Hi, last weekend I was towing a trailer with partially working lighting for a friend, and halfway through the drive I noticed an electrical smell. Then my headlights began going out. When I touched/adjusted the lighting ****, they would come back on for 5-20 seconds. The next day, my headlights worked fine but I had no taillights/running lights/dash lighting. I did have brake lights, I did have hazards, and I did have brake lights, but all of the running lights and the dash lights were out. I checked all fuses, they all looked good.

Am I correct in assuming my headlight switch went bad, and the electrical smell was the switch failing?

 

Time to have a close look at the headlight switch.......

 

Headlight switch and/or the headlight switch connector.

If you've never replaced either, I'd order both and do them at the same time.

RwP

 

check the fuses. I had one that would blow all the time on my 96, calls for a 15A, one time I put a 30 in there because its what I had available (was on the road 100 mi from home and out of 15s) and started smelling something electrical under the dash.... left the trailer unplugged, put the 30 amp fuse back in to get me home, (no burning smell with trailer unplugged) and ran back roads with no trailer lights.... took "old US66" home that nite, instead of Interstate 55.... almost no other cars on the road and no cops either (whew)

I gotta rewire that trailer from scratch, once I get the engine back together for the Ariens garden tractor that I went to pick up that trip, (got the tractor just for the tiller mounted on back.....) was under the trailer last fall and the wiring was a corroded train wreck.

 

Quoted to make sure people read this.

 

The reason it was probably emphasized is the vernacular you're using. "Looks good" meaning you only checked them visually or you put a continuity meter on them?

 

I pulled them out and they weren't melted. I guess I can check with a meter tonight, but I've never heard of a fuse that didn't work that looked okay.

 

I pulled them out and they weren't melted. I guess I can check with a meter tonight, but I've never heard of a fuse that didn't work that looked okay.

 

Oh, young padewan, you have much to learn. *grins*

Yes, they can fail with a crack.

They can also oxidize at the contacts.

Best to do is to use a meter to test them.

Or, you know, they're cheap; replace them. (Use an ATO instead of the ATC style so you can later prod and verify 12V both sides when you suspect they're blown.)

RwP

 

It was the headlight switch. The fuses were all fine.