[OB]

Seems that when I acquired my 85 4Runner it only had hi-beams. The low beams don't work at all, when it's in low beam mode I don't get anything except the standard parking lights. I tried swapping out boith lights thinking they were bad, no luck. Fuses are good. Any ideas?

 

[4Rocker]

OB- I have the same problem. Here's whatcha do. First check the relay- mines an '88 but should be the same. Relay is on passenger side behind the batt. You should have 12vdc coming out of the different contacts depending on Hi or Lo selected at the switch. Mine does. But still no Lo beams. This probably means that there is a bad ground for the Lo beams. According to the dude at a local Toy dealership I talked to there are separate ground for Hi and Lo. Just need to follow it back from the Headlight. Sounds easy enough. Sure is a pain in the ass to pull the lights though...
My company is shutting down for five weeks next month so I'll figure it out then. Letcha know how it goes. Until then- if you don't like Hi beams in your eyes, don't drive in front of me. I know that's hard not to do since I'm in a v6 4Runner...

 

[KLF]

I would suspect the switch in the column first. They tend to fail, the one in my pickup is messed up now, I just gotta swap it with the spare I have. Check eBay, they're on there all the time:

Combo switch on eBay

 

[webilt]

I'm with KLF;
My old 83 Toyota had the same problem,(no low beams), it turned out to be the contacts at the end of the turn signal lever,in the steering column, there is a set for high beams and for low beams, I was just able to clean them and got the low beams to work again,!

Good luck ,

 

[Arnold]

Roger Brown has a good article on this,

http://4crawler.cruiserpages.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml

 

[zags]

toyota high and low beams use a common ground at the light. (Only three prongs.) The high beam relay uses a seperate ground for the relay, but not the bulb. My '86 ended up being the switch on the colomn.

 

[4Rocker]

Maybe the toy mech was wrong- not the first time, eh? I tested mine and have 12 volts coming out of the relay whether I have it set to HI or LO. How do I get to the switch in the stalk?

 

[4CrawlR]

Maybe the toy mech was wrong- not the first time, eh? I tested mine and have 12 volts coming out of the relay whether I have it set to HI or LO. How do I get to the switch in the stalk?

You'll always have 12V out of the headlight relay, its run to the common connection between high and low beams. Its one side or the other (or both) that is grounded to make them light up. If you would read my page (link to which was posted above) you'll find the answer on how to open up the combo switch and fix the problem:

http://4crawler.cruiserpages.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml#Headlight_Combo

One further test to try is the "Flash" test, pull back on the combo switch lever to hit both igh and low beams. If that lights the lows, then its likely the main low beam contact, if not check the wiring as suggested below.

 

[Ishikawa]

I had the same symptoms with a slightly different outcome than I had previously heard about. I checked all of the above, and they were all ok. Upon further inspection, where the wires are soldered onto the switching mechanism.....the low beam wire had broken off. Broke out the solder gun and fixed it. Works like new now