Headlight issues

[Kelly from florida]

Hi all, been a min but i've got an electrical thing that i'm stumped on!
1986 Gen 1, Dodge Ram 50, automatic.

problem-headlights don't turn on.

-I can flash my lights (pulling the headlight switch towards me) all come on except for the farthest drivers side light. it's the socket not the bulb.

-tested relay- it reacts to power from column, haven't tested the switch on the column yet but if it trips the relay it should be fine right? do i need to clean connections or anything?

-With switch pulled towards driver, as tho they were being flashed I tested all with a meter, outside driver side doesn't seem to be getting power like the rest of them.
would this affect the rest of the lights when i try to turn it on like normal? there's some wear on the wires to that driver outside socket but i can't imagine that'd really do it.

-checked fuses in my panel and all are fine (which one is the headlight fuse btw!?? it's not even labeled)
-wiring harness under dash seems fine, unplugged it and replugged it.
-connection from the relay seems good also unplugged and replugged.

i've read some threads about headlights with some suggestions to check fuses, relay, switch.
anyone have any idea what the issue could be? why would it let me flash lights but not turn on?

Thanks!
-K

[SubGothius]

Headlight flash acts as a momentary switch on the high-beam circuit, not the low-beam.

Not sure if Gen1s use the same combination stalk cluster as Gen2s, but if so, I've got a similar issue where I need to hold the stalk pulled slightly towards me, but not enough to engage the flash, for the headlights to work at all. Pulled the combo cluster and disassembled enough to find the inward end of the stalk had a chunk broken out where it holds a spring in the end. That spring acts on a BB which engages the detents for high-beam, low-beam, and flash positions. With the chunk broken out, that spring has a bit of slop to it, leaving the stalk resting in-between low- and high-beam positions, so I have to hold it just-so to keep the low-beams on at all.

Driving around like that is a PITA of course, been meaning to take the cluster out again and see if I could attach a narrow metal strip to replace the missing plastic chunk and re-center the spring properly. I could just replace the cluster with one of those cheap Chinese ones listed for a Mitsubishi L200 on AliExpress, but this cluster is already one of those, and this failure occurred only a few months after I bought and installed it, so buying another might just be throwing good money after bad.

[Kelly from florida]

Update:
it was the switch! took it off and tried to clean some stuff. no dice. there were some loose ball bearings in there too and i had no idea where they actually went.
Found a replacement! who would have thought the only place i could buy one was autozone?! https://www.autozone.com/electrical-...250/233360_0_0
beware: the first time they sent it it was deff the wrong part and i was convinced it wouldn't work cuz it seems like an old link with shady photos. but the second one came from a different warehouse and was perfect!
Here are photos cuz photos always make posts better.
gen1 plug style (mines a 86 which seems to be a cusp year?)

here's the diagram i compiled from my manual:


here's it all apart:

here's the new switch fresh out of the box:

and my lights working as they're supposed to!

[geezer101]

Awesome! Any plans for a headlight upgrade now the switch assembly is doing it's thing?