Lights Out

[Jetaway]

The events described in the first paragraph occurred in about a 30 second span Monday night.

I was tooling along a county road and upon encountering an oncoming vehicle, hit the dimmer switch (maybe seemed a little "crunchy?") to go to the low beams. Headlights went completely out. I hit the dimmer, lights back on, presumably on high beam. Hit the dimmer, lights out again. I figure better to be annoying than dead, hit the dimmer to turn the headlights on until we pass. Begin to smell a faint odor of burning plastic. Turn off the headlights with the main switch, turn back on, they come on not very bright rapidly fading to nothing. Say some bad words, slow down in near total darkness, am glad it is a dead straight road, hope I'm not pulling over at one of the few spots without a remnant of a shoulder and stop.

Fiddle with the switches -- nothing. Check the fuses, they seem OK. Engine seems to run fine, all other exterior lights work, but no headlights. No tools, no clue, not much light. I lock up Jack, tell him to jump off the shoulder if anyone is going to hit him, then take out the cell and see "No service." More bad words and I take off walking, eventually coming into range and having a friend come out and pick me up.

Retrieved Smilin' Jack Tuesday before sunset. Checked exposed wiring for damage, verified that the fuses were in fact good, figured the dimmer switch was the most likely culprit and went to work. In a word, choose any of the following words: Yes; Fried; Toasted; Gonesville. I've attached a sketch I made of the dimmer switch and harness. The lump labeled "Solder blob" on the side of the switch is or was, I suspect, a contact mounted at the end of a spring which melted its way through the side of the switch. Not much left inside, what didn't crumble when poked at was burned and deformed.

Called the local Nissan dealership this morning and asked about a dimmer switch. Certainly gave the parts guy a story to share -- it sounds like he damn near fell over when he quoted me a price of $666. (Ok, maybe not exactly 666, but damn close). I'm assuming that is for the entire assembly, not just for the 27 cents worth of plastic, wire, and metal of the business end that can be obtained from other sources for a more reasonable, haha, $250 -- $300.

That's still pretty steep, and I'm thinking, hoping, that there are some magic words to describe just the part I need to replace, not the whole metal frame, turn signal handle and its switch, etc., but just what is basically a push button switch with a few wires and a connector. The black wire went under the steering column to another wire, the red and white and red and yellow wires go from the switch to a 3-prong male connector and the 3rd prong goes to the horn contact.

Does this part have a name? Dimmer sub-assembly? Anything?

If it is a part with no name / part number or is made of unobtanium, how do I hack it so I at least have low beams until I can find a used switch at a junkyard? My best guess at it is that the black wire was connected to a, well a little teeter-totter is my best description, which shunted the current from the main light switch to one or the other (or maybe both of in the case of high beams) of the RW or RY wires on the connector. My thought is that I could temporarily connect the black wire to the RW or RY wire on the connector to turn the low beams on or off using the main light switch. I couldn't find any likely RW RY pairs on electrical diagrams or harness diagrams and need to know which of the two: Red / Yellow or Red / White leads to the low beams?

Much appreciation.

Chris

P.S. I think it would be fair to say that if one is considering installing a headlight relay setup, the lesson here is that sooner is better than later.

[SteveJ]

Contact Dave, aka Zs-ondabrain. If the switch can be rebuilt, he can probably do it.

Oh, and don't forget to search eBay.

Edited January 13, 2011 by SteveJ

[Reverend]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/72-73-Datsun-240Z-Headlight-Dimmer-Wiper-Signal-Switch-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2eb0e41a1bQQitemZ200536234523QQptZVintageQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DATSUN-240Z-260Z-280Z-SIGNAL-HEADLIGHT-SWITCH-STALK-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem588bf58829QQitemZ380305246249QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/72-73-Datsun-240Z-headlight-wiper-switch-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5d2d073404QQitemZ400187405316QQptZVintageQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

There is few. Hope this helps

Edited January 13, 2011 by Reverend

[Jetaway]

Contact Dave, aka Zs-ondabrain. If the switch can be rebuilt, he can probably do it.

Oh, and don't forget to search eBay.

Steve,

Thanks for the link set. The parts manual was and certainly will be of great use in the future. Alas, it appears that the electrical component isn't considered a separate part from the whole assembly.

I'd like to avoid buying the whole assembly, partially because of the cost, but mainly because there are only so many of them out there. Its incremental, to be sure, but one less available puts upward price pressure on the remaining units. And finally, it seems like a waste to toss aside a perfectly useable assembly, except for the dimmer switch, when the switch can be easily replaced, assuming a switch can be found. Eventually, if I must, I'll buy an assembly, but I can get by with low beams (i sussed out a by-pass) for the time being.

Rebuilding the switch would be a task on the order of changing water into wine; the circuit board is broken into two parts and the plastic housing and spring/contact holder burned and twisted. Not to mention that the contact itself has become one with housing. I'll drop Dave a line, though, maybe he has an assembly that is trashed except for the dimmer switch.

Thanks.

Chris

[Zs-ondabrain]

Koalia,

Great suggestions but he's just be buying into someone elses problems, as they all apear to be used.

Chris,

Check your PM's

Dave

Edited January 16, 2011 by Zs-ondabrain

[SteveJ]

Koalia,

Great suggestions but he's just be buying into someone elses problems, as they all apear to be used.

Chris,

Check your PM's

Dave

Dave, if we took that view on other things, most of us wouldn't own Z cars.

[Jetaway]

Couldn't figure out how to do an attachment with a PM. Probably not of much interest to anyone other than Dave.

Chris

[Zs-ondabrain]

Yup, that's the part. so let me know when you've read the PM and what you plan to do,

Dave

[Jetaway]

I contacted David (aka Zs-ondabrain) last Thursday about a replacement for my dimmer switch. He said he had one, I posted a picture to confirm, told me that I'd have to supply the horn ring wire to the harness; to which I replied, not a problem. It arrived the following Thursday despite: a) my general lackadaisical attitude towards the internet and: Monday being a Federal holiday. Took me about one and a half minutes to pull and install the horn ring wire and overall, took me four times as much time to get the danged plastic steering column cover back on as it did to do the mechano-electro repairs.

The price was reasonable as well. Not just reasonable in comparison with the minimum triple digit prices for a used switch assembly of absolutely unknown quality or the mind-boggling cost of a new unit, but just a flat-out reasonable price for a specialized electrical switch for a nearly 40 year old car.

Put me down as another satisfied customer.

Chris