headlight switch shorted out! how to find the problem???

[mikeith]

ok the other night i was driving around in my 73 and someone pointed out that my running/taillights werent working, but headlights, brakelights, and turn signals were.... i figure not big deal i'll mess with it later.

well i pull out and realise my brights were on and pull the switch for the lever for the high/lows and i hear a pop. then realise i have no headlights....

i get parked and check fuses... they're good so i reach under the console and squeeze each of the terminals and then the gauge and running lights come on but still no headlights.

i take the back roads home and once i get home i take the column cover off and then ALL lights go out except blinkers and brake lights (which is normal)

upon looking over everything i notice that the thick gauged white wire w/ the red line on the headlight switch had apperently melted the soldering and popped loose(i came to this conclucsion by touching it back to where it was supposed to be soldered and it immediately got really hot then stopped all of a sudden as if it shorted out)

 

my first question is if that thick gauged white/red wire is supposed to be spliced into the main dash harness directly(because it was) and there is a thick gauged red one that is done the same way.

ignore the last sentence in the picture... its the wire on the right not the left(right behind the one that melted loose)

 

also the 9 pin plug that does actually plug the headlight switch to the main wiring harness melted the corner when it shorted out (the green wire w/ white line)

 

does this sound like it is the switch itself that is bad or the dash harness itself? how SPECIFICALLY do i tell if it is the dash harness... once i unplugged the switch everything was ok but if i plug it in the green/white wire gets hot.

 

i dont want to plug in a new headlight switch if its going to immediately short out

 

 

Modified by mikeith at 6:14 PM 6/8/2009