My headlights are not turning on, and it's not the switch.

Ok, so one night I was driving and my headlights worked fine. I stopped at the chinese place for dinner and when I came out I started the car, but my lights would not turn on. My first instinct was to check the fuses and relays and they appear to be fine. I went to my local Autozone and they sold me a circuit tester and told me to see if I was getting power to my headlights, or my headlight switch.

I tested the headlights and found there was no power, unless I pulled the turn signal handle back to activate the brights. Now as far as the switch itself, it has power going to it and when I activate the switch my Tail, Parking and Instrument Panel lights all turn on, but not my headlights.

My girlfriend's grandmother was talking about the ground cables, and a person at Autozone also mentioned another device which I'm guessing is in my steering column.

I know I've said a lot here, but I feel that the more information a person gives, the easier it is to diagnose what is going on. If anyone can help me it'd be great. I miss driving my truck and haven't for days because I'm mainly a night owl. And btw, it's a 94 XLT I forgot to mention. Anyway, any ideas are appreciated!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the lighting section.

 

[Dr.Manhattan]

Geeze I did not notice there were multiple forums. Sorry for posting in the new member thread. If there's a problem just transfer my post to the respective forum.

 

[Brandon96]

Had the same problems with my dad's 1500, except it was the tails that weren't working. I believe he tracked down the ground cables for the lighting to the firewall, cleaned them with brake cleaner and screwed them back in and it solved it.

It's a cheap try before you mess with the switch itself or the multifunction switch, which I assume the guy at Autozone mentioned to you? I'd go with the ground cables first.

 

[Dr.Manhattan]

I'd have to be a moron not to know what the firewall is, however out of all the wires inside of that thing, how do I figure out what the ground wires are? And is there a way I can have it tested at a place like Pep Boys, or Autozone to see if they can trace the issue?

 

[Brandon96]

I actually don't know too much about the Explorer's wiring harness, as to where grounding locations are and such... the firewall is just where the dodge's was... :\

 

[Bill Kemp]

A common problem on 94s is the headlight switch itself. There also can be a problem with the multifunction switch. That is the turn signal/high beam switch.
My best guess would headlight switch. You can check it by taking it out and looking at it.
A firewall is the back of the engine compartment / what the dashboard is connected to. It keeps fire out of the passenger compartment.

 

[Dr.Manhattan]

Found the ground wire. Unscrewed it, sprayed it and even it's nuts and bolts with brake cleaner. No good. As I've stated, it is not the switch as I'd already tried that, so now I guess all I can do is take apart the steering column. I guess it will be a good lesson anyway. There aren't any other fuses besides the one in the power distribution box that could affect this, right? :roll:

 

[Dr.Manhattan]

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ca...7-0&itemId=133-10&store=2939&productId=229097

Please tell me you're not talking about this. I may consider a junk yard to see if the prices are cheaper.

 

[Bill Kemp]

So. how do you know it's not the switch? Did you use a volt meter to be sure the power is going through the switch?