Seriously. $120 for a headlight switch?
 

So the 97 Zj here went to turn on the lights on my way to buy time for the tracfone this morning and parking and fog lights work fine but no headlights.
If I pull in on the hibeam switch they do come on only as long as I hold the switch so I guess there is power to the switch.
In my initial assessment the consensus seems to be headlight switch.
Some said it's a cheap part..$16. NOT. The dang thing comes with the whole dash plate, fog button, and slide dimmer. I thought it would just be a little cluster behind the rotary dial but no.
$120+.00
Has anyone else experienced this, before I go pulling out the test meter and schematics, maybe has someone done open part surgery on the switch to save it?

its common for the solder to go bad on those things. mine was bad, flickering off and on so I pulled a good one from the JY. but before I installed it I pulled mine apart and re-soldered the connections and it tested good so I reinstalled it and its been fine since. I have the JY one as a spare.


its really easy to do. just pull the screws out from the back and there will be a circuit board. heat up your gun and hit each one of them. most of mine I never even applied solder, just remelted what was there to keep it clean.


you could also try ebay. before I picked up one from the JY I saw a few on there that claimed they tested good for about $30.

I'll probably do that, if not just to fix the flickering dash lights, but did that fix the headlights not coming on?

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo....182237&jsn=411

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/j...mp+switch,4472

rock auto has them listed from about 70$. still not cheap but way less than 120$.

if not do like said above and get one from the junkyard and/or resolder the connections

ya, everything was working as it should after resoldering. my lights did go off and on a couple of times (like a short) but it was mainly the dash that was flickering. its free to try or you can pick up a known good one and replace what you have. either way, post back what you did and the results.

The automatic lamp relay on the circuit board behind the glove box are getting weak on mine. Sometimes I don't have headlamps and either have to bang the glove box or rotate the lamp switch from automatic to manual.

At some point I will either need to clean the relay contacts, replace the relays or replace the automatic lamp circuit board.

I don't think you have a headlamp switch problem, I think you have a multifunction switch problem. You have power going through the headlamp switch and going to the multifunction switch. Dirty or burnt contacts in the MF switch will cause the issue you're having.

Hey! Dude! Too bad you don't need one for a WJ. I've got one in my garage on the other side of Syracuse you can have. Just come and get it. I can't remember if I changed the one in my ZJ or not. No...that was the dimmer switch and the old one was junk anyway.

I hate it when people say they have a short when it's really an open circuit. A short makes smoke! or blows fuses.

Only reason I lean to the headlamp switch, is because I saw a post where a guy said 'if you pull the multifunction to the high beam on position, and the lights come on, you have a headlamp switch problem."
So when I do that the headlights come on.

Thanks Dave, but I going to pull mine this morning and operate on it. I'll let you know.

Well, round 1 was a fail. Re soldered all the joints on the board, still the same problem. But if I pull the direction signal switch in, either with the car on or off, both lo and hi beams will come on every time.
One other thing, the auto lights never worked and still don't. Occasionally, if I left the switch in the auto light position and shut the car off and walked away, I would notice the headlights were still on. Don't know if thats related.
So back to the drawing board. A schematic would help.

Am now leaning toward the multifunction switch, or more likely, a burnt connector to the same, ...

Does the zj operate like the xj as far as all the headlight juice going through the headlight switch? Or is it a relay setup like everyone switches to with the putco or similar harness for the xj? And here is a place that might help you find your diagram.

http://www.morris4x4center.com/knowl...ex.htm#service

No the ZJ uses a relay in the fuseblock in the cabin, however, the main power does go through that multifunction switch.

***DISREGARD THIS POST AND SCHEMATIC IT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE 97 AND 98***THE WIRE LABELED '10GA RED' WAS TO BLAME BUT IS BLUE WITH RED STRIPE ON THE ACTUAL SCHEMATIC. ALSO YOU WILL NEED PIN NUMBERS OF THE CONNECTORS TO TROUBLESHOOT. SEE NEXT POST.

So I think this is a much better schematic
Since I have both hi and lo when I pull the dimmer (aka Flash to Pass), that tells me grounds are ok, the 25A cb in the headlight switch is ok, and there is little else it could be other than the dimmer switch in the multifunction switch has hung up or is otherwise OOO.

http://www.civilianjeep.info/Wiring/...86Lights01.gif