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Headlight Issue...desperately need help!

P

Pontiac735

New member
I'm at the end of my rope with this issue,last winter my headlights/dashlights went out and never came back on.Since then,I've changed the headlight switch...dimmer switch and BCM....fixed nothing.I've changed all applicable fuses and relays...nothing.The evening this started I noticed my headlights flash on and off a couple of times by themselves!,after that they quit working.What I had to do was jumper a piece wire from the park light wire(park and tails continued to work) over to the low beam wire...this gives me my low beams and dashlights.Tonight I traced the underhood headlight harness back to the firewall to check for chafing or shorts...nothing.A month or 2 before any of this sh*% started happening I had a remote starter installed,I'm thinking this might have something to do with problem.Next of my list is to trace back all the wiring under the dash and change the ignition harness/switch.Please,if anyone has any tips or suggestions please pass them along....I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

Thanks

Blair
 


Thanks for your help,I've heard from other people that they can cause strange electrical problems.Might take it out tomorrow and see what happens.
 
Well this morning I removed the remote starter from the car,taped everything up nice and tight and still no luck.For the hell of it I'm gonna change my pcm,just so I can eliminate it.Is there any other box or module that can affect the lights?

Blair
 
Pontiac735 said:
Well this morning I removed the remote starter from the car,taped everything up nice and tight and still no luck.For the hell of it I'm gonna change my pcm,just so I can eliminate it.Is there any other box or module that can affect the lights?

Blair
Click to expand...
don't change the pcm yet. it might be the ignition relay. this controls your accesories. headlights, blower motor etc. it has several contacts in it and if one or more of these contacts go bad then you wills start seeing intermittent or possibly a total failure of one or more of your accesories. here's a link to another forum to give you a better idea of what you're facing:ClubGP Message Forum troubleshooting
 


gpbastard said:
don't change the pcm yet. it might be the ignition relay. this controls your accesories. headlights, blower motor etc. it has several contacts in it and if one or more of these contacts go bad then you wills start seeing intermittent or possibly a total failure of one or more of your accesories. here's a link to another forum to give you a better idea of what you're facing:ClubGP Message Forum troubleshooting
Click to expand...
possibly a bad headlight switch as well...
 
Well,on the weekend I completely removed my remote starter from my car and it fixed nothing.So I decided to check each and every fuse in both fuse boxes...nothing.I checked for voltage at the headlamp breaker in the glovebox and found that I was only getting 9V,so I took a wire from the battery and tried it on the load side of the headlamp breaker spot in the glovebox and my lights came on.I thought this was my problem but it turned out not to be.For the time being I left that wire in the fusebox so that I can have lights,not sure if I have hi or low beams,but for the time being I have some sort of lighting.I'm gonna change the ignition switch on the weeked and get rid of that wire in my fusebox before my car burns.From doing some searching on clubgp and here,I've noticed that I have a few of the symptoms of a bad ignition switch...just weird electrical problems....hi beam indicator in on all the time,all the dash lights go on and off randomly,the fast chime that dings when you leave your lights on is constantly chiming without the key or lights being on.I have an ignition switch that I bought from Ed a while back,so I might as well try it.Thanks for the help so far.

Blair
 
Well I changed the ignition switch tonight and it made no difference.I'm gonna try another headlight switch from a local scrapyard..I had a spare one that I was trying but I'm a little suspicious of it.Other than that I'm out of ideas.On the back of the headlight switch connector I don't seem to be getting the right voltage on the headlight/dashlight pins.
 
I had an aftermarket remote starter in my old blazer that blew the bcm. Before I replaced it I made sure to remove the starter to avoid problems with the new one. Could it be you ruined both?
 
Good point,I sent an email to Ed regarding another headlamp switch,I'll ask him about another BCM.Out of curiosity,I removed the headlamp breaker from the fuse panel in the glovebox,I checked voltage coming in and it was only 9V...and it was very slowly dropping.This check was done with the car running and the headlight switch on.I have a full 12-13V at the maxi fuse under the hood.

Thanks
 


When mine had the issues, the bcm would spontaneously blow my headlight fuses. Caught me out after dark many times, I let a good local auto electric place diagnose it but they told me a dealer had to install a new one.
 
Pontiac735 said:
Well,on the weekend I completely removed my remote starter from my car and it fixed nothing.So I decided to check each and every fuse in both fuse boxes...nothing.I checked for voltage at the headlamp breaker in the glovebox and found that I was only getting 9V,so I took a wire from the battery and tried it on the load side of the headlamp breaker spot in the glovebox and my lights came on.I thought this was my problem but it turned out not to be.For the time being I left that wire in the fusebox so that I can have lights,not sure if I have hi or low beams,but for the time being I have some sort of lighting.I'm gonna change the ignition switch on the weeked and get rid of that wire in my fusebox before my car burns.From doing some searching on clubgp and here,I've noticed that I have a few of the symptoms of a bad ignition switch...just weird electrical problems....hi beam indicator in on all the time,all the dash lights go on and off randomly,the fast chime that dings when you leave your lights on is constantly chiming without the key or lights being on.I have an ignition switch that I bought from Ed a while back,so I might as well try it.Thanks for the help so far.

Blair
Click to expand...
did you look at the link i posted previously?...
 
Yes,I printed it off,I was going to do that once I installed the other ignition switch.I bought it a while back and it's been just lying around so I installed it in the car.

Thanks

Blair
 
I tried another headlight switch...nothing.I took the fuse box that is under the hood, out of the car and traced all the wiring back to the firewall....nothing.What I'd like to do,if possible,is to open up that fuse box.While I had it out of the car,I tried to open it up,I toyed with it for a few minutes and gave up.Is it possible to open them up,there are 2 pieces that loosely fit together but I couldn't seperate them.
 
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