GriffinH
Newbie
1990 Chevy Silverado C1500
I made a post about this a little while back, I'm still having issues so I thought I'd ask again.
A few months ago I was driving home and my headlights were flickering, when I got home I turned the headlights off and I could smell burning wires and see smoke. When I got the dash bezel off I saw that my headlight switch had melted a little bit. It never blew a fuse, just melted the switch. So I bought a new headlight switch and it was fine for about a month, after a month the flickering began again. This time it was not melting the switch, the headlights were just flickering. I did a bunch of different tests along with asking a question in a thread on here. I checked the grounds, they were not the issue. I checked the headlight bulbs, they also were not the issue. None of my fuses had blown. I also replaced the dimmer switch for the brights, but that did not fix it. I also tested the alternator to see if it could be drawing too much power, the alternator was also not the problem. I made a little jumper wire so the power could bypass the switch going straight from the power wire to the headlight wire, in doing this, the headlights stayed on which led me to believe the new switch was this issue. After all, it is possible that I just got a faulty switch, so I returned the switch and got a replacement. I put the new switch in yesterday, without the dash bezel in, I would hold the switch up while plugged in and it would stay on, when I let it droop over the dash, the would flicker again. this led me to believe that something was wrong with the pigtail on the side of the wires where it plugs into the switch, it must not be getting a good connection. two of the prongs on the pigtail were a little loose so I put a tiny bit of insulating foam in it so they would not move. not necessarily a good fix but I did the job. this time when I plugged the headlights in, they stayed on and never flickered or turned off. I drove home with the brights on today just to make sure that they stayed on. the lights did stay on the entire way home, but when I got home, the switch and pigtail were hot to the touch. Imagine touching a black leather interior after the car has been sitting in the sun all day. it was about that hot. not melting point hot, but very hot.
That's my story, my question is if the switch should be getting this hot. if it should not be getting hot, then what could possibly be the issue. I feel like I have tested everything I possibly can and don't know what to do next.
Thanks in advance.
I made a post about this a little while back, I'm still having issues so I thought I'd ask again.
A few months ago I was driving home and my headlights were flickering, when I got home I turned the headlights off and I could smell burning wires and see smoke. When I got the dash bezel off I saw that my headlight switch had melted a little bit. It never blew a fuse, just melted the switch. So I bought a new headlight switch and it was fine for about a month, after a month the flickering began again. This time it was not melting the switch, the headlights were just flickering. I did a bunch of different tests along with asking a question in a thread on here. I checked the grounds, they were not the issue. I checked the headlight bulbs, they also were not the issue. None of my fuses had blown. I also replaced the dimmer switch for the brights, but that did not fix it. I also tested the alternator to see if it could be drawing too much power, the alternator was also not the problem. I made a little jumper wire so the power could bypass the switch going straight from the power wire to the headlight wire, in doing this, the headlights stayed on which led me to believe the new switch was this issue. After all, it is possible that I just got a faulty switch, so I returned the switch and got a replacement. I put the new switch in yesterday, without the dash bezel in, I would hold the switch up while plugged in and it would stay on, when I let it droop over the dash, the would flicker again. this led me to believe that something was wrong with the pigtail on the side of the wires where it plugs into the switch, it must not be getting a good connection. two of the prongs on the pigtail were a little loose so I put a tiny bit of insulating foam in it so they would not move. not necessarily a good fix but I did the job. this time when I plugged the headlights in, they stayed on and never flickered or turned off. I drove home with the brights on today just to make sure that they stayed on. the lights did stay on the entire way home, but when I got home, the switch and pigtail were hot to the touch. Imagine touching a black leather interior after the car has been sitting in the sun all day. it was about that hot. not melting point hot, but very hot.
That's my story, my question is if the switch should be getting this hot. if it should not be getting hot, then what could possibly be the issue. I feel like I have tested everything I possibly can and don't know what to do next.
Thanks in advance.
