High beams won't turn off
 

Hi all,
Had my truck ('99 4x4 5.9l SPORT) in the body shop to get the drivers side fender replaced. Now there's something weird going on with my headlights, the high beams won't turn off. When I turn on whats supposed to be the low beams the high beam dash indicator is partially lit up and I can definitely see that the high beams are on. When I turn the high beams on, the dash indicator is fully lit up like it's supposed to be, but the light intensity doesn't change, the fog lights only turn off. Can anyone less electrically challenged than I tell me whats going on and how to fix it? I'm sick of having other people flash their brights at me, and I've been pulled over twice so I need to get this fixed. It's been three weeks since the truck left the body shop so I doubt they will even look at it.

If your sure the body shpo caused it you oughta get on down there and make them mofos fix it. Tell them you didn't notice it until after getting pulled over or whatever. They probably pinched a wiring bundle or something putting it back together. If nothing else the shop manager needs to be made aware that you have paid his business to fix the fender without breaking other systems in the process and you are not happy about this. If it is a good business destined to survive he will make it right.

Too me the partially lighting up high beam indicator while it is set to low beams points to a wiring short somewhere. I say this since the other possibility is clearly the switch shorting out but switches normally fail opened not partially shorting. Also a wiring harness short seems more likely since the switch isn't on the fender but the harness is.

my 2 cents

thats a good point (and is probably the correct guess) but it may just be concidence too. i'd go over all the wires on the fender and going through the firewall with a fine toothed comb before taking it back to that shop. unless it started the first time you used the lights after you got it back, then i'd be right back up there wanting to talk to the owner.

Chances are you've got a loose or unreplaced chassis ground wire. It just so happens there's supposed to be a stud under the battery tray on the drivers inner fender where a bunch of 'em go. It's also partially hidden by the cruise control. Check there first.

I was thinking if you had a Canadian (or import) truck your daytime light module went poof, or the mechanics messed that up. Thats also on the drivers front fender behind the ABS stuff. The symptoms are very indicative of that. If you have a dlr, and can disconnect the wiring plug from the module, your symptoms will disappear and your lights will be fine. That module will be HOT, so be careful.

Any body shop worth its salt should warranty its work for more than three weeks. I'd take it back and have them check out.

I agree with all of the above.

All it takes is one wire crossed/cut to muck up the entire light system. Been there, done that.

yep...sounds right..

+1 on daylight running light and check the grounds. there's a big bundle of grounds under the dash on the drivers side fender. they might be loose.

Thanks for the help guys. I looked over everything and I didn't see anything wrong, but I don't really know what I'm looking for so the truck will be going back to the shop as soon as I get the time. The shop says they'll take a look at it for free. Thanks again

well if they'll look at it for free then that saves you a headache trying to find a split wire or loose connection/ground.

I just thought I'd update this in case anyone else ever has this problem. I ended up not going to the body shop again, I just didn't have time and it wasn't a priority.

Anyway, tonight I finally looked carefully at all the connections and it was painfully obvious what was wrong. When installing the drivers side light the mechanic switched around the high beam and the low beam plugs. It took me 30 seconds to switch them back and now everything is as good as new!

Why did I wait 3 months to do this...?