Headlights and some gauges backlight gone

[don.piotrek]

Hi all,

a funny thing just happened today on my 64 landau. All of a sudden my headlights were gone. Switching the lights knob turns only the tail lights, but nothing on the front (no headlights, neither park lights). The high beam switch turns it on as it should.
Also later on the fuel and amp gauges backlight were gone too.

Is it all on one fuse? In the morning I went to a car wash - is it possible that the water got somewhere and I have a short circuit?

Thanks

[tjh64@hotmail.com]

Hi... Did anyone respond to this problem?? I have exactly the same problem. I replaced the high beam floor switch and still not fixed. No headlights unless I push high beam switch. PLEASE HELP! Thank you in advance

[jtschug]

I'm sorry, but there is no short cut on these electrical gremlins. Get out your voltage meter, test light, wire diagrams, and start limbering up.

If it were me, I would start at the headlight switch, and I might pull the driver's seat out so I could lay on my back and see it more comfortably.

These cars are more than a half-century old, and Ford designed them to last less than 10 years. It is amazing that so many of them still work as well as they do, and we should all be thankful that we can still get good parts to fix them (support our vendors and suppliers!). When you make repairs, try to restore it back to new or better than new so that that won't be a repair you must keep making over and over.

Good luck!

[55Greg&Amy]

Had this happen on a friends car after replacing the dimmer switch. Apparently two of the three wires were reversed but I originally hooked it up in the exact orientation as the original. The new switch was obviously different internally.

[DakotaLee]

I'm sorry, but there is no short cut on these electrical gremlins. Get out your voltage meter, test light, wire diagrams, and start limbering up.

If it were me, I would start at the headlight switch, and I might pull the driver's seat out so I could lay on my back and see it more comfortably.

These cars are more than a half-century old, and Ford designed them to last less than 10 years. It is amazing that so many of them still work as well as they do, and we should all be thankful that we can still get good parts to fix them (support our vendors and suppliers!). When you make repairs, try to restore it back to new or better than new so that that won't be a repair you must keep making over and over.

Good luck!

Second this... After years of learning and experimenting, this is always where I end up. Hunting gremlins is grueling, but as written above, if addressed properly, you will be ten steps ahead of any future problems.

[tjh64@hotmail.com]

Hi... Did anyone respond to this problem?? I have exactly the same problem. I replaced the high beam floor switch and still not fixed. No headlights unless I push high beam switch. PLEASE HELP! Thank you in advance.

FIXED PROBLEM UPDATE - I replaced all 4 headlights and now they work correctly! case solved.

[scumdog]

I had a similar (same?) problem and found the bimetallic circuit breaker on the light switch was being tripped due to the load with old wiring, I installed a two-in-one relay for the headlights high and low beam with the original wiring being only used to activate the relay

Result? Brighter more reliable lights.

Footnote: I bought a repop switch from a supplier but it looked cheap and poorly made compared to the original - so used the original one.

[Terry64HT]

I think adding relays to the headlight circuit should be done by everyone. There is no downside to it. In a lot of ways it's a safety upgrade and should be considered as such when judging. It can be done in such a way that it is almost impossible to detect (mine are hidden behind the washer bag), and at very little cost. I know there are kits out there, but in most cases the original light sockets are still ok, and all that is needed is a bit of wire and a couple of bosch-type relays.
Just my opinion
Terry
64HT

[Alan H. Tast]

I think adding relays to the headlight circuit should be done by everyone. There is no downside to it. In a lot of ways it's a safety upgrade and should be considered as such when judging. It can be done in such a way that it is almost impossible to detect (mine are hidden behind the washer bag), and at very little cost. I know there are kits out there, but in most cases the original light sockets are still ok, and all that is needed is a bit of wire and a couple of bosch-type relays.
Just my opinion
Terry
64HT

Adding relays to the headlight system so that they do not detract from the original appearance of the car is one of those kinds of articles I want to develop for the Scoop for all generations of 'Birds that weren't originally fitted with them. As several have commented, the original wiring in our cars is aged and has developed resistance due to corrosion, oxidation, etc., and electrical components like circuit breakers, whether they be internal to the headlight switch or external in the fuse panel, will fail over time and repeated use due to thermal fatigue. For people who performed relay conversion, please contact me with your experiences, photos, how-to hints, etc. in order to put one together. And, yes, discussion about adding relays is probably more appropriate for the 'modified' section of the Forum, but since the topic's come up I want to start gathering info for this.

[redstangbob]

And, yes, discussion about adding relays is probably more appropriate for the 'modified' section of the Forum, but since the topic's come up I want to start gathering info for this.

I try not to be heavy handed when posts get a little wide of concours. Wiring, like seatbelts IMO are fine in this section. LS1 swaps are still banished to modifieds.

[Alan H. Tast]

LS1 swaps are still banished to modifieds.

You could lose the last two words of that statement and still be fine in my book, Bob. All joking aside, there are several topics I need to delve into that cross or blur the lines between the original and modified worlds, if for nothing else than to accommodate those who do some upgrades and yet retain as much of the original character of the car as possible. Meanwhile, back to the topic at hand...

[mnpetri]

I think adding relays to the headlight circuit should be done by everyone. There is no downside to it. In a lot of ways it's a safety upgrade and should be considered as such when judging. It can be done in such a way that it is almost impossible to detect (mine are hidden behind the washer bag), and at very little cost. I know there are kits out there, but in most cases the original light sockets are still ok, and all that is needed is a bit of wire and a couple of bosch-type relays.
Just my opinion
Terry
64HT

Adding relays to the headlight system so that they do not detract from the original appearance of the car is one of those kinds of articles I want to develop for the Scoop for all generations of 'Birds that weren't originally fitted with them. As several have commented, the original wiring in our cars is aged and has developed resistance due to corrosion, oxidation, etc., and electrical components like circuit breakers, whether they be internal to the headlight switch or external in the fuse panel, will fail over time and repeated use due to thermal fatigue. For people who performed relay conversion, please contact me with your experiences, photos, how-to hints, etc. in order to put one together...but since the topic's come up I want to start gathering info for this.

Alan - that would be GREAT if you put together an article (maybe with parts / kit sources) for headlight relays. I've got all Hella european-spec lights in my 'Bird, and I'm sure that is not "ideal" with the 55-year-old wiring (fortunately and unfortunately, I don't drive it much at night).... fixing that has been on my mind, but I can't do much with this stuff without good direction. Thanks in advance.

[DakotaLee]

I think adding relays to the headlight circuit should be done by everyone. There is no downside to it. In a lot of ways it's a safety upgrade and should be considered as such when judging. It can be done in such a way that it is almost impossible to detect (mine are hidden behind the washer bag), and at very little cost. I know there are kits out there, but in most cases the original light sockets are still ok, and all that is needed is a bit of wire and a couple of bosch-type relays.
Just my opinion
Terry
64HT

Adding relays to the headlight system so that they do not detract from the original appearance of the car is one of those kinds of articles I want to develop for the Scoop for all generations of 'Birds that weren't originally fitted with them. As several have commented, the original wiring in our cars is aged and has developed resistance due to corrosion, oxidation, etc., and electrical components like circuit breakers, whether they be internal to the headlight switch or external in the fuse panel, will fail over time and repeated use due to thermal fatigue. For people who performed relay conversion, please contact me with your experiences, photos, how-to hints, etc. in order to put one together...but since the topic's come up I want to start gathering info for this.

Alan - that would be GREAT if you put together an article (maybe with parts / kit sources) for headlight relays. I've got all Hella european-spec lights in my 'Bird, and I'm sure that is not "ideal" with the 55-year-old wiring (fortunately and unfortunately, I don't drive it much at night).... fixing that has been on my mind, but I can't do much with this stuff without good direction. Thanks in advance.

I have added a hidden headlight relay system to my 66. I'll take some photos to show my routing/kit.

[scumdog]

I have hidden the headlight relay I installed, it (as another poster did) behind the washer bag, like to keep the engine bay looking as stock as possible.
Alan, I could email some pics if you want?

[Burtman]

LMC Trucks out of Kansas has a kit that I assume does about the same. I installed it on my '72 F100. Granted that's for two headlights and not four. Might there be a way to make that work?