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My headlights stopped working last night!!! 300 miles from home

Started by Jeff Wilk, August 03, 2013, 06:58:41 AM

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Jeff Wilk

On the interstate....10 miles away from Grand National!!!

75 Eldo with twilight/auto lamps.....

Worked yesterday

Parking lights, brake lights and signals work fine

No flashers come on but very fast flasher clicking takes place

Auto lights do turn on dash lights and parking lights

No headlights on auto or manual

No clue what to look for....SOS!!!

Drove 300 miles to GN without a problem
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

60eldo

   Jeff,,,I would change the dimmer switch 1st,,,,I had this problem before
Jon. Klu

Dave Shepherd

Agreed on the dimmer. Get a test lite on the dimmer switch look for current in and out, also the plug was famous for melting, fixed plenty of them back in the day.

russ austin

Look for the dimmer switch plug melted, and shorting to the floor.
R.Austin

Matt CLC#18621

When I put high beams on with twilight sentinel engaged, all four head lamps will go on and off and the doors go up and down until I turn high beams off.
67 Eldorado is also equipped with auto high beams but i do not use it.
Matt
CLC# 18621

Jeff Wilk

How do i access the switch and connector?  Take up carpet or from under car/hood on cowl?
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

Dave Shepherd

If you mean the dimmer switch, move the carpet out of the way, the connector and switch are mounted to the floor.

Jeff Wilk

Well I tried that.  Pulled up the carpet and saw the dimmer switch.....clean.....all wires and connectors still attached and not melted.  Now what?  Is there a fuse?  Could not see one in the fuse block.  Did find a few other connectors that were off which I hooked back up and now I have interior lights again along with door panel safety lights.... ;)

But still no headlights.

I also moved aside the kick/toe board that the hood release handle goes through.  Behind there is an orange wire with black stripe that was all coiled up with an empty connector on the end.  Wire must be nearly 3 feet long when uncoiled.  What is that for?  Some sort of testing lead to go to a diag machine?

Still in the dark.......Jeff
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

Dave Shepherd

Jeff, you cannot just "look" at the switch, get a test lite on it look for 12v in and 12v out on one terminal at least

TJ Hopland

With no guideomattic it should be a 3 terminal plug.  One wire is the +12 from the headlight switch.  One is the out to low beams.  The last one usually has 2 wires on it, one is out to high beams and the other is to the high beam indicator in the dash. 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

Jeff Wilk

OK....crawled back under there (sure glad its FWD) and put a test light on all 4 terminals with the switch hooked up and them also on the connector ends themselves unplugged from switch. Car has guidematic and twilight sentinel. No test light anywhere.

Next step?
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

Jeff Wilk

This Dimmer with Twilight and Guidematic has two connectors. One is a three prong connector and the other is a single wire connector.
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

936CD69

Jeff, you didn't mention it but I assume you had the h/l switch in the on position, Guidematic and Twilight off when you tested? All GM cars of the era has a circuit breaker integral with the h/l switch. They are fed on a separate circuit from a fusible link at the starter Battery main terminal. I would test to make sure you don't have a blown fusible link first, it is probably easier to access than the wiring at the h/l switch
Craig Brillhart CLC# 26217
1993 Sedan deVille Spring Edition Carmine Red White Top-SOLD!
1993 Sedan deVille Spring Edition Triple Black
CLCMRC Benefactor #302

Jeff Wilk

Sorry, but yes....H/L switch on by manually pulling out all the way, and both the Twilight and Gudematic switches turned to off.  Where is the fusable link located under the hood?  in line with the positive battery cable (a small wire), or is it run from the starter terminal?

"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

TJ Hopland

Its run from the big terminal on the starter.  3 wires on one lug.   About 18" of fusible link wire then they splice to regular wires and join the loom.   Close to exhaust so easily damaged if they came out of their holder or shields were not put back when working on exhaust or starter.  Earlier 70's had a connector in the harness which can also have issues, not sure if that was gone by 75 or not.   One of the link wires feeds headlight switch.  One feeds the half of fuse box for the stuff that is always on.  One feeds ignition switch and then the rest of the fuse box.   There is one more wire in the harness and that is the one to make the starter engage.
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

Jeff Wilk

Still no headlights. I see no breaks in the fusable links. What next?
"Impossible Only Describes The Degree Of Difficulty" 

Southern New Jersey

1959 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special
1975 Eldorado Convertible (#12 made)
1933 Phaeton Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"
1933 Master Sedan Chevrolet - "Baby Cadillac"

SOLD
1976 Cadillac Mirage (factory authorized Pick-Up)
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sixty-Special
1958 Cadillac Sedan
1958 Cadillac Coupe Deville

TJ Hopland

Can you walk us through the steps and methods of testing you have done so far?
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

936CD69

Jeff, a fusible link can be open (melted) without external evidence. Sometimes one can test by seeing if it is stretchy(melted internally but insulation is intact) but the only positive way is to use a test light or meter about a foot back from the starter to make sure you have 12 volts. If you do, the next step would be to check for battery voltage at the headlamp switch connector. If you have voltage there, it almost has to be a defective headlamp switch.

HTH
Craig
Craig Brillhart CLC# 26217
1993 Sedan deVille Spring Edition Carmine Red White Top-SOLD!
1993 Sedan deVille Spring Edition Triple Black
CLCMRC Benefactor #302

Davidinhartford

Dimmer switch was my first thought too.   

if that is plugged in and good, then I'd also check to make sure you have a good ground to the front lighting.