Hey all. I was recently cruisin in my 86 TA at night, runnin smoothly. All of a sudden i lost the instrument panel, heater contol panel, and shift pattern lights. All guages still worked. When i got home i realized that my tail, fog, and front marker lamps were out. And once i turned off the headlight switch the headlights stayed up. Brake and reverse lights, hi beams, turn signals, and dome light all work. I checked for a blown fuse and found them all to be good. Because all of the things that werent workin were wired into the headlight switch, i assumed this was the problem and replaced it. No luck. It was suggested to me that a relay may have went, but how do i test this? There are several of them, dont want to waste money buyin a bunch and finding nothing. Ive traced most of the wiring and found nothing wrong. If anyone has any idea or has had a similar problem, please let me know. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

One way to check the relays is to apply ground on one side of the coil and 12v on the other side of the coil. If the relay clicks it is doing it's function. Then the next step is to check that none of the pins on the relay are shorted or open ciruit with a multimeter.

 

thanks iroc. i finally got a multimeter and tested the switch the right way. does anybody have a diagram of what the wires for the plug on the headlight switch should be? and does anyone have a better wiring diagram for the lighting system than a chiltons manual? i almost have this thing figured out.

 

no more major lighting problem. afte testing the different wires going into the switch i found one that was actualy only getting 0.01 volt. so i traced that wire and found some parts where the insulator had worn through.