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Switches operate entirely differently Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:31:49
In Reply to: '86 & '87 were funky years for highbeam stalk, Mike NY, Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:06:13 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
As you noted, in '86 and '87, the headlight current ran through the switch. The switch itself has the 'toggle' function, switching current from the high beam to low beam filaments. That much current and the toggle function, and the switches died. So the switch has one input (power), and two outputs (high beam, low beams).
In '88 and later, the switch is a single contact, a closure to ground. This signal goes to the headlight relay, and circuitry in the headlight relay performs the 'toggle' function. A short closure to ground, and the relay makes one set of connections; another closure, it switches over to the other set. The current through the switch is very low. Bottom line - the newer stalk won't work with your wiring.
You've got a couple of choices. One would be to find a replacement stalk from an older car. Likely that switch will also be badly worn. You could open up the switch and try to fix it. If the contacts are merely dirty, they might clean up. If they're melted, well, out of luck.
The other approach is to do some re-wiring. You could pull the high current headlight wires from the switch, and hook them up to a headlight relay from a newer car - just bolt it up under the dash somewhere. If the contacts on the existing switch aren't melted, you might even be able to re-wire those contacts so you don't have to get another switch. I can't be sure, but I'd expect even the connectors may have changed.
The ideal situation would be to get a newer stalk and all new wiring. But that would be prohibitively expensive. So I'd go with a little home re-wiring.
posted by 192.249....
, Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:31:49 <-- Viewing This Message
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