73 240z headlight-plight

[MattC55]

Hey all, thought i would finally throw out an SOS for help here in regards to my Z. I have posted a few times here in the forum and have been working on my car since i've posted last; I have sorted many things out, but cannot drive her due to no headlights. I had a burnt fuse box, so I wired in a new bladed one; I cleaned the high/low beam switch per instructions here (http://www.kamikazeracing.org/dl/ZTech/Rebuild_240Z_combo_switch.pdf), and still nothing. All other lights work as should, and I had a friend tell me it must be my dimmer switch, under the dash? Is he onto something? Do I need to start chasing wires for shorts? Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated!

[Roadster-ka]

Check for power at the bulbs,yes?, have power, try a new bulb. No power?, recheck fuses with test light.

[datzenmike]

One of the wires to the headlamp must have power when the light switch is turned on. If no power then find out why.

 

The other two wires go to the headlamp relay and to ground turning either HI or LOW beams on. The relay only has two choices, on or off, so either HI or LOW beams have to be working. The relay needs a good ground connection.

 

 

The dimmer tells the relay to select HI or LOW beams. It will either work, or not, so you should have either HI or LOW you can't have in between. At this point it is not the dimmer.

[MattC55]

Excellent, thank you guys so much; I will recheck the bulb connection as soon as the rain stops.

[MattC55]

I have returned; I took the passenger headlight out, tried the plug.. and I have power! Two of three inserts have power, black does not which makes sense correct? I am going to get a new bulb today; Also, is it normal for the plug to be soot colored? All three seem to be charcoal gray. The three prongs on the headlight itself were clean, with a little corrosion around the very base.

[Ranman72]

appears to be bad bulbs at this point  :thumbup:  :thumbup:  :thumbup:  :thumbup:

keep us posted 

[MattC55]

So, I went out again today and double checked everything; Started the car, checked the plug and still had power going to both red wires with headlights "on". I tested two different bulbs by running a wire from the male blades on the light to my battery and both bulbs lit up; Good. I plug them into the car itself.. nothing. High beam, low beam, nadda... I am at a loss here; the plug is getting power but neither bulb lit up! What should I check next? I haven't checked the other side's plug... won't one light up without the other though?

[MattC55]

The only wire I haven't really figured out related to this whole job is this random..ground maybe? It seems to go to the headlight switch, but there is already one black wire going back towards the dash, and this one looks like it was once soldered but now is not. Do I need to make a spot to ground it? 

 

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[MattC55]

Haven't figured out anything yet; Also wondering.. could I be getting just enough power to run my test light, but not enough to light a headlamp?

[datzenmike]

If you have a 2 volt test lamp... yes. If 12 volt it would be noticeably dim.

[MattC55]

I'm assuming it's 2 volt as it has no markings on it and when it seems plenty bright enough in the daylight I suppose.. Do I need to just get me a volt meter and check for volts at the plug?