J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

[Nanook]

Would you ever attempt to put in a new Headlight Light Dimmer/Windshield Wiper Switch assembly on by yourself?

Boo Hoo...last night I was driving along and smelled something electrical burning (bad bad bad, out in the middle of nowhere). I noticed I couldn't get my bright lights on, the lever just flips back, then this morning I see I have no headlights at all, unless I hold the little handle back, like if I'm switching back from brights to regular. I'm pretty sure this is the problem as it gave me some grief a while back and so I've been waiting for it to happen! So far, I've seen this is an over $300 $$ problem. I can only guess how much of that is labor. Would you try it? Or do ya think I have to bite the bullet and take it in to a garage? Some mighty expensive bullets....

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Depending on the vehicle and mofel year. Theis can be anywhere from simple to difficult.
First think is that it will only melt down from over heating,unless less you were driving with the control lever all the way back,(which you have to hold in posession,or you have recently replaced headlights,and installed alamps with greater wattage than the circuit,or added other lights to the circuits,this is not suppose to happen. there seem to be some other fault.

The relascement of the unit is usually differebt with every auto manufacturer.
with ome of my cars,the unit has no screws,just some clips that used a special tool to release. The actual replacement is quite easy if you follow the instructions. the most important is to disconnect the negative battery terminal before you begin.
You should but a Haynes, Chilton or any other owners repair manual,for your make and model and follow the instructions. It should be reasonably easy.
..and theunit will not cost $300,more like $150 reagion,but installation will cost another $200 9at least in My neck of the woods,which is quite expensive.
The manual will run you about $20.00.
Good luck
Whatever you do domt attempt it without first reading the manual.

[dahjah]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Yes it would depend on the year of the car.
Older cars had a simple switch that was easy to swap out.
Nowadays it is more involved.

If it is the summer and it warm I may try it.
But een a de cold mi nuh een a playin' roun inna mi cold garage.

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Thanks Dr. Dudd & Dahjah...

It's a 1997 Dodge Intrepid. The trouble I had with the switch before was that it would go from high beam to no lights at all, which was when I started looking at the price of fixing it. Then, it miraculously stopped acting up for almost a year now. The only warning I had the other night that something was going on was the burning electric smell, I hadn't been using the blinkers or switching from brights to dim, just going along. Since the previous trouble, I've stopped using the brights/dimmer trying to avoid this problem, of course use blinkers but I'm not one of those people who drive around with thier blinkers going. The headlights were working when I parked the car but in the morning they didn't come on, just the taillights and the little turn signal side lights. The only thing the switch runs is the brights/dimmer and the blinkers, there is a seperate control for the headlights on/off.

I haven't replaced any headlights or bulbs or anything, just friday did my regular look around for all lights working and things and all was fine. Hopefully a short somewhere didn't cause this switch to burn up, another worry cause I'd hate to put one in only to have it burn up too. Dahjah I hear you, I'll have to heat my garage before I go out there to mess with this thing!

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

IM, if you are the adventurous type it is something you can tackle. Depending on the design you may only have to remove the steering column shroud. Worst case you may have to lower the steering column, by removing the two nuts/bolts that attach the collar to the instrument panel (I/P). If the column is bolted inside the I/P to a cross-car beam, then you will have to remove the I/P. In most case though, the switch is easily accessed by just removing the plastic shroud. It is unlikely that it is an overloaded circuit, because the fuse would have blown. If you have an high resistance point at one of the terminals, usually caused by corrosion or spread terminals, you will also get the symptoms you described, including the burning smell, because the wire insulation is heating up, as well as, the area around the terminal.

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Cool, I feel much better now. Yes, I feel adventurous if it will save me so much money! I did look and saw the shroud, doesn't look like a big deal to remove. I think I'll go park it in the sun and go out there this afternoon! I have a call out to someone who has a junked same car in thier yard, maybe I can get the assembly from that car! (fingers crossed...) For now, I guess I'm just relagated to daytime driving. Thanks you all!

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Hey I concur with J-kid,except to say that modern automoniles does not have huses. They have resettable circuit interuptors,that actually will switch the head lights to emergency operation if there is a circuit fault.
It is a part of the safety codes,that allows the vehicle to be drives safely (with lights) but as happened in IM's case it will eventually burn out the control surfaces. I did not take this into consideration,when I answered the original post. Assuming that Im being the dilligent person she is would not have ignored an important a safety risk as that until it reached stage.
yes this will happen but not unless the system runs on emergency stage for a period.

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] Park the car inna di sun dis time ah di year inna Wisconsin! Wha di sun tell yuh it waa admire yuh car or something, caa mi noh tink yuh ah goh feel heat? Sun fraid fi come out up dem deh parts! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

HAHAHA, yes it was TOO COLD!!! I may have found a heated garage to take it to this week. I'm still waiting on word for the used part, I hope it's there it'll save me a ton of money!

Dr. Dudd, it was a scarey ride. I was out in the middle of nowhere on a long ride down a 2 lane narrow windy road with no place to pull over when I smelled the burning. No Cell phone reception, I had no choice but to keep going to my destination, all the while watching for flames to start shooting up from under the hood! I'm just glad the lights stayed on until I reached.

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Dr "D" many of them still have fuses. I do benchmarking on all make and models all the time. For critical circuits, where it would be a pain in the behine if it fail out in the middle of nowhere, they will design in resettables (so that uou can still limp home).

Fuses are cheaper than circuit breakers and thermocouple resettable type devices. So the companys reduce cost where ever they can. Now if you are talking about high-end cars lile Lexus, Rolls, etc....then the customer dont mind the higher cost being passed on to them.

If the electrical system is designed properly (efficiently) fuses should stay good the life of the vehicle and never blow until needed under high current condition or a dead short. It is only there as a precaution.

There are three ways to do it. Some manfacturer put each half of the car on separate fused, so if one side goes, you will still have lights on the other side to get home. The other method is to either tie both sides on a single circuit breaker (lighta will flicker on and off but it will get you home) or use individual C.B.'s on each side. Other will use a smart-junction-box to sense and control. Again cost becomes a factor.

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Originally posted by IM:
[qb] I'm just glad the lights stayed on until I reached. [/qb]

Why did you not drive with the low-beams light only? You said that they are on a separate switch?

[loops]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

helllllllllllloooooo???? Are you fella's bending over the hood right about now??????? If you are....I'm just gonna grab my camera, if you don't mind... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Yes, J Kid, the main light switch is on the dash, with just the dimmer on the blinker switch, along with the wiper/washer. I just once tried to use the Brights, cause I was wondering if that switch was giving me the problem, and I could feel something was wrong with the dimmer switch right then. Now, no lights come one, but if I move the dimmer switch, it gives lights but I'd have to hold it to keep them on, which I don't think sounds like a good plan...

[Nanook]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Oh loops, yer so bad! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

A Damsel in distress and you want to bring your camera!!!

[j-kid]

Re: J Kid or DahJah, or a Car Person, I'm In Distress...

Originally posted by loops:
[qb] helllllllllllloooooo???? Are you fella's bending over the hood right about now??????? If you are....I'm just gonna grab my camera, if you don't mind... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] [/qb]

NO, ah ongle IM ah bend ova right now! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]