no headlights...

[Skib]

lost the headlights on my goon :angry:

 

everything else works totally fine, just no head lights or high beams.

 

Iv already replaced the fuses and even swapped it back over to the stock wiring (since there on relays)

 

 

any idea what would drop my head lights at random?

[NorCalDime]

check your switch

[Skib]

check your switch

 

 

would that affect just the headlights?

cuz everything else turns on with the switch (gauges, tail lights, plate lights, ect.)

[exit64]

Skib,

Check your power across the switch with your volt meter. Almost sounds like a loose ground wire somewhere or an internal break in one of the wires. Turn on your headlights and flex the wires going into the switch and see if you get any results.

[74datsun620]

Skip, I thing the head lights and tail light are on a seperate fuse and ground. My 620 lost head lights but the tail lights and turn signals still worked. The ground wire had broken.

 

 

[datzenmike]

Skib, power goes to both high and low beam lamps from the light switch. The other side(s) is switched to ground depending on if high or low beams are selected by the headlight relay. The relay has a Black wire to ground. The only way for both High and low to be out is if there is a break in the ground wire, well or no power from the switch.

 

I have no idea where the headlight relay is located.... schematically it's on the pass fender generally behind the battery maybe behind the voltage regulator.

 

Look for a relay with a 6 pin plug including a Red/White, Red/Black, Black, Black, Green/Blue, and Black/Red wires to it. With lights on ground the Black wires and the lights should work if the ground is faulty..

[Skib]

thanks guys :cool:

 

Ill take a look at it in a few when I can get the goon into the (dry) garage :D

[I'm BLUE]

thanks guys :cool:

 

Ill take a look at it in a few when I can get the goon into the (dry) garage :D

 

That sucks , hope you get it working soon. I just lost my wipers 2 hours ago :lol: , bless rain-x :mellow: ( it eats the rubber wiper blades quickly :rolleyes: )

 

hahaha

[DanielC]

SkiB, you are probably out working on it now, but if you are still fighting it, try to do this.

Think of the entire path the electricity has to follow to get from the battery, to the lights, and back to the battery again. Try to find every fuse, switch, relay, harness connector, and piece of wire that the electricity goes through.

 

Quick way to help isolate the problem, check for battery voltage at the headlight. You should know by now that the 510 uses an unusual system of switching the grounds for the high and low beam headlights.

 

If you have battery voltage at the headlight, and they do not work, the grounding system is bad. This includes the relay, grounds, headlight switch, and the wires and connectors.

If you do not have battery voltage at the headlight, the fuses, some connectors, or wires are bad.

 

Start with that, and report back.

[banzai510(hainz)]

Yes use a test light. ground test light on car chassis and use the pointed end ck the plugs ,all the plugs will have 12volt on them. IF not go to fuse box area.

A stock sytem will be wired to the battery via the fuse box. all the swithc does it completes it to grnd then Wham lights on. I think this is a better system myself.

 

If you have power. ONLY THING INBETWEEN IS THAT RELAY Ck the relay or claen connector or wiggle it . Maybe alot of corrossion.

 

Most time is one has low beams but then go to HIGHs you loose all your lights. This is usually the relay and Datto 510 has taken one apart and cleaned it and it work if you dont have a spare.

 

 

I agree with all above posts

 

ck fuses and clean them or add new ones. Sometimes wire under fusebox will be corroded

[Skib]

I had them working for a bit, just a result of giggling things around ect, no idea what it was in particular but then they where gone agian.

 

Iv got power to all the plugs and to the relays (they all click and have power)

 

I found 2 grounds coming from the headlight plugs to the body, cleaned and sanded the connections and still nothing....

[ohpyramids]

my wire loom has been gutted- so it probably doesnt apply, but for what its worth, i lose all my lights when i accidentally bump the high beams on....

[DanielC]

Are the relays good? You said you had power to them, if the internal contacts are bad, the headlight electricity will not get through them, and the headlight will not work. Follow the ground circuit all the way back to the battery. Make sure you have a good ground connection from the body of the car, to the engine, and back to the battery.

[Skib]

Are the relays good? You said you had power to them, if the internal contacts are bad, the headlight electricity will not get through them, and the headlight will not work. Follow the ground circuit all the way back to the battery. Make sure you have a good ground connection from the body of the car, to the engine, and back to the battery.

 

 

the factory relay or the new relays for the lights? in total Iv got 2 plastic ones for the headlights and the one factory metal one. Iv pulled apart the plastic ones and one looks brand new and one is a little corroded. I tried to clean it up some and threw it back on. If one of those two plastic ones where bad would it kill all the headlights?

[datsunfish]

When I got my 510 the headlights were in op too. Turned out it was the switch. Pull the switch and look at the case for the internal connections. There are tabs that you can bend back and take it apart(carefully!!) There is a metal ball inside to seperate functions when you pull it so be careful not to lose it. The contact points on mine were worn down and not making proper contact anymore. I added a bit of solder to fill in the dips and all was good but solder is soft so it wont last forever. If you have a multimeter that does ohms you can check to see if the contacts are being made before you tear it apart.

[I'm BLUE]

I had them working for a bit, just a result of giggling things around ect, no idea what it was in particular but then they where gone agian.

 

Iv got power to all the plugs and to the relays (they all click and have power)

 

I found 2 grounds coming from the headlight plugs to the body, cleaned and sanded the connections and still nothing....

 

(1) To narrow it down , Where were you jiggling the wiring around when it started to work ? ( Compartment or Dash ) =

 

(2) Fusebox I assume is ok ? ( The pins come loose inside the connectors sometimes I have seen leading to the harness and hopefully like my z it hasn't melted down in 3 places , but IDK ? ) =

 

(3) Assumed you sprayed relay(s) out with some sort of contact cleaner/preserver ?

 

(4) My Z , I had to go through and re-clean grounds , replace re-lays , etc... ( moisture from leaking internally :o :rolleyes: :huh: )

 

(5) Running lights work too ? , and brake lights as well ? but no headlights ? hhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :huh: that

s a doooooozy !

 

(6) Take light switch out and test possibly ? or test wiring leading to ? IDK

)

(7) Accidentally play with any wires lately ? ( I did on my z , and had to trace back to get brake lights back on :lol: )

 

DTP

[Skib]

ok, so both of the plastic relays work, if I pull the covers off and manually make the connection the lights will turn on.

 

on the metal relay my test light lights up for all the connections except the black/red that goes from the relay plug threw the firewall. (this seem significant to anyone?)

 

and both grounds from the headlight plugs are good :huh:

 

 

so looking at the metal relay and/or switch atm I guess, my forte is still early Z car stuff :P (aka Im a 510 noob)

[HRH]

HAHA, I knew my headlight issues and resulting pictures would come in handy! Check this out: http://www.mattalbertson.net/datsuntech.htm Click on the headlights one. It has pictures of that relay.

[Skib]

HAHA, I knew my headlight issues and resulting pictures would come in handy! Check this out: http://www.mattalbertson.net/datsuntech.htm Click on the headlights one. It has pictures of that relay.

 

 

hahaha :D

 

this one might be some help...

 

 

 

 

I dont have a regulator anymore and I cant find where exactly I put that ground :unsure: oops

 

lol guess itl help when I figure out where I remounted that :P

[78kingcab]

skib this might sound weird but i to had a random prob like this......i turned lights on and everything but headlights, as i sat in car with it running i hit the gas and wa la lights as soon as idel went down they shut off....long story short it was the light relay right infront of fuse box, replaced and its all good.......well just a idea......id check fuse box also try wiggle it.......good luck

[sanitys]

skib, wiggle the connections at the new plastic relays with the switch on and see if your lights come on, that is what mine have started doing.....

 

why do you still have the stock relay and the two new ones?

[Skib]

 

 

why do you still have the stock relay and the two new ones?

 

 

idk, I didnt do the relay stuff. It was already like that when I got it from Datto510

[datzenmike]

Some use the stock headlight wiring to trigger relays using larger gauge wires directly from the battery. This shortens the distance from battery to light and to ground and reduces the voltage drop producing a brighter head light. The stock wiring is small gauge and runs from the battery all the way to the light switch and back out to the lamps then back to the headlight relay and to ground. Got to be over 15 feet of travel.

[HRH]

"Naw, I changed that. Try this: Illuminate. Now you try!" - Wesley Snipes, guess what movie. Try that Skib! :D

[DRIVEN]

Some use the stock headlight wiring to trigger relays using larger gauge wires directly from the battery. This shortens the distance from battery to light and to ground and reduces the voltage drop producing a brighter head light. The stock wiring is small gauge and runs from the battery all the way to the light switch and back out to the lamps then back to the headlight relay and to ground. Got to be over 15 feet of travel.

^^I highly recommend this^^. When I lost the headlights on my 1200 I found that there was an intermittent ground failure in my harness. Since it was intermittent -- I never actually found it but I added a redundant ground to each side at the headlights. After I did that, I added the relays like Mike suggested. I basically pulled my trigger (switched) power from the headlight plugs and put new pigtails after the relays. It is essentially a stand-alone so I could remove it and just plug the original harness back in. The lights were twice as bright and I had maybe $15 in the whole thing.