messed up headlights, search = no answers

[drifter sx]

i did search.. and it seems a lot of people had the same problem, but theres no definite answer. i tried the few suggestions people mad that had similar symptoms as me but none worked. heres what happened:

i never had any problems with my lights. about two weeks ago i was driving around, headlights worked regularly ALL day. i had a few errands to run at night [return videos, drop off a friend etc] and everytime i parked and shut off the car, the lights would go up and down as usual. then on my last errand, i turned off the lights and shut off the car. the lights turned off, but they hesitated for a few seconds, THEN went down. i thought it was wierd but didnt think anything of it. when i came back out, i turned them on, they went up.. no problem. i get home, park, shut off the lights and the car, the lights go out but the DONT go down!!! and theyve been stuck 'up' that way ever since.

the lights still turn on and off, i check ALL the fuses, wires, motors everything looks good. so WTF???

[marshun]

my friends 240 does that. im curious as to what is the remedy to this problem.

[Neejay]

Same here, except my passenger side goes up/down, but my driver side stays up.

[ogmike80]

The headlight switch in the steering column is usually the problem. I broke my switch apart and cleaned the contacts and then glued it back together. Been working great ever since.

The switch controls all headlight related relays.

[drifter sx]

interesting.. ill check it out. thx

[shawawini]

Try the relays under the intake box, there is one that controls the headlight motor going down.

[wangless]

hey ogmike80, how did you break the switch? just twisted it until it came apart? last time i did that i ended up with my headlights not working for about 2 weeks, had to wait for my new one to come in.

[ogmike80]

You can get to the contacts under the white plastic panel. It's held on with plastic rivits. It's no big deal if you can't get it back on--it's just a cover. Under it you should see what looks like a bunch of copper piano keys. Bend them up slightly and clean the contacts underneath them with a small flathead screwdriver.

Before you try this, you can unplug the switch and use some jumper wires on the harness. I can't remember which wires make the lights go down. Use a test light to find the main power and ground and then try jumping the power to each of the other individual wires. Worse case scenario is you blow the fuse. I can email you a wiring diagram of the switch if it will help.

[wangless]

hmmm... i thought you meant take apart the switch as in twist it apart... thats what i did last time and i didnt have my headlights working for about two weeks. the wiring diagram sounds good. email it to me at [email protected] and i hate checking the fuses for the headlight motors, there are to many... and theyre blocks that i dont know how to check

[Neejay]

ogmike80, can you email me the diagram too? [email protected] Thanks.

[hotshot240sx]

there should be a green wire behind your cluster that leads to your manual head light flip switch...its located on the left of the steering wheel near your cruise control. check that wire out...it should controll the headlights up and down motion...thats the one i tapped into to get my head lights to go CHINKY!