Low Beams dead, Hi Beam Fine?

[crackedback]

Hey thanks for all the excellent troubleshooting ideas. This is a car that I picked up to try to interest my son in a father son project. He has now left and joined the US Marines so I am on my own trying to futz around with the Dart. I was hoping that it was not the bulkhead, because that thing is a gaggle of wires, all spray painted black (unknown why). I know a few of those terminals are melty looking , but that is a real old melt. A few years ago I did replace a couple of those Z terminal conectors, but tried to not mess with most of them. I wiggled them around and now the low beams work!!!! I have a bottle of DeOxit, I am thinking of spraying all the bulkhead bits. Might that help?? I do appreciate being taken to task by the elder members of this forum. Unfortunately I am a drummer by trade, which puts my IQ at a pretty low number.

Hey but you can count to 4, 8, 16 right.

Bulkhead is likely to trouble spot. Pretty common. Look at a schematic and find the terminal. Pull the female terminal in the cabin and make sure it is still in good shape tension wise for holding the male terminal. Heat will cause them to loose grip.

 

[Mattax]

Removing and cleaning and even repairing isn't that bard once you'r doing it.
Removing the connector engine side. question on the main harness plug on firewall

One of a couple discussions on cleaning here:

Cleaning bulkhead connectors

Want to clean the bulkhead connectors while motor is out I have elec spray cleaner but was wondering what ya'll use to get into the connectors and give them a good scrubbin

www.forabodiesonly.com

With the headlight relays, the original headlight terminal connections at the bulkhead don't carry much current but it still has to be OK.

 

[volaredon]

Every time I've seen brights with no dims, it's been the dimmer switch. On the floor or controlled by the turn signal lever, don't matter. Just my experience over the years, from someone whose never owned anything but a Chrysler product but have made my living working on all brands.

 

[ESP47]

People tend to forget how their minds worked when they first started wrenching and troubleshooting. It's easy to sit here as a seasoned veteran and give people troubleshooting advice that seems perfectly clear to you, but to a newer guy, it's almost like trying to read another language. Don't you remember a time when people would talk to you about cars and you had no idea what they were talking about?

Think about it. You need to know the concepts of how DC voltage and current work. Then you need to know how to use a volt meter or a test light correctly. Then you need to know how to read a schematic and make sense of how it's adapted to the actual physical location in the car. Then you need to be able to follow the wires through the car without getting lost. Then you need to know how to troubleshoot at each possible failure point. Not only that but you need to know what is the expected working or failed condition at each point that you're troubleshooting. This isn't information you can just download into your brain all at once.

Take a guy who doesn't have those skills yet and just wants his lights to come on and you've got guys yelling at him like he's either stupid or lazy because he's not doing the exact troubleshooting steps that you want him to do. Well maybe he doesn't understand how to do every single step you're telling him to do? One simple mistake can have you chasing your tail for hours.

It takes a lot more work to change a part out than it does to check real quick with a volt meter. Ever think that they're changing the part out because they don't understand how to do what you're telling them to do?

Seriously, cut people some slack once in a while. Maybe sometimes they just need a little more information. Information that seems like common sense to you with thousands of hours of experience might just be the information they need to have things click in their mind and open themselves to now being able to receive the information you're giving them and put it to use.