Headlights wont turn on | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Headlights wont turn on

BlitzBurgh87

Member
Joined
August 18, 2008
Messages
34
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City, State
Buchanan, VA
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 Explorer Sport
The headlights refuse to turn on. Also the only way the high beams will work is if i hold the lever in. They wont work unless i hold it. I have replaced the headlight switch and tried multiple things and still nothing. Any help and i would greatly appreciate it.
 



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this may be a dumb question but where is the headlight relay? i have checked the fuse...the headlights last week were working but i had to fiddle with the high beams for them to switch on...now they refuse to come on.
 






there is no headlamp relay unless you have the autolamps option... BUT, there are lots of posts on this.... your MFS switch on your column is bad.
 
























alright if its the MFS what do i do to fix it? I just went out and took it off and looked at the little prongs and messed with it and it didnt do anything. the other thing is how does that affect the headlights if i can turn on the parking lights when that thing isnt even connected?
 






caaaauuuuuseeeee, your park lamps don't go thru there... :) they go thru a park lamp relay.... which is obviously working. Some people have had "success" fixing their MFS but most just replace it. YMMV
 






Heh, I'm having this same issue with mine. 1997 Explorer EB Limited with a bunch of extras. It has a dimmer on the rear view mirror, it doesn't turn all the way off. When I slide the switch all the way to the right, it flickers and turns on and off. Almost like it's just constantly on, my lights were flickering in the car wash, lol. But yea, all my lights work but the headlights will not turn on. MFS or something else?
 






If you have AUTO Lights option then you probaly have a problem with the LOM small circuit board inside the center consol on the right side it will do all kinds of weird things with the headlights,it is possiable to repair if the board is not too damaged do a search on LOM
 






If you have AUTO Lights option then you probaly have a problem with the LOM small circuit board inside the center consol on the right side it will do all kinds of weird things with the headlights,it is possiable to repair if the board is not too damaged do a search on LOM

Yea I actually took the LOM out yesterday and discovered 6 bad solder points. I re-soldered them and all is fine....for now. The headlights seem to not want to turn off unless I move the slider on the rear view mirror all the way to the left. So I guess I"ll be looking into that here soon. This forum and the members and and all the info really makes things so much easier. Thanks explorerforum.com!
 






Yea I actually took the LOM out yesterday and discovered 6 bad solder points. I re-soldered them and all is fine....for now. The headlights seem to not want to turn off unless I move the slider on the rear view mirror all the way to the left. So I guess I"ll be looking into that here soon. This forum and the members and and all the info really makes things so much easier. Thanks explorerforum.com!

The slider on the rear view mirror controls the lenght of delay the headlights stay on after you turn vehicle off. Are you saying that the headlights never go out unless that is all the way left??
 






The slider on the rear view mirror controls the lenght of delay the headlights stay on after you turn vehicle off. Are you saying that the headlights never go out unless that is all the way left??

Actually no, I left them on the other night to see if they would turn off, and they did. Took a minute or 2 but they did shut off. I have the lever all the way to the left (drivers side) but like I said they do turn off after a minute or 2. It seems like when I do move the slider it shuts them off, but it feels like there's a switch that maybe isn't staying off. Is there an actual on / off switch or is that just how they are?
 






Actually no, I left them on the other night to see if they would turn off, and they did. Took a minute or 2 but they did shut off. I have the lever all the way to the left (drivers side) but like I said they do turn off after a minute or 2. It seems like when I do move the slider it shuts them off, but it feels like there's a switch that maybe isn't staying off. Is there an actual on / off switch or is that just how they are?

On mine, if you move the slide switch all the way to the left side it will turn off the autolights completely. According to the owners manual, there were two versions of autolamp - the other one had an on/off button on the mirror.

You can turn the headlights on/off with the switch on the lower left of the IP, but turning this switch on disables the autolamp feature.
 






I have a 1997 Ford ranger. The high beams all of a sudden stopped working. The low beams work just fine. I have replaced the bulbs, relay, checked fuses, replaced the MFS, dimmer, and switch that turns lights on and my high beams still won't work. Any suggestions as to why they still won't work?
 






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