Hi
I turned my headlights on and drove a half a block and they went off, I turned the high beams on and after a few seconds they went off. I went back home and the next time I went out to drive the truck it would not start. I have since got a new battery, checked the fuses for the headlights but they are not burnt. Can't afford to be a repairmans guinni (sp) pig anymore. Any ideas, The book mentioned some other electronic thing to check that is right by the fuses, little square boxes but I couldnt tell if they were ok. I have not checked the bulbs themselves as I did'nt think both could burn out at the same time? Any help is appreciated.
Thank you
Roxanne
1984 toyota super cab

 

they could burn out at the same time, but its unlikely. maybe your headlight relay? maybe the headlight switch at the ignition switch? pull out your ohms meter and measrue how much current is going to your headlights, and compare that with what it says in the book. and with the square boxes, you can tell if theyre still good by looking inside and seeing if the metal strip is snapped or in one piece.

 

I assume the new battery fixed the problem where the truck wouldn't start?
If not, I would worry with that first.

The thing to do would be to check the voltage between the light terminal and ground (should be 3 prongs if I remember correctly- High Beam, low beam, and ground. Put the - terminal of the tester to the - side of the battery and probe the connectors with the + terminal of the tester. If there is no power, check out the relay. If there is, the lights have burnt out for some reason.

EDIT: also, if you have power, how much is it? My friend had a nissan truck that decided one day to give the headlights 16.5v, blew them out.d

 

Thank you for all the suggestions. Yes the truck is running fine with the new battery but the ground to the battery was almost completely corroded off when I changed the battery and I was wondering if that may have had something to do with the headlights being gone. Where might I find the headlight relay? do you know?, thank you. I looked in the little boxes but they werent like the fuses with the metal strip inside so I wasnt sure if they were burnt or not. I guess I better buy one to get a comparison. I am a woman so checking the ohms etc, is out of my league. Messing with batteries at all gives me the creaps so you know how long it took me to replace the battery
Thanks again!

 

PS the park lights, tail etc work fine.

 

Headlight relay in the fuse box in the engine bay.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...eadlight_Combo

 

Thank you very much for all the info. To involved for my limited knowledge so I will go back to the fuseable links in the hopes that they are bad. Easiest solution for me.

 

Quick test is turn on the headlights and pull back on the dimmer switch handle. If lights come on (high and low beams) then look to the combo switch contacts.

 

No lights no matter what I do, high or low.

 

OK, high and low don't work. Did you try "flash" mode (pull back on the dimmer switch and hold it there)?

If none at all, check the relay and fuses:

 

fuses are ok. Haven't checked the relay because I don't know what I'm looking for. I will go out one of these days and look for it because I have to check the fuseable links which are where the fuses are. Maybe the relay is the fuseable links? I'm really concerned about changing the fuseable links if they are burnt as the book says that there maybe a underlying problem if they burn and I should have the manufacturer check, which sounds expensive. So maybe I will never be able to drive at night, lol.
Thanks folks