[The_Baltimoron]

2001. Long story short, I touched metal to the headlight wire, it sparked and the headlights stopped working. I changed the two fuses under the hood (which were blown) but they still don't work. Bulb looks good. What else needs to be checked? Thanks!

 

[dwightbresemann]

Is this a four or six-cylinder engine? Does the cluster lights work? Parking lights work? Are both high and low not working? Or just the lows not working? Were the fuses you replaced, both 15 amp in the #1 & #3 fuse slots? Have you tried swapping the headlight relay with another like relay for testing?

Most important, is anything else not working? Test all electrical systems to see if they work.

Left and right side headlamps each have their own fuse. What wire did you touch to blow both fuses at once? Tell me the color of the wire with stripe.

I posted a diagram for the headlights, to show how they work.

 

[The_Baltimoron]

V6. Cluster and parking lights work, but headlights and fog lights are out. When one headlight goes out, all 4 of those seem to go together.

Yes, both 15 amp in the 1 and 3 slots. Can I swap any relay?

Not sure what wire I touched, whatever attaches to the passenger headlight right where it attaches.

 

[tomw]

Per the diagram Dwight posted, check the WH/LG and the DB/LG wires at the headlights for voltage. The relay controls the voltage to the headlights, and the switch on the other side of the headlight filament controls the ground. There should be power to both wires if the headlamp relay at the top of the image is enabled and has closed its contacts.
You can swap relays one for one as long as the part numbers match. Find the number on the top of the headlight relay and look for another that is the same for a load you can disable for testing. Swap them.
The two wires mentioned above are both connected to the output side of the headlight relay. The fuse should protect them from melting. If you touched one of the other wires to ground at the headlight connector, it should have just turned on the headlight as you were providing the same ground as the switch does, so no problem should have occurred.
If you have the daytime running light module, that could affect things, but it is not connected directly to the output of the relay, just to the control side.
tom

 

[dwightbresemann]

Are the 2 fuses currently blowing at this time when you turn the headlights on? Did the fuse blow for the fog lamps also?

 

[dwightbresemann]

In order to blow both fuses, the problem must be between the battery junction box (BJB) and the driver's headlamp. This would be the thick wiring harness coming out of the BJB and going towards the driver's headlamp. Check and inspect carefully all areas on the part of the harness that touches the body of the vehicle or sharp bends in the harness.

 

[Mountain Escape]

2001. Long story short, I touched metal to the headlight wire, it sparked and the headlights stopped working. I changed the two fuses under the hood (which were blown) but they still don't work. Bulb looks good. What else needs to be checked? Thanks!

You checked fuses under hood, what about under dash?
I am a little confused, did you touch the wire to the body, or a screwdriver to the wire? Can you take a picture?

when/where the wire sparked may have fried the wire, I would check for continuity, both at the headlamp's plug, and in the BJB.
Odd both fuses blew if you only touched one wire

 

[tomw]

Both fuses become common as splice S121, just below the right side headlight box on the diagram. If the wire heading South, after both fuses, after both headlights, touched ground, BLAM and the smoke gets out of the fuses. Or spppttt if you prefer, more silent.
If the headlight switch was in 2 or 3, Low or High beam, rather than OFF, power could flow through the switch to ground. It is possible that enough could flow through two fuses simultaneously to cook the headlight switch(melt the internals). I do not know how much fun it would be to check the switch make/break connections as shown in the diagram, but a smoked switch could prevent headlight operation.
tom

 

[dwightbresemann]

For accuracy, these are the diagrams for V6. I think they are the same as the 4 cyl, which I posted earlier.

 

[The_Baltimoron]

Are the 2 fuses currently blowing at this time when you turn the headlights on? Did the fuse blow for the fog lamps also?

No fuses are still good.

 

[dwightbresemann]

Ok, no fuse blown, means no more shorts to ground. Do you know how to use an incandescent test light, used to check circuits? I can walk you through the diagnostics, step by step.