Chrysler Repair: Headlights wont turn off: 93 van, amp circuit breaker, headlamp switch

Question
My 1993 Chrysler Town & Country Headlights stay on all the time. the only way to get them out is to remove the battery.
any help would be appreciated.

                  Thanking You
                        Ed

Answer
Hi Ed,
The headlamp circuit on your van consists of a lead from the battery to a 25-amp circuit breaker and then to both circuits of a relay which when activated sends the current to the hi-lo dimmer switch which then light the lamps you have selected. The relay is activated by the headlamp switch grounding the activation coil of the relay. The reason the headlamps won't turn off is either that the relay is stuck closed (contact points stuck together) or the headlamp switch section that operates when you select for the headlamps is shorted to ground in all of its positions.
The way to check which is the cause would be to find the relay and test it. It is located in the 'relay block' which is, I believe, mounted on the inside of the driver's side cowl panel (the area just in front of the door opening and under the dash). The block has 3 columns of modules (4,4, and 3) and the head lamp relay is the top one in the rearmost column of 4 relays. If you pull the relay out, check whether there is conductivity between the top pin and the bottom pin of the relay (which there should not be). If there is continuity (0 ohms) then the relay is defective. If you find the relay contacts are not closed, then check whether the frontmost pin socket into which the relay fits is grounded (0 ohms resistance between it and a shiny metal structural piece of the body nearby, which there shouldn't be until you turn on the headlamp switch). If it is grounded then the wire to the switch or the switch itself is defective.
So check that out and let me know what you find. You should probably pull the 25 amp circuit breaker which is in the bottommost position of the middle column of 4 modules in the relay block. That way you won't be dealing with any live wires direct from the battery. That circuit breaker would be another way to turn off the headlamps until you can check this out. Just remove it from the relay block.
Roland