Headlight fuse question ???

[DonGott]

My low beam headlights went out. My high beam lights work fine. I've been looking for the head light fuse and cannot find it anywhere. Can you guys help me with this? I've got an 01' Signature. Thanks in advance........

Don

[halfglass]

Don,
I dont beleive that there are any fuses in the headlight system.
I would check the bulbs first and then the dimmer switch.
Halfglass

[Mike Canter]

Normally headlights are on a automatic reseting circuit breaker. On a 2004 Sig it is located in the Front Electrical Box on the outiside under the driver. Mine is at the top of the box attached to a copper bus bar. I have three of these auto reseting circuit breaks there. I did find them all loose on a check when I first bought the Sig. I would have to look at my wiring diagram but I would guess there is also a relay in the circuit.

[DCTENT]

Sounds TOO Me like It's a dimmer switch problem

[DonGott]

My problem is a little more than just the low beam lights. What happened was I was driving last weekend at night and all of a sudden my driving lights and clearance lights went out. At the same time, my windshield wiper blades did one swipe and squirted once, my console lights went out and my air horn went off and would not stop.
Traffic on the highway thankfully pulled over and gave me the right of way and I was able to hit the feeder road and find a parking lot big enough to accomodate my bus and a trailer that I was towing. The airhorn finally stopped only after I turned the engine off and the air tank bled down.
Both of the solenoids in the fuse compartment were too hot to keep my fingers on and the wipers are still not working. I checked all of the fuses and they are good but nothing will go back to normal.
We never could get the lights to work so we slept in the parking lot that night and then moved on the following morning after the sun came up.
Any help with the trouble shooting would be appreciated.

Don

[Mike Canter]

Wow I bet that was scary. The air horn blasting was probably good in making all the other vehicles get out of your way.

Do you have a Smart Wheel for a steering wheel? On my '04 Sig everything that you mentioned is controlled by my Smart Wheel. For all the systems to go crazy like that is usually caused by one system losing its ground path and causing a backflow of voltage/current through the other systems. Since all systems seem to be back to normal except for the low beam headlights then that would be the system that probably caused the problem. Most likely if you can figure out why they don't work and fix it then everything will be back to normal. Do you have the wiring diagram book for your Sig?

Try this site Vehicle Improvement Products - High quality steering wheels

[DonGott]

Thanks for that website info and the recent input guys. Yes, it completely caught us off guard when it all happened. I do have a wiring diagram book and I did find the auto resetting headlight circut breaker. Just wondering if those ever go bad and have to be replaced? How about the solenoids in the front fuse box, they were so hot that night that you could not keep your fingers on them. Is that normal? Could one of them gone bad and caused the problem. Also, we were pulling a 30ft enclosed trailer that night which had a bunch of running lights ,etc., on it.........could that have over done my electrical system causing some of the problems? Thanks in advance again for any ideas on this issue................. I'm still looking at connections and wires...........

Don

[DonGott]

I read a little deeper into the Smartwheel troubleshooting guide........... that could be it. I will not be able to look at it until tomorrow. Thanks for the info ....

[DonGott]

Well, it looks like you were right Mike Canter. I went out to the bus this morning and followed the trouble shooting guidelines on the Smartwheel website and decided to put a new 10 amp fuse in the terminal to see what happens and the fuse blew, put another in and the circut board on the master controller started to smoke. I'm sure this is all a result from me plugging my brother-in-laws trailer into my bus. As the smartwheel website said,,,
" If the trailer lights were tapped directly into the coach lights, it is possible that the marker lamp circuit in the controller was overloaded. Trailer lights must be isolated from the coach lights with relays or some other form of isolation to prevent overloading coach circuits and also to prevent any problem with the trailer lights or wiring from affecting the coach lighting. If the controller is an SM203 thru SM210 it may have been damaged and need to be replaced. The SM211 and later models incorporate more advanced protection and should resume functioning when the overload is removed."
Now I need to find someone that sells this "Master controller" Any ideas? Or do I have to buy it straight from smartwheel?
Thanks again for everyones input.....

Don

[Mike Canter]

Don, I think you are stuck with buying from Smart Wheel

[wa8yxm]

There is either a fuse or breaker in the headlight system but.. Usually one fuse/breaker serves both low and high beams.

There is also the dimmer switch and there may be relays.. (I truly do not know if there are relays on your rig)

IF, and I stress IF your chassis is a Workhorse Gas fired rig (NOT diesel)

Open the hood.. Top dead center behind the hood is a big black box.. If you look you will see the cover latches on each side.. There are no markings on this box

Remove the cover (You only need fingers) and you may be enlightened.

Other chassis makers.. Can't help you. sorry.

[DonGott]

Well, I checked around and could not find anyone that carried the SmartWheel Master Controller. I called SmartWheel today and placed the order. The Master Controller is $178 plus shipping. They give you a 1 yr warranty on the controller. Thanks for all the help ..............

Don