Stupid headlight switch!!!!

[Kain]

my mom asked me to go to the store and get her some things for a pot luck lunch she was having at work.
I jumped in the blazer, it was still dark so turned on headlights to go to united grocery store. When i got there I shut of the lights killed the blazer and pulled the key out, but the interior lights were still on.

Had to buy a new switch and replace it cause I need to go to the hospital for pre op on my upcoming surgery.


P.S. when your mad don't kick the trailer hitch ball, it just hurts........

 

[Kain]

well its not the headlight switch. when I hit the brakes the interior lights and marker lights come on. tracing the wiring and haven't found a short yet. I hope its not when i forgot to lock it at walmart and someone pulled some of my alarm wires out.

 

[diesel4me]

Trailer wiring can do this sometimes..bad grounds too,things feed back and look for a ground elsewhere..I've even seen bulbs have the tail lamp filament break and touch the brake light filament and do all kinds of weird things too..

 

[Kain]

ya i found some bad trailer wires but it was dark. ill follow them out the firewall and down along the frame. an see whats up. thanks for the reply diesel4me

 

[diesel4me]

Your welcome....hope its not too much of a pain to pin it down..
I hate figuring out electrical problems..

For what It's worth,I dont recall ever replacing a "bad" headlamp switch in a GM car or truck...
I have a few spares I kept from ones I parted out and snagged at salvage yards,but haven't needed one yet..guess they dont fail that often..the few I have seen fail would flick the lights on and off when the built in thermal circuit breaker was failing or overloaded by adding too many fog or driving lamps without a relay..in stock form they rarely fail..
Not so on Fords though,especially police cruisers..I sold a bunch of those in the 80's and 90's...all the extra load killed them fast..

Today I noticed my trucks door jamb switch on the drivers side is fubared,the dome light has never come on when you open the door since I've owned it--but it still comes on with the light switch OK..

After a flashback remembering how much it sucked trying to fish the wires that twisted off the original switch when I un-screwed it on another truck like it--I decided I'll live with having to turn the dome light on via the light switch....truck has much larger problems to deal with first!..

 

[Kain]

ya wiring is easy chasing a short is the sucky part. and i looked into why my dome lights didn't work and was shocked how is was wired and not caught fire... still have to re-run the wires for the dome light i cut them out so it didn't catch fire

 

[Kain]

diesel4me you nailed it, its in the trailer lights. hit the right turn signal and the interior lights come on so the green wire is touching the brown somewhere.

Give that man a cigar!!

 

[Kain]

now i just have to find it my mech bud here said its those wires contacting

 

[4X4HIGH]

I've had a bulb go bad and cause this exact same symptom before.

 

[Kain]

the old bulb was bad so i put a new one in just 2 nights ago, maybe ill change it in the morning and see

 

[4X4HIGH]

Me personally, I would change ALL of the bulbs. Bulbs do get dimmer as they get older and they aren't expensive so why not just replace them all and be good for another 10 years or more.

 

[Kain]

well i have 2 bulbs for the brake lights but i cant afford any more parts yet had to pay 1000 bucks for my surgery on thursday.
but i will when i can.

 

[Kain]

Bad bulb out of the package....well at least its fixed