no running lights

[cuda hunter]

Ok, not an E body, but an A body.

I fixed the headlight issue a little while back as a wire had burnt next to the bulk head.  Not sure why it burnt but it had.  I replaced the headlight switch and cleaned up the brights switch.  All the wires looked fine.

Now that I got the thing to run right, suddenly I have no running lights in the front.  No running lights in the rear, no brake lights,no halos.
blinkers still work in the front and rear. 
I can't find any burnt up wires.  I didnt' replace fuses but they all look fine.  There's only 6 anyway.  My ground up front the goes to the front light harness looks good. I checked with a multi meter on the four wires that go to the front lights and I don't appear to have any current. 
I'm sure it's something simple, but I simply can't find it.  maybe the switch is bad, even though it worked for about 50 miles? 

Guess my next check is to figure out which wire leaves the headlight switch and goes to the running lights and see if I am getting current directly out of the switch. 

would the brights switch have any control over the brake lights, park lamps and halo's? 

[Chryco Psycho]

I would start tracing power at the headlight switch , none of the running light circuit goes through the turn signal  .
the high beam floor switch only affects the headlights not the running lights .
my bet is either a bad light switch or connection there or at the bulkhead plug

[cuda hunter]

Ok, I"m kind pissed now.

I did not mess with anything in the engine bay this time. 
I got under the dash and started just touching things with my multimeter.
running lights not working.  I had two wires on the headlight switch that would show 12v when nothing was turned on. 
A black and a double pink wire(both go in the same spot). 

Then after checking fuses for V's and multiple wires hanging around suddenly the running lights worked.  And now I have different readings on the headlight switch than I did when I started.  I literally did nothing but poke and prod the headlight switch.
I've now repeatedly tried pulling and tugging on every wire under the dash to get the thing to repeat what was going on so that I can find a lose wire or a bad connection.  Nothing works now to make the running lights go off. 

This is why electrical drives me nuts.   So, would you think that  my headlight switch is faulty?   

[cuda hunter]

Well I figure I'll just replace the headlight switch and see if it does it again.

The ballast gets so hot I can't touch it.  Is that normal?  That's with only using the running lights.  I don't remember the old one I had getting that hot.  It was all rusty and crusty but still worked for some time. 

[Chryco Psycho]

I would change the switch , it could be faulty .

[cuda hunter]

changed switch.  Still not working.  This car is driving me nuts. 

[Rich G.]

If the only thing you poked was the switch and it works now I'd figure the problem is there. I'd check the terminals in the switch to see if anything is burnt or loose. Of course you can't really get in there to actually see . I'd also have someone look at the lights when the switch is on while you start wiggling wires and if they turn on you found the loose connection if it's a connection problem. 

[cuda hunter]

So, I touched everything in the switch with my multimeter, nothing happened aside from a few readings.
I went to my fuse box and touched each fuse with the multimeter just to make sure everything was working fine.  On one fuse I got a very small spark.  had voltage through both sides of the fuse.  Checked switch for running lights and they suddenly worked.  I pulled the fuse and scraped the terminals and the running lights work now.  There was absolutely no visible corrosion.  I'm a little confused as to why that's happening. 
Not the switch then, but a fuse that isn't connecting, sometimes.  wires on rear of fuse box are fine as well.

[Bullitt-]

This reminds me of a headlight fuse on my 240Z ... could just touch it & the headlights would work... eventually the fuse block melted due to heat from the poor connection on the backside.   My solution then was to add an inline fuse outside of the fuse block
 
I'm guessing you have a similar situation developing... look at the backside of the fuse block

[Mopar5]

Did you check your grounding?

[cuda hunter]

Which grounds would that be?  Which grounds would cause this to happen? 

There is a tab on the back of the switch that is obviously for a ground but I could not find a ground wire that goes to the tab.  However, even when putting a wire to that tab and touching the body with the wire it did not make the running lights come back on.  Still, would this have something to do with the running lights problem?

[Chryco Psycho]

Just jump power into the running light circuit at the switch to test