loligator

Hello all,

For some time, my headlights wouldn't turn on unless I pulled the control shaft pretty hard. Eventually, this stopped working and my head lights wouldn't come on at all. The parking lights also stopped working at the same time. I assumed the switch completely died. Time to replace it! I replaced the switch and am now experiencing the following behavior:

If I pull the switch to the first notch where it should turn on the parking lights and tail lights, no lights come on and the buzzer doesn't work. If I pull it to the second notch that turns on the headlights, the head lights come on but still no parking or tail lights or buzzer.

If I pull the switch about half way between off and where the parking lights, tail lights, and buzzer should turn on, the parking lights, tail lights, and buzzer turn on!

This had me thinking the new switch must be bad. I returned it, went to a different parts store and bought a new switch (as well as a different brand switch), and the same behavior occurs.

Ugh, any ideas? Is it possible something is wrong with the control shaft?

Pelican

Was the connector in good condition when you unplugged the old switch to replace it?


The plug on my '85 partially melted once years ago when it sat for a long time with the buzzer going.

loligator

I didn't closely exam it but from what I saw, all looked good. The new switches were both a pain the plug in but they felt as if they seated fine. Do you remember what the connector looked like? Was it obvious it started melting?

It's such a tight spot I can't even imagine having to cut out and wire in a new connector. What a headache.

Turbo X_J

Not my pic

loligator

Thanks for the pic of the burned up harness. Thankfully mine does not look like that. I did resolve the issue. It ended up being the radio fuse. According to a thread I found I think on cherokeetalk forums, a lot of the dash stuff runs through the headlight switch on 93-95 models, so it's possible a blown fuse for something other than the headlamps will make it not function correctly. In my case, the radio fuse blew (although the radio was still working). Once replaced, the head lights came on without issue.