Help with Hi beams on quad lights

[8t5Silverado]

When I turn on my high beams, it only "brightens" the upper headlights, the lowers are never on.

I can't remember which ones are supposed to be high beams and which are the normal headlights.

I can't think of what I did. Could I have gotten the wrong headlights? Is that even possible?

Maybe I screwed something up when fixing my tilt column, but that was some time ago...

[Prerunner1982]

the top are normal and the bottoms are highs.. atleast on my 82.

[8t5Silverado]

Anyone had a similar problem?

[bagged81]

On my 81, the top are low beams and then the bottom ones are high beams, but the top ones stay on too (at least the driver side does). So all four are on for high beam.

Here is my headlight problem. The top ones must be a double filament cause as stated above, the tops stay on for the high and low beam. Well, my pass side top light is on for the low beam, but goes out for the high beam. The driver side stays on for both.

[apstguy]

I switched the low beams to composite headlights and now everything is pucked. High beams stay in at full power or just dim when I hit the switch. Low beams stay on at full power or dim. I had to disconnect the lower high beams so now my truck only has high beam tops - low beam on the switch turns them into candles. I have to rewire everytihng and use relays.

[8t5Silverado]

So did I simply get double filament lights you think?

I will have to look...I am pretty sure I got the right ones, but anything is possible.

[bigblock73]

A guy named Clint informed me of a mod he did to his truck, and asked if I wanted to add it to my site...so I did.

Check it out...quad highbeams

[bagged81]

Originally posted by 8t5Silverado
So did I simply get double filament lights you think?

...or I could have gotten the wrong headlight, lol. I thought about changing from the sealed beam to the bulbed headlights for awhile but have never got around to it, but it sounds like headaches.

[Silveradoshorty]

Sounds like you may have your hi beams in the upper mounts and the low beams in the lower mounts which is backward. There are separate part numbers for lows and hi's. If your thinking of upgrading, I just installed the Sylvania Silverstar's and they are a vast improvment over normal halogens. Low beams were #H4656 and the hi's H4651. Good luck

[junkyardpartseeker]

My low beams work normal. They are the ones on top. When I turn on my high beams, my right signal on the dash comes on and stays on. The left side high beam comes on and the low beam stays on, but on the right side, the low beam goes out, the high beam doesn't come on, and the right fender marker light also goes out.

Tommy

[8t5Silverado]

Originally posted by Silveradoshorty
Sounds like you may have your hi beams in the upper mounts and the low beams in the lower mounts which is backward.

If that were the case, then my lowers would probably turn on at some point in time...they don't at all.

[8t5Silverado]

Can anyone help with this?

[mckpaul]

Wow, interesting thread. I have an 84. All the parking, running, and turnsignals work fine, inside and out. On low beam, the top headlights are on. When I switch to high beam, all four are on. I just assumed this is how it worked from the factory. So far I've only checked it by myself, switching from low to high and walking to the front and looking, so I don't know if the upper bulbs stay the same or get brighter when high beam is selected, but now I'm gonna have to check. I guess it's possible that a previous owner did a mod to make all four work on high.

I have an 85 shop manual at the house with wiring diagrams. I'll take a look and see what it's looking for in the low beam locations. I still have the owners manual in the glove box too. I'll take a look in there and see what replacement bulb it calls for. Will be interesting to see if it ends up being true low beams that stay on along with the highs, or if the top ones are actually low/high bulbs that go to high beam along with the ones on the bottom.

[72 CustomCamper]

Hey junkyardpartseeker sounds like you have a ground promlem...


Chuck

[1972C10]

On high beams all four of mine burn? As far as i know its supposed to be like that Its an 85.

[72 CustomCamper]

My neighbor's 81, dad's 84 and my 86 all have all 4 burning on high beam...

Chuck

[8t5Silverado]

Got it fixed.

All four of mine turn on.

A little electrical contact cleaner, new lights (didn't NEED them, but I replaced them anyway) dielectric grease, and a zip tie.

Here's the deal. The actual connector that plugs into the headlight will "wiggle" and lose the electrical contact (even with the dielectric grease on them). I tried bending the contacts to make it a tight fit, but they are still kind of loose, so I zip tied the wires in place behind the passenger side low beam...works so far.

[piecesparts]

For all that want to know, the early 80s trucks (quad headlight) the top is a DUAL filament bulb and it has a three pronged plug. The bottom is the highbeams and it has a two pronged plug. The top headlights on my truck are on with either the low beam or the high beam (that is why there is dual filaments in them). the bottom headlights come on when the high beams are selected and they are added to the highside of the upper bulbs. (All four are on) If you are having turn signal lights that are going out or the indicator is coming on when you select different line-ups on your headlights, THEN you have a grounding problem on one of the lights (any one light can do this). It is hunting for a ground source through your wiring system. It will usually take out the light that it uses as the ground source. A jumper wire and a probe can be used on ground circuits to find the bad wire and ground. A new wire can be spliced in and run to ground to cure this unsightly mess.

[88Jimmy4x4]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

A guy named Clint informed me of a mod he did to his truck, and asked if I wanted to add it to my site...so I did.

Check it out...quad highbeams

Thanks for the link, I have been wanting to do this to my 1990 burb and now I can this weekend
On my 85 they allready have all 4 on with high beams.