Wiring Question

[spdy0001]

Hey guys, last night the headlight switch in my 91 starting acting up. Depending on how I played with it I could either get parking lights or headlights and no parking lights. I went out a bought a new switch and just put it in. What I noticed was that one of the terminals on the old switch was burnt and the connector in the harness was also semi-burnt and the plastic was melted. The insulator on the wire was also discolored. After replacing the switch all still works.

My question is could this have been caused by a faulty switch? or the way I have my off road lights wired up? My off road lights are not high power, just simple 55W x 2. I have the power for them tapped into the parking lights so that they can be turned on anytime the lights are on. They are wired with a proper wiring harness including a relay. Soo could this have put too much load on the switch, or was the switch just faulty after being 17 years old?

I forgot to add that the lights have been wired this way for almost 4 years with out problem

 

[rwenzing]

The first generation Explorer H/L switches wear out and can lose various functions after 10 years or so. They can also overheat and burn the connector. It sounds like all you added to the parking light circuit was the relatively small current required to power the relay coil. That may have hurried the death of the switch somewhat but it isn't likely that it caused it.

 

[Bill Kemp]

rwenzing is right-on. First gen X's have weak headlight switches. The switch is gonna go bad. Just a matter of time. The way you have your aux. lights wired is not a factor in the switch failure.

 

[spdy0001]

Thanks guys, now I will start using my lights again

 

[spdy0001]

Hey guys just thought I would take some pics today of the damaged connector and wire. I had no connectors like this to properly fix the wire. The good news was that the wire was still good, just the insulator was melted off, so I wrapped it with electrical tape.