[theophile]

I was sitting in my idling car this evening waiting for my girlfriend. I had turned my lights off while I waited. When she got in and I started to drive away, I switched the lights back on. They flashed for a spilt second then went out. I investigated. Here are my findings:

Both filaments in both bulbs are fine.

When I have the headlight switch in parking lights mode and I pull the lever toward me as if to swicth to high beams, the highs will come on as long as I hold it. When I let go, they go off again.

When I have the switch in headlamps more, the behavior is exactly the same.

Basically, something has happened to cause my headlights settting to behave exactly like the parking lights setting. When I switch back and forth between the two, nothing changes inside the car or out.

This includes while in headlights mode, trying to swicth to high beams. The highs will come on as long as I hold the lever toward me. Once I let go, they turn off.

I am wondering if my cheapo "Xenon" bulbs I got for $6 on eBay could have something to do with it. I;ve been using them for several months now without incident.

So what am I looking at? Fried wiring? Bad switch? Something wrong with the bulbs?

Need some advice cause I can't drive at night till I get this fixed.

Thanks!

 

[88cavalierz24]

check your fuses? i kept blowing fuses for my parking lights everytime i put the headlights on so i didnt have tail lights but for some reason they are werking now.

 

[theophile]

I just checked all the fuses except the ones like cig. lighter and heater/AC. They're all fine.

What else could this be?

 

[soup]

my first thought would be to check the bulbs (already done) from there i would more on to the switch. maybe it is on its way out the door and last but not least i would check the wiring!

 

[speedemon]

my first thought would be to check the bulbs (already done) from there i would more on to the switch. maybe it is on its way out the door and last but not least i would check the wiring!

if it would be the bulbs, in my opinion it just wouldnt work at all. its probly going to be more with the switch

 

[soup]

yeah but he alreafy checked the bulbs anyway i personally think its the switch

 

[theophile]

It was the switch.

If you're having a similar problem, here's how to check:

Get a voltmeter.

Remove the steering wheel and the plastic shield over the steering column.

Remove the turn signal/headlight switch from the steering column.

Leaving the two wire harnesses connected to the switch, ground the black voltmeter wire and connect the red lead to one of the orange wires in the blue harness. With the headlight switch on or in parking lights mode, it should show current. The other orange wire should as well. (NOTE: This wire may show current even with the switch off. I don't know if it is supposed to do this, but it did for me.)

Next, connect the voltmeter lead to the tan wire in the blue harness. It SHOULD show current with the headlights ON. If it does not (as it did not for me) your switch is bad.

I bought a new one at Autozone for $34 plus tax. It looks nice and pretty and it works great.

Thanks for your help guys!