No High Beams

[venom42]

They were working as they are supposed to before the engine rebuild. I am fairly certain they worked a couple of times after as well, but maybe not. Anyhow.. the low beams work well. When I switch to high beams the indicator light comes on but the lights are completely dark. Switch back to low and they come back on. Any ideas?

[sblake01]

You probably have a problem in the switch itself. My car had that problem when I first got it and I solved it by changing the switch. There are threads here on disassembling and cleaning the contacts. Here's one. I no longer have the extra switch I mention in the thread.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18114&highlight=high+beams

[SteveJ]

Check your connections. Given that you said you did an engine rebuild, I would guess that you had at least part of your wiring harness disconnected. You could have had a corroded connector in the wiring harness.

You can find an image of the wiring harness here http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm

Look for the connectors along the route of the wire for the high beams and see if any are pulled out, corroded, etc. You'll want to trace a red wire with a blue stripe.

[Zs-ondabrain]

Your switch works fine. heres why, when you flip the switch the hi beam indicator light comes on and the low beams turn off.

Like Stevej said, check the upper right kick panel for a bad or loose connection.

Also, depending on the year of the Z, you may have a passing relay that is directly connected to your high beams wire. It's a sort of relay system for the hi beams only.

Let us know what you figure out, just in case we run across this again.

Dave.

[sblake01]

No passing lights on the US S30. That came along with the ZX.

[Zs-ondabrain]

I'm only going off the book.The HAYNES owners workshop Manual, Page 168 clearly shows a passing relay right next to the diagram of the horn relay.

The relay is powered by the Black/yellow wire from the H/L switch (-)

the positive comes from the red wire that powers the headlights (+)

I'm not sure of it's exact purpose but it's in the diagram.

[sblake01]

No such thing in my 78 nor does the FSM show one. Nor have I ever come across a pre 79 with the passing light feature.

[montoya_fan01]

What are "passing lights"? Momentary High Beams?

FWIW, the JH HAYNES Manual is published in England (yes, it's distributed in USA) and probably not based on a North American Market HLS30

[Arne]

High beam flashers, I assume?

[venom42]

Your switch works fine. heres why, when you flip the switch the hi beam indicator light comes on and the low beams turn off.

Thats what I was thinking. If it is nice out tomorrow I will check all my connections (cold and raining tonight). When you say upper right kick panel, you mean under the glove box, on the right, in front of the passenger door? Any good ideas on cleaning the inside of the female connectors? Needle file maybe?

I did have everything disconnected during the rebuild, but I checked the other day again to make sure everything was plugged in tightly. One of my horns sounds bad. Could it be related to that possibly (they come from the same harness)?

[kenz240z]

If you have done any bodywork and painting, you might want to check all the ground connections in areas that have been painted. Perhaps new paint is preventing a good ground from being made somewhere.

When I repainted the engine bay of my Z, the horn wouldn't work after I put everything back together. The horn circuit ground is made through the steering column to the body. The threads got a coat of paint, and I didn't chase the threads that mount the steering column to the body.

I finally figured it out after a couple of days of troubleshooting. I'd replaced the horn relay, checked all connections, verified all wiring with a DVM, all to no avail. Anyway, after cleaning the threads, the ground circuit was completed, and the horns worked perfectly!

[montoya_fan01]

Make sure all of your grounds are clean, & tight.