Hello all - most of the time I can get what I need by searching the forum, but not this time! Here's the deal: my brights are on about a 10 second delay when I turn them on, during which time ALL the lights are off. This is sketchy and not ideal. When I pull the switch back, they turn on just fine(for flashing or whatever). When I push the switch forward, all the lights go off for about 10 seconds and then the brights come on. I have checked all the fuses and replaced the relay. Any ideas on this one? Thanks in advance!

BTW - 1995 pickup.

 

I would check the resistance in the dimmer switch. Try the following, assuming that you have a multimeter...

-Remove head light relay
-Remove both headlights
-Put the headlights in the high beam on position
-On the headlight electrical connector, find the connector that has a red wire with a yellow stripe. Check the resistance between this wire and ground. There should be very little resistance.

An even better check, if you feel motivated, is a voltage drop test. This is a live circuit test that shows how much voltage is being lost in the dimmer switch...

-Make sure both headlights and relay are installed, if removed in the above test.
-gain access to the dimmer switch electrical connectors. You will see a red wire with a yellow stripe and a white wire with a black stripe. You want to backprobe these connectors (with headlights in the highbeam on position) with the multimeter in the DC volts position. A good circuit will read 0 volts. If voltage shows up, you have a high resistance circuit.

 

Like Rustypigeon says above.

Flash contacts are different from lights ON contacts.

Once you fix it, I highly recommend the H4 upgrade harness. search it.

 

Thanks for the info guys! I'll check it out tonight and just ordered the kit. I can and sort of enjoy(perhaps perversely) dealing with the quirks of my 20 year old truck, however this one is a bit on the dangerous side.

 

Sounds like it. It is munching some serious resistance in those wires, definitely not safe! Good to hear you are tackling it with an upgrade- that's exactly how I like to do things as well

 

was there any further information on this subject? having the same issue, someone said thr=ere was points in the steering column needing filed.

 

I did the H4 upgrade, and tore the column down and cleaned all the contacts. Hasn't been an issue since.