No High beams?

[Mr_Efficiency]

I noticed the other day that i have no high beams, the lows work but as soon as i hit the high's all the front lights just go out and the little blue high beam light dosent come on either. I looked through the owners manual to see were the fuses were and such but all it shows is the control panels and dosent tell you were they are, there were two for the lights, one was the front lights control center, which i have found and there was another bank of fuses and relays I cant remember the name of that i cant find, and it has headlight relays and fuses etc, can anyone help me out here? I need this fixed before tommorow when it goes in for inspection.

btw its a 90 grand prix with the composite headlights.

 

 

[GnatGoSplat]

It's under the passenger side dash behind the black plastic cover.

You'll need to remove that cover to get to it.

 

[ManicMechanic]

It's likely your high beam switch though.

[Mr_Efficiency]

I found the fuses on the passenger side frame rail its the other box I'm looking for, and I dont think its the switch cause when i hit the high beam switch the low beams go off, but that still dosent rule out the switch as a suspect to the problem.

anyone have any ideas? I need this fixed for tommorow, I do know the guy doing the inspection so i may get away with it but still, I'd like my high beams back, lol

 

[Q-Ball]

I have the exact opposite problem! But I know its my switch.

[boulevard]

Ok, try this.

 

Look up underneath your steer column. Follow the steering column to the firewall way down below. Now pull on the lever to change from low to high beams. You will see a steel rod move slightly up and down along the bottom side of the steering column. Locate this as you continue switching from low to high beams and back. You do not need the car to be on for this or your lights on either, this is just for you to locate the moving steel rod (about 1/4" DIA). If you follow this rod down to where it ends, it should look as though the end of the rod is inserted into a sleeve that is part of the switch box. If this rod has some how popped itself out of the sleeve, try using a pair of pliers to force it back into the sleeve so that switch box can switch the lights properly.

 

I did this to my fathers Lumina after some shop "fixed" his turning signals. Good Luck! i hope this works for you.

[Mr_Efficiency]

ok thanks I'll give that a try tommorow, i've had enough steering columns apart I know exactly the rod your talking about. It would make sence it being that to cause when i got the car the signal arm was screwed and I had to replace the piece in the column that the arm attaches to in order to turn the signals on and off. I was having this problem before I swaped out that part and i gave the switch a good once over and it was fine but i never thought of the other end of the arm.

thanks

 

[GnatGoSplat]

I found the fuses on the passenger side frame rail its the other box I'm looking for, and I dont think its the switch cause when i hit the high beam switch the low beams go off, but that still dosent rule out the switch as a suspect to the problem.

 

DASH not frame rail. Look at the glovebox, then look below it. That black plastic cover. Take that off and the electrical center with the lighting circuit breakers will be right there.

 

The switches on these cars go bad a lot especially at this age, so I agree with the others it's probably the switch.

Sometimes you can take them apart and clean the oxidation off the metal contacts and that'll fix it.

 

[Mr_Efficiency]

sorry I just heard "under the black plastic cover" and automatically assumed you were talking about the one on the pass frame rail under the other black cover. thanks I want to look into the fuses and such as well just to make me feel better about it and i know there all good.

 

[ManicMechanic]

 

Location of which Shawn is referring...In a Cutlass convertible...GP will be the same.

[Mr_Efficiency]

Got it figured out, turn out it was just the previous owner who for some reason screwed with the headlight wiring a lot... when i first got it the fog light switch was wired into a set of smashed aftermarket lights so i put that back, anyways I followed that metal rod to the highbeam switch and behind the switch was a big wad of electrical tape with a few wires hanging out of it, ugh.... I striped off all the tape and soldiered all the wires back to the way they should be and now everything works great.

I have no idea why you would cut your high beam wires in teh first place but ok.

[boulevard]

Got it figured out, turn out it was just the previous owner who for some reason screwed with the headlight wiring a lot... when i first got it the fog light switch was wired into a set of smashed aftermarket lights so i put that back, anyways I followed that metal rod to the highbeam switch and behind the switch was a big wad of electrical tape with a few wires hanging out of it, ugh.... I striped off all the tape and soldiered all the wires back to the way they should be and now everything works great.

I have no idea why you would cut your high beam wires in teh first place but ok.

 

Awesome! Good work! So my suggestions actually worked, well... some what.. ha ha! Glad you got it fixed!

[rockfangd]

not ot hijack but can someone tell me if the rear defroster timer is behind that same panel. because if i leave my rear defroster on it doesnt go off it just makes an aweful noise in the dash till i shut it off>>?

[ManicMechanic]

Yes, it is George.