Headlight on CJ problem.

I am rebuilding a 1980 CJ-7 that was used on a hunting club. I have replaced the headlight switch and all lights ie. park lights, signal, dash lights, ect. work except the headlights. There is a black wire that connects to the headlight switch module that goes no where. Any guidance on how to approach this problem. I replaced the headlights so that is eliminated. Thanks:

 

did you check the dimmer switch?

 

NO. Help me understand how to check it and how it may cause the headlights not to work. I had not considered that switch. Thanks!

 

That black wire could not be a ground, could it? Did you verify current at the lights??

 

your dimmer switch will have three wires plugging into it. One will be battery hot (from h-light sw.) Others will rotate on or off when you push dimmer sw. One for h-beam & other for L-beam.

 

I had a similar problem with the tail lights on my Jeep. Mine's an earlier model, so I'm not sure if this will work. Anyways look for the wiring harness coming out of the firewall and check the big plugs for dirt/corrosion. When I pulled my plugs apart all kinds of stuff fell out. Sprayed a little bit of electrical cleaner on them and good as new. That black wire should be a ground. Look for a good (preferably not painted) piece of metal like the dash or firewall, and bolt the wire to it. If none of that helps your best bet is to look for the wires connecting to the head lights. Pull your headlight switch out all the way and use a voltmeter to test the voltage on those wires (connected to the headlights). Hope I haven't overloaded ya with stuff. Best of luck to ya!

 

Well actually it could be. If you turn the headlight switch all the way CW(?) you will close a switch that will turn on the dome light if you have one or under dash lights if you have those. It does this by grounding one side of the circuit.

It's in parrallel with the door switches if you have them.

This is on the head light switch itself. Which has the dash lights dimmer. As opposed to the headlight dimmer that's on the floor.