Headlights not working

[93Stang5oh]

Brought my car home from my cousin's last night and discovered that my headlights are not working. Here's a little background. We had the dash out this winter to replace the heater core and thought we got everything put back in correctly. Well I discovered that we didn't have the plug pushed all the way into the switch. I fixed that but when I went to turn the lights on, only the parking lights come on. I got out my light tester and the the switch appears to be working correctly but I am not getting any juice to the socket. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Jkstang78]

Yes pull the head light switch back out and make sure all the wires are pushed all the way in to the connector. Sounds like a loose wire or maybe a bad switch

 

[93Stang5oh]

Yes pull the head light switch back out and make sure all the wires are pushed all the way in to the connector. Sounds like a loose wire or maybe a bad switch

I thought I tried that but I will try it again.

 

[Jkstang78]

I thought I tried that but I will try it again.

Well if you have a friend wit another mustang then swap light switches to see if it is te switch. You can also you a 12 volt tester to make sure your getting power to it. I was going to say blown fuse but you said you get parking lights.

 

[93Stang5oh]

Well if you have a friend wit another mustang then swap light switches to see if it is te switch. You can also you a 12 volt tester to make sure your getting power to it. I was going to say blown fuse but you said you get parking lights.

I can find another switch, my cousin has an 89, I can try his. But I tested the switch and I am getting juice to the switch. I did go back out and push all the wires in and no luck.

 

[HISSIN50]

Did you check the headlight fuse and/or links?

Look for 12 volts at the headlight-switch terminal egressing the switch and going to the MF switch (It's Red/yellow on my 88, for instance). This wire is not only prone to burning but likes to back out of its connector at the MF switch connector.

If you have power at this wire, the feed and Hdlt switch are fine. Look at the wire between the switches and the MF switch.

Good luck.

 

[93Stang5oh]

Did you check the headlight fuse and/or links?

Look for 12 volts at the headlight-switch terminal egressing the switch and going to the MF switch (It's Red/yellow on my 88, for instance). This wire is not only prone to burning but likes to back out of its connector at the MF switch connector.

If you have power at this wire, the feed and Hdlt switch are fine. Look at the wire between the switches and the MF switch.

Good luck.

I checked all the fuses and they are fine, I also checked the switch on the dash and it appears to be working as well. The MF switch that you are referring is this a different switch or are we talking about the same thing?

When I say that I have tested the switch this is the switch I am referring to.

 

[HISSIN50]

I checked all the fuses and they are fine, I also checked the switch on the dash and it appears to be working as well. The MF switch that you are referring is this a different switch or are we talking about the same thing?

When I say that I have tested the switch this is the switch I am referring to.

The MF switch is your turn signal switch. Because the lows and high beams are controlled with the Turn signal stalk, the power for the headlights passes through the switch.

If you find that you have power leaving the headlight switch but no headlights, I'd check the MF switch ins and outs. Additionally, if flash-to-pass also works, that really points to only the MF switch or the red/yellow wire being at fault.

 

[93Stang5oh]

Excuse my ignorance but when you say pass to flash, are you referring to pulling the turn signal towards you causing the headlights to flash? Also, I am assuming the MF switch is located on the steering column?

PS. Thank you for your help I really appreciate it and once again I apologize for my ignorance!

 

[93Stang5oh]

The flash to pass did not work the lights would not come on. The turn signals work, I didn't know which wires to test on the turn signal switch but I put the high beams on and couldn't get anything to light up other than the wire that has juice to it all the time.

 

[HISSIN50]

The MF switch is the turn signal switch. The turn signals are on one axis if you will, and the headlight stuff is on the other.

You got it about flash-to-pass (FTP in my shorthand). I'm not sure of the real name but when I lived in Germany, we used the crap out of that function (no passing on the right so you flash people a hundred times a minute).

With FTP, you are using a different power source to light the headlights. In other words, you could cut all of the wiring for the headlight switch out and the FTP would still work. By testing FTP, if the lights had come on, we'd have known your wiring from the MF switch to the lights was ok. Now we cant say that.

I would be testing wires at the MF switch at this point. You remove the column shroud covers and can see the connector. Unfortunately, I do not know any wiring colors or positions for a '93 (colors and the MF switch itself changed for airbag cars. I know the non-airbag cars only). Maybe Jrichker or Saleen0679 can be of assistance there.

Good luck.

 

[93Stang5oh]

You got it about flash-to-pass (FTP in my shorthand). I'm not sure of the real name but when I lived in Germany, we used the crap out of that function (no passing on the right so you flash people a hundred times a minute).

Good luck.

That's why I knew what you were talking about. I was stationed in Germany for 3 years and I know all about the flash and get the hell out of my way lights.

I have a friend that might have a brand new turn signal switch. I will swap that out and see if that corrects the problem. Once again thank you for your help. I will let you know what I find.

 

[93Stang5oh]

Ok I'm a moron! After robbing a MF switch off one of my buddies car I realized that I didn't have everything plugged into the switch. I plugged in all three plugs into the switch and now I have headlights.

I bet I don't do this again!

 

[HISSIN50]

Ausgezeichnet!

Glad to hear you got it whipped. I've found connectors that were left undone by the dealership itself, so it's not a biggie. And such a cheap fix at that (MF switches aint cheap).

 

[ki11er13]

really hope that someone will see this and respond. i have a 93gt and am having the same problem that i have heard many people talking about. i am however not having the flickering headlight problem. all my lights work except for my headlights. when i hold the flash to pass the lights come on but that is the only way they do. pulled the plug off the back of the headlight switch and it looks fine. it appears to be working fine and the red wire with the yellow stripe going over the to multifunction switch has 12 volts. bought a new multifunction switch and the problem still remains. the one thing that i did not read about after searching all the posts is that in the plug going into the MF switch the plastic was melted around the red wire with the black stripe which i have not hear mentioned before. i have only seen a post where the plug was melted at the red/yellow wire. i was wondering if someown could tell me what the wires in this plug do. i have a red/yellow , red/black, green/black, and blue/orange going from top to bottom on the plug. another thing that i did was take the pins out of the plastic plug and found something wired. when i hooked just the red/yellow wire up to the MF switch i got 12v at the pin just below it where the red/black wire goes but as soon as i hook up the red/black wired to the switch the voltage goes to zero. if i touch the red/yellow to red/black i get headlights but a good bit of heat is generated. as i mentioned it would be really helpful if someone could tell me how this wiring works and what each wire is for.

 

[ki11er13]

no one has any wiring diagrams that they can show me???

 

[Saleen0679]

 

[ki11er13]

ok, so by looking at the above diagram if i have power coming in at D on the multifunction switch but am not getting power coming out at B or C can i be sure that the multifunction switch is bad? also if i have a new switch i should be able to measure resistance with an ohm meter between D and C or D and B, depending on position of switch right?
and thanks for the diagram saleen!

 

[Saleen0679]

Correct. With 12v in at D you should have 12v at B in the High beam position or 12v at C in the Low beam position. If you want to double check you can pull the switch and take a meter to the terminals of your switch and watch for continuity between the terminals in the different switch positions.