I thought I had a problem (I still might) with the high-beam/turn indicator stalk in the car, but before I tear up the steering column again, I noticed there were some threads also talking about issues with the relay under the hood.

Since that relay appears to be quite expensive, I had some questions before I decide which problem to throw money at first. My symptoms are this: The stalk controller only cycles the low-beam/high-beam some of the time. It tends to behave better when the car is first started. The longer I run with the headlights on, the less often the switch seems to work. Flash-to-pass or just switching to high beams is about the same -- it only works occasionally, and is more likely to work when everything is cold.

So now, the questions:

1) Is there an alternative relay part # that will work under the hood without me having to rewire the entire headlight circuit?
2) Which would you do first, swap the relay or look at the switch?
3) What kind of job am I in for if I decide to take the switch out and try to service it instead of just buying a new/reused stalk altogether?

Jess

 

I'd first clean and tighten all connections at the relay.

Plus....

The stalk switch closes a ground path to trigger the relay. At the base of the stalk you should see the ground contact....which should also be cleaned. You'll have to remove (at least) the lower column shroud. The picture shows the contact. I've seen a couple different styles of contact but it should be easily recognizable to you




Cheers
DD

 

Where is this relay you're mentioning? I have some high beam and driving light issues as well. Cleaning all the contacts seems the logical place to start.

'87 XJS coupe
'88 H&E parts car