Headlight problems Options

[mburkhart]

My headlights have a bad habit of going dark randomly. When I pull out the headlight switch, the lights will pop up - sometimes taking a second or two. The lights may or may not turn on. If the lights turn on, after a few seconds or minutes they will go out. Turning on the high beams will sometimes get the lights back on. Sometimes they come back on themselves after a few minutes or seconds. Repeat.

Any ideas? If your answer is a bad ground, please tell me where I can find the grounds related to the headlights!

[mburkhart]

I took apart my other switch and put the good parts into the first one. Re-installed and now the headlights work perfectly. I also did the "fog light hack" so that my fog lights will work even when my headlights are off. This will give me some extra protection if the headlights ever go out again while I'm driving in the dark.

If I have any other issues I will look into the hi/lo relay.

[aexe]

I would love some advice on a similar problem to this on my 74 1.8. My headlights simply failed to go up and turn on one day last week. After some troubleshooting and struggle, they magically just came on and I was able to get home. I truly don't think I did anything but get lucky. Once during the drive they went out for a second or two. Now they do not work at all, won't come up and no lights on. All the other lights (parking/marker/etc.) do work when the switch is pulled. I have swapped to a backup headlight switch and have the same result, as well as rebuilt the original switch with no change in behavior. I have followed the testing sequence described on the Pelican site (https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_headlamp_motor/914_headlamp_motor.htm) and have had no luck.

After much troubleshooting and testing on the switch and studying the wiring diagram, I have narrowed down what I think might be the issue and this is where I'd like some opinions. On the headlight switch, power (12v) comes in on pin 30 via fuse S10 and then when the switch is turned off, runs to pin 30B which actuates the retract function. Power also comes in on pin 15, straight from the ignition switch, unfused, as far as I can tell from the diagram. I have NO power on pin 15. I DO have power on pin 30, and if I take the lead from pin 30 and touch pin 56k (headlight extend function, normally powered via pin 15), the headlights go up and light up. They stay lit up until I remove the lead from pin 30 touching 56k, then the lights go off but the lights stay up in the extended position. I can replace the lead to pin 30, and then turn the switch off and the lights retract as normal.

Basically, there is separate power for extend (pin 15) and for retract (pin 30). I have no power at pin 15 which is straight off the ignition switch. So my long-winded question is, does it seem likely that the ignition switch could be at fault here? I have never had a ignition switch fail in this way, and i've been through 3 or more. This is all I can think of and the diagram seems to follow as pin 15 is fed straight off the ignition switch on lead X. Is my logic solid? Thanks for any input.