The red light that comes on when the headlights are turned on and they rotate up is staying on, even after the lights are fully up. Can anyone tell me where to look first to fix it? Thanks.
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Each headlight assembly has a small black plastic switch attached by a 3/8" (I think) nut to the housing linkage. I had a tough time identifying the switches before I knew what to look for.
The best way to find them may be to follow the black wires from the headlamp wiring harness, and see where they terminate at the headlamp assembly.
If your dash light remains on, either one (or both) switches have failed, or, one (or both) harness connectors have fallen off the switch.
The switches were about $25 each the last I knew.
Have you done any work in that area that may have dislodged a wire? Plugging the wire back on is an easy, inexpensive fix. -
Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Have someone gently lift up on each headlight independently and see if your red headlights not up goes out. Could be just an adjustment.Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Both headlights have to be up and locked simultaneously to turn out the light.Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
I am having the same problem with my 71, the lights pop up but the dash light stays on. Could the switch terminals have corrosion? I live in a high humidity environment. I am wondering if that is what was wrong with mine. My car set in the garage for a few years and when I was driving it the lights went off. Since I have taken it out and started driving the dash lights have stayed on. If it is not corrosion and they need adjustment. What book would show that best on how to adjust them. Thanks
KellyComment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Only book I have referenced is the Chassis Service Manual for your year of Corvette which is available from the NCRS store. The plastic switch containers for the headlights have rubber weather protected switch activated buttons. Find the switch, turn the headlights on and you can then look and see if the switch is making the required contact to turn off the red light on the guage panel. I had one of these plastic switches break one time, the main body from the part that goes into the metal frame holder, used some JB Weld to fix it. This was about 20 years ago, the repair worked and the original switch still works.Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
I agree with the other posts that it is probably one or both of the headlight position switches. Lay on the floor in front of the car and look up through the large openings at the headlight mechanism. You should see the switches - look for broken switches or the wires are disconnected. If they look ok then start with the ususal troubleshooting techniques - turn the headlights on with the engine off and depress both switches - if the light goes out then the switches are ok but one or both are misrigged. If the light does not go out then clean switch to connector contacts and try again. If that does not work then remove switches and test electrically to see which (or both) are bad. If the switches are ok but need to be rerigged the adjustment is relatively obvious and straightforward. My guess is that it is a bad switch(s) - they are readily available and cheap and fairly easy to install.Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
The switches can one still get them through GM parts? Are have they been discontinued from service? Thanks
KellyComment
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The Shark era micro switches...
have plastic bodies and are more suceptible to breaking than those on earlier C2 cars. For a while there were no service replacements for these and replacement switches were a *&^% to find. But, I think they're now available through the catalog houses (e.g. Paragon) at a reasonable price.
It's pretty easy to break an aged orignal by reaching up into the headlight mechanism and grabbing/pulling on the wrong surface to manually raise/lower the HL bucket. That's typically what makes a switch go 'south'...
Just like mid-year/C2 cars, it takes BOTH the RH and LH switches to actuate for the headlight warning lamp to extinguish. If you've got one microswitch that's 'history' expect the opposite side to be close to it in terms of longevity...Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Be careful when tightening the (plastic) switch, as it's easy to break. Ask me how I know.Comment
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Re: Headlight warning light on my 72
Well, thanks to all the advice, I was able to go right to my problem. The switch on the drivers side headlight has come apart. Unplugging it made the light on the dash go out. The pass. side seems alright.
I have removed the broken switch, and if I can't repair it, I guess I will have to go about finding a new one.
Thanks again for all the good information from each of you. It doubtless saved me a lot of time.
TomComment
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