Been going through all the lights so I can pass inspection . In Mass every light on the car needs to work to pass. EVERY light! Of course all the marker lights and the licence plate light were out. Got em fixed without much drama. Had passenger side high beam out but all other headlights working fine. No big deal right. So first I cleaned up the contacts. Boom! Works fine... or so I thought. Now when I turn on the low beams all is good. Both low beams work fine. But when I turn on the high beams the drivers side low beam goes out while the other 3 work fine. Seems like all 4 don't want to work at the same time! My first thought was the high beam switch so I swapped it out for a new one. No change.
I recall that the outside bulbs are two filaments (a high and a low) and the inside one (a high). When you hit the high beams the high in all four are on and the low go off. I suspect your outer drive-side bulb has a bad high beam filament or bad contact.
Notice the the outside light has three posts on the connection and the high beam has two. As I recall its because the outside is a high and low beam. I'm thinking that bulb is bad and the low beam is off while the highs are on.
I have a replacement low beam. Ill check it out tomorrow and post.
And yup... inspected. No emissions just safety. Lights, tires, bearings, horn... blah blah blah. Not worst thing i suppose. What that drives me crazy is the lights. If the light is on the car it needs to work or you fail. You can rip it off and pass but if its on the car it must work. Ridiculous. But hey... it Massachusetts what can I say. At least the taxes are high!
Same in NY. What a pain in the rear. 3 classic cars, 2 motorcycles, 3 daily drivers, and a camper all get inspected every year. My buddy in Ohio thinks its funny. Some of the things on his classic cars have never worked since he got them.
My father in law, who I inherited the car from, had a long standing relationship with the auto shop so they basically rubber stamped the inspection every year. I replaced 4 wheel bearings, 4 tires, 4 marker lights, at least 2 headlights, two tail lights and a power steering pump on a car that had been inspected 6 months ago! Small price to pay I suppose.
Check the ground wire on the socket. See if it has a bad connection or a bad wire to the chassis. A bad ground will have you running in circles for days.
Sound like the drivers side Hi-Low beam lamp is bad, The low filament works but the high is burned out. The low beam in the Hi Low lamp doesn't stay on when you switch to high beam, it turns off and the Hi filament turns on. Try swapping the outside two headlights left to right, right to left to check, if the problem moves to the other side it's the sealed beam. Or just change the driver Hi Low sealed beam for a new one. Can't hurt to have a spare if it isn't the lamp.
Or it could be a corroded connector or a break in the Hi wire from the junction to the lamp. But since the passenger side didn't work until you cleaned it, then the drivers side quit it may indeed be a corrosion problem.
There is only one wire leaving the firewall junction block for all four Hi beams, black and green on a 68. It splits at a junction near the drivers side head lights.with a wire going to each of the drivers lights and one going across the the passenger side outer light. Another wire goes from the passenger outer light to the passenger inner light. A lot of places for a break or for corrosion on a car pushing 50