high beam indicator light

dagenham

Member

May 23, 2010

100

3

19

Duncannon PA

Dec 27, 2011

#1

• Dec 27, 2011

• #1

The little red dot for the high beam indicator in my '66 mustang is always on when the headlights are on. It gets brighter when I turn the lights up on high beam but when I turn the lights down on low beam the indicator light is still lit but dimmer.
Could I have a problem with my headlight switch or could it be something else??
Has anyone else ever had a problem like this??

 

2

2+2GT

10 Year Member

Apr 25, 2009

3,333

10

79

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Dec 27, 2011

#2

• Dec 27, 2011

• #2

Sounds like Tim Allen 'rewired' it.

 

J

j69302

Active Member

Jan 31, 2006

325

1

29

Dec 28, 2011

#3

• Dec 28, 2011

• #3

on the 69's, there is something like a foam gasket that is supposed to shield the light from the other light bulbs from leaking through. When I rebuilt my cluster, that stuff crumbled away and now there is always a little bit of light that lights up mine( as well as the turn signal indicators)

The fact that yours gets brighter when you flip the switch, and dimmer when you turn it off, makes me think everything is working fine, however the indicator is just getting lit by light leaking though.

 

2

2+2GT

10 Year Member

Apr 25, 2009

3,333

10

79

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Dec 28, 2011

#4

• Dec 28, 2011

• #4

IIRC, there's supposed to a little cardboard tube protecting the indicator from instrument light. Perhaps that's been lost.

 

dagenham

Member

May 23, 2010

100

3

19

Duncannon PA

Dec 29, 2011

#5

• Dec 29, 2011

• #5

No, I pulled the socket out and checked it individualy and it is always lit.

 

dagenham

Member

May 23, 2010

100

3

19

Duncannon PA

Dec 29, 2011

#6

• Dec 29, 2011

• #6

When I unplug both headlight bulbs the indicator light works properly. But even with just one bulb plugged in(and it doesnt matter which one) the light stays on either way.

Does anyone know which wire is wich on the plugs for the headlight pigtail?? I am thinking that I may have crossed a wire when I put new pigtails on the headlight harness . The shop manual does not show what color does what or goes to which terminal on the connectors.

 

horseballz

10 Year Member

Sep 30, 2009

824

19

49

Las Vegas, NV

Dec 29, 2011

#7

• Dec 29, 2011

• #7

dagenham,
It sounds as though you may be on to something. I'm not sure of the "pin-out" configuration, but you should be able to figure it out with a bulb and a multi-meter/continuity tester. For each circuit of the bulb to work "correctly" it need a positive and a ground/negative and the ground is shared by both the high and low beam circuits. For process of elimination, I'm pretty sure that the blade that goes across is the high circuit and the 2 blades that are parallel to each other are the low pin and the other is the ground, just not sure which is which. The one that gives continuity to the high blade should be the ground/negative and the other should be the low beam positive. When you determine which is supposed to be ground, test all and make sure that the ground is well connected to a good clean ground point.
HTH,
Gene

 

2

2+2GT

10 Year Member

Apr 25, 2009

3,333

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79

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Dec 29, 2011

#8

• Dec 29, 2011

• #8

dagenham said:

Does anyone know which wire is wich on the plugs for the headlight pigtail?? I am thinking that I may have crossed a wire when I put new pigtails on the headlight harness . The shop manual does not show what color does what or goes to which terminal on the connectors.

Click to expand...

 

dagenham

Member

May 23, 2010

100

3

19

Duncannon PA

Jan 1, 2012

#9

• Jan 1, 2012

• #9

Well, I figured it out. When I replaced the pigtails on the headlights I matched colors but they did not match the wiring correctly. After I changed the pins in the socket yesterday everything works properly now.