Headlight switch weirdness!

Jesus Freak

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I rarely ever drive after dark, but the other day I had to meet a guy at 5pm to pick up some mowers. I was sitting in his driveway in my tow truck waiting for him to get home and I figured I'd turn my headlights off and just have my running lights on. Well when I turned the headlights off everything went off. When I pulled the switch back out, only headlights. I could kinda get the running lights on if I eased the switch in a bit, but they just kinda blink on for a second. No problem, bad headlight switch...... right? Wrong....... maybe. This morning I got a new switch at O'Reilly's (lifetime warranty),it did the same thing. I swapped it for the other one they had on the shelf (1yr warranty) did the same thing and the potentiometer started smoking on that one, so I returned it too. Got in my zone went to AutoZone, they had to order one, just got home a while ago and installed it.........it did the same thing. I did get a new connecter at O'Reilly's and installed it earlier today. @Selahdoor very graciously made me a diagram of how to make a relay setup for the headlights and I plan on that, but this isn't our regular headlight problem. Thank you for any help! Long live our IDI trucks!!!

I'm not opposed to the idea of 3 bad switches in a row, but that's rather unlikely.
 
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chillman88

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I had a similar weird issue that turned out to be a fuse was bad. The lights worked in just the right spot because it was back feeding through another circuit. I can't really remember the details but have you triple checked the fuses?
 

franklin2

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The taillight fuse is blown, or the tan/white wire that leads from the fuse to the headlight switch is burnt in two.

The headlight switch has several power supplies feeding it. The headlight power comes from a fusible link under the hood, the tailight power comes from the fuse. If you put the switch in a certain position, you can cross things up in the switch and the taillights will try to use the headlight power to operate.
 

Jesus Freak

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I had a similar weird issue that turned out to be a fuse was bad. The lights worked in just the right spot because it was back feeding through another circuit. I can't really remember the details but have you triple checked the fuses?

The taillight fuse is blown, or the tan/white wire that leads from the fuse to the headlight switch is burnt in two.

The headlight switch has several power supplies feeding it. The headlight power comes from a fusible link under the hood, the tailight power comes from the fuse. If you put the switch in a certain position, you can cross things up in the switch and the taillights will try to use the headlight power to operate.
Both of you are absolutely right! I've been so dad gum busy with a handful of other stuff that my brain just couldn't connect the dots. I feel pretty dumb right now, but it'll be alright. I was just taking a shower, and I slowed down just enough for it to click. Thanks guys!
 

Jesus Freak

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If it helps, I think I messed with it for a couple days before I figured it out LOL
All I've been thinking about is my engine stuff and lawn mowers. Things are settling out though. It was the sweet spot where I could get the running lights to come on that threw me off. I don't mind having changed the switch though and the connector too. I'm going to get a couple relays this week and do the headlight wiring upgrade. I SURE APPRECIATE Y'ALL!!!
 

quickster

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check the wiring on that plug to the headlight switch. I had mine melt one time a while back. Seems a lot of juice goes thru it
 

Jesus Freak

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check the wiring on that plug to the headlight switch. I had mine melt one time a while back. Seems a lot of juice goes thru it
Yeah, I replaced the connector while I was in there. I'm going to do the headlight relay modification to eliminate that problem.
 

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