Did a 1979 el come with high beems ?

Yes. Are yours not working?

About the same time I got my 79El [two weeks ago] I also got my first computer so as unfamiliar I am with the both I am more unfamiliar with the El camino.
It seems the 79El is having some lighting problems. As you know the high beems are a mystery. When I fistgot the El, the headlights themselves come on then turn off then on and off five or six times then stay on until I turn them off, I thought if that was the only problem then I was doing pretty well .
Then a couple nights ago I wanted to go to get a X-mas tree but the lights wouldn't turn on at all. And now I have no lights, and the front driverside turn signal stays on when the light switch is pulled on.

El Desperado

I'd say that you have a bad ground wire. Probably gets worse in cold weather when all the plastic shielding on the wire gets stiff and hard. Problem being is that ground could be anywhere on the truck. I'd look under the back around the tail lights first then under the dash and finally under the hood.

Lots of people over the years have modified the wires in the back to have a plug for a trailer so that is where I'd start. Then the next most common area for people to mess up is under the dash board adding a stereo or something like that. Finally it could be a broken wire or burnt wire under the hood somewhere.

Check, if you haven't already your fuses and if you locate no problems then swap out the switch on the dash/turn signal depending on where yours is. Could be the dimmer switch or the main switch. On my 80 the dimmer is the turn signal lever.

Not much help I know but its a start.

the turn signal indicator being on when you turn the lights on usually is caused by a bad ground in that side front light socket. The headlight switch has a thermocouple circuit breaker that opens when it overheats and resets after it cools so that is what is causing the on-off-on thing---just get a new switch from autozone or advance or somewhere should be about 15 bucks also the dimmer switch is on top of the column near the brake pedal-- it is connected to the multifunction lever by a rod that runs inside the column...............Dan

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