biffanyus Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Heres my problem. All my outer lights (Headlights, highbeams, taillights, blickers etc) dont all work right together on my 82 brat. My mechanic says that my headlight switch and-or my ignition switch might be bad becuase its not sending enough power to all the lights. You see, my 82 Brat front headlights has been switched to the quad-headlights like on the 83-87 brats. It has 2 headlights and 2 more seperate high beam lights. I believe, unless Im wrong, that the 82 Brats had only 2 headlights that would accomidate the headlights and also the highbeams. Will this be why when my lights are turned on that one of my turn signal lights just stays lit and wont blink and also my highbeams glow with little light in them. And when I turn my highbeams on, my tailights and rear plate lights shut off. These are the problems Im having. My question are, do I get an ignition switch and a headlight switch from an 83-87 brat and use them or do I replace the front lights with the 2 headlight configuration like the 82 brats were suppose to be? Please I need any help or answers. PLEASE!!! Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachbum Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 tommy i have no idea how to fix ur problem but i have a headlight switch out of an 80 gl wagon urs free if u can use it:drunk: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Has it worked in the past? What has changed since it last worked correctly? I would have a look at the changes that were made when the 82 light setup was swapped over to the 83+ quad setup. Most likely you will find your problem somewhere in that non-factory wireing that you have. I doubt your problem is the ignition switch because the 82 wireing allows the lights to be on without the ignition switch turned on at all. And I have never seen a headlight switch go out. I think it's very irresponsible of your mechanic to tell you these things could be wrong without checking into the problem more closely. Speculation isn't going to help on this one I'm afraid as your symptoms are too varied and disconnected to be diagnosed from a simple description of the problem. A multi-meter and a lot of patience is the only thing that's going to fix this one.... GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffanyus Posted July 26, 2004 Author Share Posted July 26, 2004 Well the quad style setup was like that when I bought it. All the lights would work fine except fo when my headlights were on the right rear turn signal would just stay on and it wouldnt blink when it was used. Well he, my mechanic, tried fixing this and know the front turn signal stays on and the highbeams light up a little. He did use a multi meter and started tearing into the light switch and ignition switch to try to see why its doing this. Maybe he isnt patient enough. Anyone else have any segestions?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craven Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Do you know if the r/r tail light rump roast. had been changed? I bought a nice 82 tail light rump roast. to replace the broken tail light on my 86 Brat. Plugged in just fine, but my Brat lights acked like yours. The lights plug in, but are wired different. I had to use the 86 fixture with the 82 lense. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffanyus Posted July 27, 2004 Author Share Posted July 27, 2004 Do you still have the 82 taillight assembley??? Maybe thats my problem. I dont know the history of my Brat. Ive only had it for about 8 months now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Tommy, you have one of two problems. Most likely a bad ground connection somewhere; if it worked before, a bad ground could make this happen now with all the strange symptoms that you now have. How to fix it? Re-wire the original headlamp connector to a set of relays....one relay for low beam and one for high beam. Wire the coil side of each relay to activate on high or low beam accordingly. Use the current carrying contacts on the relay to carry battery voltage directly from the battery to the high or low beam lights that you have now. Make sure there's a fuse in line with that powerline. If you search the board a bit I'm sure someone has posted a wiring diagram. I could mail you what you need but I'm not clever enough to put it into the computer and send it to you that way. Also, change the title of your original post to something more specific....like Headlamp problems with '82 Brat. You might get more looks and responses that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 What Ed said By using relays and new wiring to the headlights, and just using the stock wiring as the relay trigger, your lights will be much brighter..... I also had the issue of putting a later Brat tail light into the 82, so I went back to the 82 sockets with a newer lense too.... Tommy, you have one of two problems. Most likely a bad ground connection somewhere; if it worked before, a bad ground could make this happen now with all the strange symptoms that you now have. How to fix it? Re-wire the original headlamp connector to a set of relays....one relay for low beam and one for high beam. Wire the coil side of each relay to activate on high or low beam accordingly. Use the current carrying contacts on the relay to carry battery voltage directly from the battery to the high or low beam lights that you have now. Make sure there's a fuse in line with that powerline. If you search the board a bit I'm sure someone has posted a wiring diagram. I could mail you what you need but I'm not clever enough to put it into the computer and send it to you that way. Also, change the title of your original post to something more specific....like Headlamp problems with '82 Brat. You might get more looks and responses that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffanyus Posted August 2, 2004 Author Share Posted August 2, 2004 Hey Craven, Do you still have that 82 tailight assembly?? Maybe thats the problem Im having. Im willing to buy it from you and to see if oit might help. What side is it for? Please email me at tbag1331@yahoo.com . Thanks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 I agree with the others on the bad ground since you are having trouble with the turn signals also. To check this out you can place the common probe lead of the meter to the battery post ground. Then probe the suspected bad ground points with the lights on and the meter set to read volts. A faulty ground point will show some voltage drop across it while a good ground will have no voltage across it. I doubt the problem is in the light switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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