Hey guys, its been awhile since i had a chance to get around to these parts. Ive been soo busy with my last semester of college and working 50+ miles away from school. Anyway i noticed something really strage today when i was in my schools parking garage, and it must have just happened since I have never had any symptoms of it and i drove last night and it was fine.

I have a '95 Ranger, see sig.. When I flip my switch (3 position) The first one is my "parking lights (orange) and they work, when i go to the next click, which should be my headlights, all i get are the orange one still... If i hit the high beams they go on fine, but when i back off that switch they go off, as they should. So i've deducted that is has to be something wrong with my low beams, i dont think they would burn out, especially since they both are out and that would be sooo rare that they would both go together.

I checked what i could with fuses, right when you open the drivers door, they all look fine. Im also frantically looking for my owners manual so I dont have a diagram of what is where, they just all look fine when i took a light to them all.

Any suggestion as to what might be causing this.. It sucks because tomorrow night i have night class and i need to either fix it before then or borrow someone's car.. (im not that mean to drive with the hi's the whole time ) The more i look around the net for answers the more im seeing, not specifically with my year, but that the low beams (each light) are on a seperate fuse and the hi's share a fuse, is this so? If so what fuses would i check in a 1995 ranger. Sucks that i dont have the manual, but i found a link (www.fleet.ford.com) that has PDF'd manuals, back to 1996!! one year shy

any comments or suggestions are welcome..

Thanks

 

95 huh? well 95-99 all the same. 4- 15 amp left headlight,,,8-15 amp right headlight/ fog lamp system. They go left to right like a book on your fuse pannel.

 

i would check the bulb just in case

 

give the housing a medium whack and if it flickers it probably the bulb or the wires. But givin it a good thud IS a good diagnostic step.

 

i have come to a new realization at about 11:30 p.m. my time

Not exactly sure how best to explain this other than the following, but try and follow along and see what you think.

When i turn on my parking lights they are the same as above. Now i shut them off and turn on my flasher's (hazzard) lights, only the right one blinks. If i then flash my hi beams, they both start to flash, until i shut them off, then i have to do the same thing over again. Saying i have everything off, both of my turn signal's work fine, but the problem of not having my low beam headlights still exists.

Thudding didn't help thus far.. I find that problem strange, especially since when i go one click past the orange lights, where i should normally have my regular headlights i still have the orange ones.. should i?

 

Its your multifunction switch.
Your blinker/ hazards/ wipers/ highbeams. That whole arm on the left of your steering wheel.

See if it is "Touchy" by holding the blinker SLIGHTLY one way or the other and see if anything strange hapens. I can almost gaurantee this is your problem.

 

it could also be a bad ground.

 

If the ground melted: when the high beams were on while flashing the fuse would blow for whatever it melted to and or, smoke and fire.
If it was a bad ground it would flicker over bumps, be dim, or just not work at all. this can be caused by oxidation, broken or loose connection.
I have replaced my share of MFSs. All signs point to it. Plus it's common. they wear uot and

 

Yeah I had the same problem with mine. The connector on the back of the switch was burned. I had to replace the connector and the switch.

 

would this be a somewhat simple repair, or am a better going to a shop and either buying the part (how much do they usually go for?) and giving it to them, or just taking it there and telling them my symptoms?

I also think that it may be that wiper/blinker thing because sometimes when i put my blinker on, it goes real fast for a second, then evens out.. And my timings for wiper delays arent all that accurate

 

well to get at it you have to remove the gauge cluster and its pannel as well as the radio bezel and lower dash pannel and bracket. Then you need to remove the column cover. Then you can get to it. I "think" they arrent cheap but i could be wrong. My ESTIMATE is between {$40 and $120} some where in there.

 

well i just thought i would give you guys an update.. sorta disappointed in myself too

I had to go places early this morning, so i called the local shop and asked them if they could get my car in around 6:45AM so i dropped it off around 7 and went to class and did my stuff, they called around 12 and told me it was done.

When i got back from class i went over with a friend to pick up my car and i was like so was the switch bad, the one guy said that he was gonna order a switch because thats usually what they do considering how they both went like that and no fuses were blown... but for whatever reason he just checked the light bulbs, which i did yesterday, i thought.. maybe since it was dark i just didnt see.. But he told me that both the low beam bulbs were blown, i was like why would they go simultaneously, i didnt ever suspect them, because they dont usually go in pairs. So i ended up forking out $50 for two new headlights and to have them spend (probably 5 minutes) installing them ARG!!! sorta makes me mad i didnt do it myself, im sure i could have done it for around $10

so lesson learned, i guess...

 

I had a similar problem today. Low beam on pass side did not work, so thinking it needed a new bulb, I picked one up and put it in. Still had the same problem so I whipped out the manual and low and behold, separate fuses for left and right headlights and the highbeam would work but the low beam would not, replaced the fuse and it worked like a champ. Put the old bulb back in and it worked as well, so I have packed the new bulb up for a rainy day. Check your fuses before buying a new bulb!

 

I once spent 2 hours troubleshooting a helicopter instrument light issue. After I had worked all through the system and found nothing, I finally checked the lamps and found that all 14 light bulbs were burned out.

I made a similar assumption like you, that they all couldn't go out at the same time.... felt a little silly about that one.

Now I check lamps using a meter, just because they look intact doesn't mean they are.

 

You more than likely had one low beam out for awhile, but did not realize it. Then the other blew, and now you "saw" it because you had no light at all during the low beam function.

Most folks these days do not do a "visual" inspection of their lights like they should. Once every two or three weeks, I do a walk around and check the operation of the lights.

keep this in mind; the low/hi beam bulbs were most likely the same age, so when one blew, the other was not far behind. Always change bulbs in pairs.

 

I recently changed my stereo unit and wired it myself and ran into this problem, after alot of struggle to find the problem i now conclude to this being the problem, and you would need to check your wiring diagram if this was the cause of installing a new stereo unit