Both Headlights not working

If you have HID headlamps, on the black plastic cowl at the front of the engine compartment you will see a yellow high-voltage warning sticker near each headlight. The HID lamp is switched from regular- to high-beam by a mechanical shutter that changes how the light exits the lamp housing; the light itself doesn't change in intensity.

From what you say, I think you DON'T have HID headlamps. I think you have regular halogen lamps and the low-beam filaments of both bulbs burned out at the same time. I don't know why they would do that.

 

Hi Oliver,

The first issue is to confirm whether you have HID lamps or not. If you have fog lamps, then you also have HID. If you don't have fog lamps, then you have halogen lamps.

Assuming that you have halogen lamps, that all related fuses are good, and that you found both low beams to have simultaneously failed, perhaps the headlight flasher switch has failed?

 

O.K., orahm,

You say you have foglights [which could have been installed aftermarket by a previous owner (if you're not the original owner---especially where you say the bulbs are blue---but the fogs could be original & just the bulbs chg'd to blue)]. You also say though that you have the high voltage warn'g labels, which would also really tend to indicate you have the HID's. However, since you say that the 1st switch position (the park'g lights is what you mean?) works & the high beam position (you mean the blue indicator light on the dashboard?) works the headlights, but you have no headlight low beams. Then they can't be HID's if the headlights go out in the normal "headlght-on" position, since whether in the high or low setting the bulbs still glow the same brightness (only a shutter moves down to cut off the top of the beam in the low beam setting).

How or when did you check out your lights (daytime or nighttime---it's better to check at night)? In front of a verticle surface (like a garage door) or look'g forward on a road surface at night? If you have NO headlight glow at all (stand'g outside the car) in the low beam position, then you likely DON'T have the HID's. If you do have the bulbs glowing in the low beam position, but from inside the car you can't seem to see anything on the road ahead (other than what looks like the dim glow of the park'g lights), then I suspect that your HID's are O.K. but that the headlight leveling sensor (from the rear axle to the car body) is defective & what normally hapens then is that the headlights dip so low that in my case I could only see about 20 ft ahead & everything beyond that is pitch black. You usually see a definite line across the road dividing the illuminated area from the pitch black, but in your case your lights may have dipped even lower (or you sit low in the driver's seat) so that you can't even see that line on the road from inside the car & that's why you think the low beams are burned out (but as we already discussed, there are NOT 2 filaments in an HID bulb).

You don't say your model year or your mileage but you did say "the person before me", so I don't think your replacement of that sensor (& the required aiming calibration after the replacement), if that's what your problem is, would be covered under warranty (since you apparently bought it used) unless an extended warranty was purchased by the original owner & he transferred that warranty to you (that can be done) or you bought it "certified, used" from the dealer & an extended warranty came with it.

If this is the problem & it's not covered, the upgraded/re-designed replacement sensor (make sure it has a suffix letter "G" after the part number on the label) retails for around $300 (accord'g to somebody else's price check---mine was covered for free so I never got to know the part price personally). It was just an internal corrosion problem that some have posted their dis-assemly of & repair of (with pictures) here on this site. The removal & repair is not hard, so you've really got nothing to lose by trying it yourself (if it is NOT covered by a warranty situation), or you could just buy a new one (only with the "G") & put it in yourself. Either way you could also get lucky with the headlight aiming (after the repair/replacement) & not need to go to the dealer to pay the labor for the aiming calibration.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

If they are HID and they are going out when on low beam then my guess would be a problem with the switch on the steering column. Try putting it on low beam and then jiggling it around to see if you can make it work.

G

 

Do you mean the rotating headlamp switch on the end of the stalk? The high/low switch only moves the shutters on HID headlamps, so while it is possible that a bad switch could work in the high position but not the low position, it's not a likely failure mode.

Tom

 

I realize that but the light stock does turn on and off the lights and it is an easy thing to check.

G

 

qbee42,

I tend to agree with you that it probably isn't the control stalk switch that greylar suggests, but until orahm checks back in here & answers some of my questions (in my 2nd paragraph of post #5) we can't really guess any further. We really have to know how he came to the conclusion that the low beams aren't work'g. Are they really not even light'g up at all or are they indeed light'g up but just tipped so low (because of the adjustment sensor in the rear) that he just can't see any light being projected ahead on the road?

I sit tall enough in the seat so that when I had my problem with the sensor I could see the demarkation line between light & dark on the road ahead, but it was so close ahead that I didn't feel comfortable driving in the country near my home that has plenty of deer crossing the roads at night. I could only drive at 5-10 MPH comfortably. If I put the switch to the high beam position, then I had visibility equal to or a little less than what I was used to when the low beams had been work'g right. I'm really lean'g towards my scenario, especially since he said the fuses were good too.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Ken, just guessing, but the auto leveler is likely the problem. The low beam cutoffs are so sharp that it's hard to tell the lights are on if they are poorly aimed.

I'm guessing you will win the prize.

Tom

 

Good point - might as well check the easy ones.

On the other hand, I think he should start troubleshooting by replacing the hybrid inverter.

Tom

 

Not sure if anyone has explained this clearly yet, so here goes.

If you have HIDs, there is only one lamp element for both high and low. When you switch from low to high all that happens is a small shutter moves to unblock the upper part of the reflector. There is no change in the lamp. This is why it seems odd that they would only work on high-beam.

You can see this shutter moving, it's the just behind the bullet shaped guard in front of the lamp. The other clue to HIDs is that when you turn them on after they have been off for a while there will be a bright flash followed by a slow (about 5 second) period where they start dim and brighten up. They may also appear blueish compaired to halogens.

If you really have HIDs and they do't work for low beams then there is clearly some sort of control issue, either with the stalk or the wiring (You said it is a salvage, the headlights may have been cludged together).

If it's got halogens, it could also be two burned out lowbeams. Stranger things have happened, and sometimes you don't notice one headlight out until the second one goes.

 

DIY section of manual has procedure (with pictures) for replacing non HID bulbs. But why would a Hi Voltage warning have been there?

 

Those are definitely not HIDs From the blueish tint it sounds like the previous owner put some aftermarket super-blues or something similar in there. Some of the super bright halogens are known for not lasting very long, and ofter burn out around the same time. Hope that's all it is.

 

Sounds like the first globe went and surged the second.