Old Car High Beam Switch

It doesn t take long to restore fogged headlights and night visibility.

Old car high beam switch.

Dimmer switch built into the headlight switch. The dimmer switch is primarily used to switch between the high and low beam headlights however in many vehicles it also controls the vehicle s interior lights as well. I remember a 1978 mercedes 300d that my parents bought new being the first car i drove with the high beam control on the stalk. We see this more on cars with their headlight switch on the steering column.

In 1927 the dimmer switch was moved to the floor where it stayed for about 50 years until it was moved again to the steering column. The larger blue red wire from the other relay goes to the low beams. A temporary solution to this is to turn the high beams on and off quickly several times which could clean the contacts in the switch. Introduced the 2 filament headlight bulb.

If the high beams function but don t seem to light your way especially if you drive an older vehicle with polycarbonate headlight lenses your car may be a victim of headlight fogging this isn t simply scuffing but an actual chemical change from polycarbonate s exposure to solar ultraviolet. Up through the 80s. In most cases the failure of high or low beams is due to a relay or switch problem and the troubleshooting procedure is similar to the one outlined above. Some had other interesting things like foot operated windshield washers too.

My 1962 and 1949 cadillacs have the switch there as well and the 49 has a push button on the dash near the key for the starter. The high beam switch turn signal switch is malfunctioning the high beam indicator gets power directly from the wire that connects the high beam switch to the daytime lights module. My 1977 lincoln mark v had the high beam switch on the floor. The difference is that some vehicles have a separate relay just for the high beams and the high beam passing or dimmer switch may or may not be integrated into the headlight switch.

The larger blue white wire from one relay goes to the high beams. The original wires going to the low beams and to the high. That s 20 in the diagram.