Auto headlights?

[Alex from GA]

They're staying on way too long even with the rheostat all the way down. Is there a fuse to disconnect them, or?

 

[DemonMudder]

Does your mirror have a slider on the bottom? Try unplugging it from behind if so, should fix that and make the headlights manually controlled from the switch on the left side of the dash

 

[Alex from GA]

Thanks, I just went outside and unplugged it. Now if I can find the headlight switch.

 

[DemonMudder]

Thanks, I just went outside and unplugged it. Now if I can find the headlight switch.

No problem! Should be on the left of the dash, should be a black dial with three positions, literal very far left by the drivers door, that one under the vent

 

[J_C]

If you unplug it then you lose the night auto-dimming feature, better to just pull the wire responsible for the headlights and leave the rest of the wires in the connector, plugged in. There is a topic in this forum where I mentioned which wire that is, or it'd be in the wiring diagrams linked in my sig below.

Another thing you can try is to gently heat that slider area with mild heat like a hair dryer, then move the slider back and forth several times to push old, hardened grease out of the way to improve conduction. If it weren't a mirror then I'd suggest spraying contact cleaner in but I don't know if that would mess up the mirror. If you can get it apart non-destructively then there is also the option of more targeted manual cleaning and bending a little more spring in the potentiometer wipers.

 

[Alex from GA]

Thanks Demon and JC. The finding the switch was an LOL. JC I didn't know the lights dimmed. They were aimed low when I acquired the truck that I run the high beams when I'm driving at night. BTW I very rarely drive at night, I'm old.

 

[J_C]

^ It's not the lights that dim, rather the elecrochromatic, windshield mounted rearview mirror, which darkens to reduce glare from other vehicles' headlights, but it has to have power on the wires for that to work.