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84 Headlight Problems

Joined
Dec 27, 2001
Messages
160
Location
Matthews, NC USA
Corvette
1984 Coupe
I final got the passenger side headlight to pop up normally and decided to replace what I thought was a bad headlight.

When switching to high beams, the driver side went to high beams as expected, but the passenger side went dim. I replaced it with a new halogen and it did exactly the same thing.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Ken
 
Went Dim?

Or OUT completely?

Mike
 
Headlight problem

If the 84 is like my 88 you may have a problem with the headlight control mounted on the driver fender well, or sounds like a bad ground.

Rocko:w
 
My oh my

Jeez...what's next? As many problems as you've had with that thing...when anything on mine goes bad I'm just gonna ask you cause you have or will have replace just about everything on that sucker.:Roll
--Drew:w
 
Drew,

You're right, before too long I will have relaced everthing on this Vette.

Hey, that will make it a new 1984 vette won't it.

Ken
 
Ken,

You simply have a bad ground. There is a world of difference between the 84 and 88 in terms of the electronics that trigger the actuators. However, the headlight beams work the same.

You will see a black wire down to the frame rail on both frame rails not far from the radiator on each side. You need to loosen, wire brush or sand paper clean, then tighten the ground back down.

That will make you lights glow brite!
 
Thanks,

These forums have been a wealth of information and a big help in getting my 84 road worthy.

I'll Check the grounds tonight.

Ken
 
Gettin Grounded

FRAME GROUND POINTS


G-115
Drivers side, foward frame rail, By horn.
Ground for headlight, horn, evap cansiter, turn & marker lights.

G-116
Mirror of G-115 ( pass side head & marker lights) lights

And as an added BONUS!!!!!!!!!
ALL THE OTHER GROUNDS


G-401
Pass side door behind seat, behind plastic trim
About where the top of door line is.. ON THE BODY
10 mm bolt into frame metal, single wire.
This goes to the splice for grounding the entire ASS end of the car.

G-320
Left side of cargo compartment about where 401 lives on opposite side. ABS ground (total system)
& left side hatch strut for rear window defogger.

G-201
Is the ground for the entire cabin area. Behind instrument panel, left hand side, near steering column.

G-125
Pass side by toe kick panel,Dash grounds etc.

G-109
The Frame ground point for the AC Blower motor sensors & relays, spark ESC module, Washer pump.
On the frame rail, pass side, below the hi pressure A/C cutout switches.


G-104 MAS IMPORTANTE'******************
The big gorilla from the Neg side of the battery
to the drivers side of the engine block with the ground braid & other Grounds!!!!
ECM,Fuel pump relay, Mass sensor & relays, tranny position Etc.

And
G-101
The little wire off the neg side of the
battery to frame rail & to Ground braid.This is the the ground strap.. the braided chunk of wire connects FRAME to ENGINE!!!!


G-117
Ground for Fan(s) & fan relays
By fan on frame rail twds pass side
on the cross member between the left & right frame rail on top.

This should be very similar for all c-4's but it's out of the 88 book.

Mike
 
Just doin my job

...... dangerous world under there.....

somebody's gotta sort it out..


Look ..under the dash!
Its a bird,
Its a plane,

No...its


A BAD SPLICE EEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!


ELECTRON MAN TO THE RESCUE!


( slap, slap....ok I'm better now)

Mike
 
Mike,

Not yet, it's been raining all week long here and the car is outside.

I plan to try it today or tomorrow.

Thanks again for the information.

Ken
 
No wonder!

OUTSIDE?!?!?
Well no wonder she is being difficult. She wants to be treated like a lady...put her in your bedroom if you have to but get her a roof over her head. At least a nice smelly garage.:L
--Drew:w
 
Are you done yet?

Gee Chris wouldn't have taken so long..
LOL

So I asked George about a TBI top end complete.

He's asking $1000.00

It's from the intake up, so intake, TBI bodies,linkage,Distrib, aircleaner.& some wiring

It's all used.. and the 84 stuff isn't pretty ( as far as cosmetic's go) but it should be very rebuildable.


FYI.. ( I think it's a bit much. but I'm a cheap. but see what others yards have to say.)

Mike
 
Who's Chris.

$1,000 for a complete setup does sound expensive.

Still haven't heard from my source yet.

Took the vette back for reinspection and HC passed but CO is still too high. The guy would have let me slide, but he found a hole in my front "Y" pipe. That nixed the deal.

So the saga continues.

The front "Y" pipe is on order.

Ken
 
Chris

Aka 69 My Way

Sorry about the smog...you couldn't just weld up the hole?

Mike
 
At this point, I'd rather not be lazy and do a patch. It needs replacing anyway.

Once the inspection ordeal is over, then I'll be rebuilding the front end with all new bushings, ball joints, and Tie rod ends.

I just removed the dash cluster this weekend and pulled it apart.

Every 822 bulb was bad. Damn the luck.

Did notice that the odometer wasn't working before I pulled the cluster. The plug seemed to be firmly attached.

Got any suggestions here?

Cleaned and tightened the ground connection on the right side of the frame and the headlight still went dim on high beam. Any other Ideas?

Thanks for the help,

Ken
 
Make sure of the following

As far as the headlight goes,

The circut starts @ the headlight switch in the dash ( yellow single wire for both sides) which goes to the headlight dimmer switch. This is located on the steering column right side opposite of key ( actual ) switch.

The outputs are LT green for High beam(pin d) & tan for low( pin b)

These are still single wires at this point.

This goes to the firewall connector
Light Green F-8 C-100
Tan B-4 C-100 Bottom row of firewall connector on the engine side of the connector ( where I think your problem is ) is where the two lines split...

BUT ( God he always does that!)

Disconnect the headlight motor drive connectors ( headlights up)

MAKE SURE THE HEADLIGHT CONNECTOR AT THE BULB IS CLEAN & NOT CORRODED.
Make sure the ground wire on the connector is not just hanging on.

Make sure that the fingers on the connector get a good bite on the pins of the headlight's, and when you push em on the bulb.. the pin is not trying to sneak out the back of the connector shell.

Look at your headlight when it's on ( the dim one) are BOTH the filaments glowing? Or just the one.. take a look with some shades on..If it's both it's the ground... still.

Remove the bad side bulb.

Measure the bad side TAN wire... it should be 12 volts.

Turn the lights off.

Measure the resistance between the tan wire on the good side to the bad.

If it's an ohm or two... that means it's not the firewall split.. if it's greater than 15 ohms.. you got's problems.

If you can run a jumper from the bad side to the good side.. Light the lights dim side good now? If it does that kinda ices the firewall connector as being BAD.. or at least the splice for the two wires is coming apart.

You will have to seperate the firewall connector and inspect it's connections backside ( where the two tan wires goes)... it means removing the battery & it's a pain of a job.

Well these kinda jobs build character... right!?

Mike
 

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