper, underneath the plastic pieces that surround where the hood latch is. If your standing in front of the car looking into the engine bay it should be the first one on the left, if not its the second one. Both are headlight related one does the lights, the other does high beams
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Old Feb 20, 2009 | 10:44 PM
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This may sound stupid, but is there any chance you're using the little **** that moves the healights up and down, right above the acutal headlight switch?
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Old Feb 21, 2009 | 11:15 PM
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I know the little **** you're talking about, no I'm turning the bigger light ****, and even when I click for the high beam i'm not getting that light in the dash to let me know that they are on or off. Should'nt I be getting a light on the dash?
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Old Feb 22, 2009 | 09:33 AM
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Headlights work like the attached jpg shows.

You turn the light switch to ON. That act put a ground on the Headlight relay and pulls it in.

There is power on that relay all day long. So you pull it in and batt power goes thru that relay and passes on to the Dimmer Relay. The dimmer relays contacts are in the low beam position, so power passes thru the dimmer relay on to the headlights low beam filaments and they light up.

You flip the switch to High beams. That puts a ground on the Dimmer relays coil and the contact flip over to the high beam set of contacts in the dimmer switch. The healight power now goes thru that set of contacts on to the healights high beam filament and also to the high beam indicator to light it up also.

So if the headlight fuse is good, you could pull the headlight relay out. Then jumper the R wire to the RG wire in the plug that was on that relay. The headlights should light up.

If that does not work, leave the R jumpered to the RG and then pull the Dimmer relay out. Jumper the RG to the RW wire in the dimmer relays plug. The high beams should light up along with the high beam indicator. Then jumper the RG to the RB wires in the dimmer relay. The high beams go off and the low beams come on. And the high beam indicator light goes out.

That's how to figure out what relay is bad. It would help yourself if you'd buy a digital meter to help out.
Attached Thumbnails Head Lights-headlightsalso.jpg  
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Old Feb 22, 2009 | 10:55 AM
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Here's an example of the Headlight relay being jumpered. You jumper either of the red wires to he red/green. Lights will light up if the headlight fuse is good and the dimmer relay is good.

If they don't, then the dimmer relay is bad........or both filiments are bad which isn't likely..........or the headlight fuse is bad. So if they didn't light up, you now go to the dimmer relay and jumper it like I mentioned in my post above. IF the lights don't light up then, then you didn't see if the headlight fuse was good or bad in the first place.
Attached Thumbnails Head Lights-redredgreen.jpg  
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Old Feb 22, 2009 | 06:17 PM
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I finally found someone to click on high beam and found that relay was not engaging, followed Hailers instructions on jumping out relay and bam lights came on, ran to autozone and found 12v relay on the shelf for $6. Works like a dream. Thanks for all the input everyone gave, and to Hailers, you know yo ****!
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Old Feb 22, 2009 | 06:46 PM
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Originally Posted by jhammons01
3 inches of water on the floor board?

The CPU is under the carpet where the passenger feet go.

Any Gremlins in your engines ability to run smoothly??? I'd be suspect from this point forward if there are.

This news is not catastrophic as you basically can swap that CPU if you need to.....I'd just want to take a moment and point that out ahead of time for you.

Think about how a 20 year old lap top would perform after being submerged........
Water doesn't exactly KILL all electronics, most PCB is cleaned with a sort of water solution if I recall, it just needs to dry otherwise it can create shorts in the circuit

I've herd of computers surviving floods, just the hdds die it seems
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 10:27 AM
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