Exterior lights problem

This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands.....I break stuff.

I was installing a McKeen side flasher unit last night. At one point, while the marker lights were on, I removed a front blinker bulb. My young son decided that would be a good time to stick a screwdriver in the socket, promptly causing the marker lights to shut off.

So now the headlight switch does not work. No marker lights, no headlights. I have the DMCH updated headlight switch w/control box.

What I have tried:

New fuse for the DMCH control box.
New DMCH control box (had a spare)
All fuses behind passenger seat are good.

What still works:

Hazard lights
High beams with stalk switch
Blinkers (side markers are blinking too, so the McKeen unit is working)

I’m guessing it’s the headlight switch itself. Is there a way to test it?

Recheck the fuses in the fuse block. The marker lights have their own fuses. Not sure how the DMCH switch and box work but my guess is if there is a blown fuse it would mess it up. If it isn't fuses you will have to call DMCH and ask them how to troubleshoot this. You could have damaged the box or the switch itself but the fuses are supposed to protect them.

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Originally Posted by David T

Recheck the fuses in the fuse block. The marker lights have their own fuses. Not sure how the DMCH switch and box work but my guess is if there is a blown fuse it would mess it up. If it isn't fuses you will have to call DMCH and ask them how to troubleshoot this. You could have damaged the box or the switch itself but the fuses are supposed to protect them.

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Fuse #2 and #8 were changed, no joy. The control box was swapped for a new unit so I’m fairly certain it isn’t the problem. I also tried swapping the hazard switch with the headlight switch (using the same pins that the control box uses) and that didn’t go work either.


I’m going to check if I have power at the headlight switch plug.

Headlight switch plug has power.

Jumping the red/orange and brown /blue wires gives me marker lights.

I can jump the plug and make the headlights come on, so I guess it’s a switch and/or control box problem.

A new fuse for the control box fixed the problem. The original fuse must have blown, and the spare I had replaced it with during troubleshooting was apparently faulty right out of the box. Out of desperation I put another fuse in and everything works.

This is a good example of new parts not necessarily being free of blame when it comes to troubleshooting.

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Originally Posted by CFI

A new fuse for the control box fixed the problem. The original fuse must have blown, and the spare I had replaced it with during troubleshooting was apparently faulty right out of the box. Out of desperation I put another fuse in and everything works.

This is a good example of new parts not necessarily being free of blame when it comes to troubleshooting.

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Hope you had a good laugh with your son on this!

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Originally Posted by iflights

Hope you had a good laugh with your son on this!

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Sort of:)

He’s not the type to do that either, so I was really surprised. He just wanted to help. Anyway, serves me right for not disconnecting the battery before working on electrical stuff.

I put a big ole battery cut off switch behind the passenger seat just for that sort of occasion. I got a 5 year old son that loves to help his dad "fix the DeLorean" (He hums the back to the future theme song constantly while he's in the car and makes sure to turn on our flux capacitor)

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Originally Posted by TheStoot

I put a big ole battery cut off switch behind the passenger seat just for that sort of occasion. I got a 5 year old son that loves to help his dad "fix the DeLorean" (He hums the back to the future theme song constantly while he's in the car and makes sure to turn on our flux capacitor)

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Nice! Fortunately the previous owner was kind enough to install a battery cutoff for me. But, since my car has no electrical drains, and it’s a daily driver, it isn’t needed. So I get lazy when it comes to using it.