no headlights in 96

Had this happen to my 87 Ranger.

If your concerned about the airbag, disconnect the battery for at least 5 minutes before you start any work.

you shouldnt have to pull the airbag, so as long as you dont cut or damage any YELLOW Jacketed wires, you should be fine.

You can discriminate if it's the Headlight switch or the multi function switch by seeing if your high beams work. If both lowbeams and high beams are out, then it's the switch. if only lowbeams are out, it's most likely the multi-function switch.

check with Autozone, or whoever. Autozone gets 25 for them in my area.(Headlight Switch) Multi-Function switch will be more.

I would do the switch myself. It's not terribly hard to remove the dash panel and get at it. Take it slow. Dont pry too hard on things. Plastic that's 13 years old can be brittle.

Good Luck.

This might sound a little dumb, but do any of you ever use the switch to turn your lights on anyway? I never use my switch since the lights are on all the time anyway.

Not all of them have auto headlights.

my 2000 xlt ranger does not
my 2004 xl Explorer does not



So. yes. I use my headlight switch quite a bit.


I take it this is a Canada truck?

jeepgirl said:

I never use my switch since the lights are on all the time anyway.

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I'm assuming you're talking about Autolamps, otherwise you'd have a dead battery If your headlights are just always on all by themselves when the car's on, then there's something wrong...

jeepgirl said:

This might sound a little dumb, but do any of you ever use the switch to turn your lights on anyway?

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Quite often in fact. Autolamps is great, but it doesn't know to turn the lights on when it's raining. Many places now require headlights to be on when it's raining. Construction zones too are places you may need to turn them on, depending on state laws.

MazdaGreg said:

Not all of them have auto headlights.

my 2000 xlt ranger does not
my 2004 xl Explorer does not



So. yes. I use my headlight switch quite a bit.


I take it this is a Canada truck?

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Nope. It was made in Louisville and I purchased it in Atlanta in 1998. I suppose it could have been made to be sold in Canada, but I don't know. Was the auto headlight feature only for Canada?
Also, does this auto function imply that something else could be causing the problem, or should I still focus on the two switches already mentioned?
Thanks for your input. I am feeling a little better about my ability to fix this problem.

Daytime Running Lamps are required on all new cars by Canadian Law. Just as we require airbags in our cars here in the US. Did you know you can buy a NEW Ranger in Mexico and it can/will come without Airbags?

DRL's are an OPTION on cars here in the USA....

Ryan

You need to understand.... there are two options.... one is DRL's which are always ON plus and AUTOLAMPS which turn on by themselves at certain "setable available light levels" (the sensor is in your mirror).

IF you are using DRL's, they are NOT any good for general night time driving as they use the brights at a "pulsed voltage level" to reduce brightness (60% IIRC)... so if that's all you are using (assuming that you don't have autolamps option), then you may be causing a safety issue for yourself.

Further, IF you have autolamps, there are others things involved besides the switch and fuse (ie. headlamp relay) to cause "non-functioning lighting".

budwich said:

You need to understand.... there are two options.... one is DRL's which are always ON plus and AUTOLAMPS which turn on by themselves at certain "setable available light levels" (the sensor is in your mirror).

IF you are using DRL's, they are NOT any good for general night time driving as they use the brights at a "pulsed voltage level" to reduce brightness (60% IIRC)... so if that's all you are using (assuming that you don't have autolamps option), then you may be causing a safety issue for yourself.

Further, IF you have autolamps, there are others things involved besides the switch and fuse (ie. headlamp relay) to cause "non-functioning lighting".

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Ok. It is now glaringly obvious that I have been confusing DRL's and auto lamps. Based on what you are saying, I have autolamps, which seems to componud my problem. I am guessing now that options are to check:
1) fuse, even though it isn't likely
2) see if high beams work, if so, check/replace multi-function switch
3) if no lights at all, it is the dash switch OR
4) it is possibly the relay.
Could someone enlighten me as to where the relay is?

BUDWICH, thanks for the clarification.

The relay is under the hood. It's in the black rectangular box by the master cylinder. It should be marked inside the cover. If not they are listed in the owners manual.

HOWEVER, before you go there or any where.... let's back up a bit. As Autolamps imply, they are "auto" BUT.... your lights should still function in manual mode (ie. switch). So if you are not getting any "switch stuff" happening, forget going after the auto stuff (for now). Next, how do you know that you don't have two burnt bulbs... people are pretty "notorious" for not knowing they have one burnt light and only figure things out when the other goes, leaving them in the dark. Check your bulbs. Lastly, do you have the "lights out module" (typically in an eddie bauer edition but in others)? The LOM does cause your problem.

Highs are not really related to the lows as they use seperate elements in the bulbs and also get different voltage sources. In addition, IF your lows came on "for a bit", that means you got "bulb" (most bulbs don't "heal" themselves). As you suspect, it appears that the MFS is a likely candidate based on your "playing around".

jeepgirl said:

This might sound a little dumb, but do any of you ever use the switch to turn your lights on anyway? I never use my switch since the lights are on all the time anyway.

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I used to use the auto lamps...I even took the mirror down and put some black tape over the light sensor so the lights would be on whenever i started it. But I stopped using because when I have to flash my lights at someone to aware them of a deer, state trooper, etc. i cant turn the lights off in auto mode and I dont want to have to hit the off button on the mirror (hit the mirror and now it will be crooked! LOL). Besides it doesnt take that much effort to turn a switch... :