[Despotes]

Is there a separate relay for the high beams or a fuse? I found a fuse box diagram, but it contradicts what's written on my box lid.
129,XXX miles so far. Anybody else have this happen?
Update: Apparently, there's a fuse and a relay. The fuse is fine, but how do you test a relay?

 

[Archerfish]

You need a multimeter and a couple of wires. You energize the relay or coil using the wires, which you connect to the battery terminals. Then using the multimeter, you set it to "resistance" (ohms).

The normally open contact should be close, so the multimeter will give you "zero ohms". Then the normally close contact should be open, and the multimeter will give you a reading of "infinity".

I think there are YouTube tutorials for this. I just can't look for one because of my slow connection at the moment.

 

[tickerguy]

Note there are TWO circuits for the high beams on the halogen-bulbed cars; one that operates at reduced power (about 60%) for DRL, and full power for high beams. Do you have DRLs when the ignition is on and the parking brake released? You can usually hear the relay click when it is energized and released as well.

I suspect if the answer is yes the problem may well be the relay, or the drive current to it. Testing the drive current is easy; remove the relay and use a voltmeter on the pins for the coil in the socket; you should see +12V when the high beams should be on, and 0V across them when they are off. The coil terminals on the relay itself should have some resistance across them -- not zero, but also not open (typically its in the range of a few dozen to a couple hundred ohms.)

If you apply 12V to the coil terminals (out of the car) the contracts should show zero ohms (short), and with 12V missing the same contacts should be open. The most-common failures on a relay are for the coil to fail open or the contacts weld on (in which case it's always on whether there is coil voltage present or not.)

 

[Despotes]

Is there another relay I can temporarily remove and try in the high beam relay's place?

 

[TalonTsi90]

The easiest way to test a relay is have someone hit the stalk while you feel the relay and if it clicks, at least the mechanical part is good. Chances are the physical electrical path is too, those rarely go bad if the solenoid is good. When a relay goes bad, they usually fuse to make an open circuit, not the other way around.

 

[tickerguy]

If you remove the relay and identify the power terminals you can jump the power terminals and the lights should come on. That circuit should be fused so if there's a short the fuse will burn. DO NOT JUMP THE SIGNAL (COIL) TERMINALS OR YOU WILL SHORT OUT THE CONTROL CIRCUIT IF IT IS ENERGIZED!

If you place a voltmeter across the two pairs of terminals the signal terminals (with the high beams selected off) should show 0V, while across the power terminals it should show 12V.

 

[DrFeelGood]

Update: Apparently, there's a fuse and a relay. The fuse is fine, but how do you test a relay?

Did you visually inspect or test the circuit under load?
My low beams went out a few years ago (aftermarket HID) and in that case the fuse looked fine (even with magnification) but would fail when a load was put through it.
Now I usually just put a known good fuse it its spot from another part of the fuse box (seat heater for example) and see if it works.
Relays are pretty low tech but they are movable parts and as a result can fail (although not often)
Good Luck.

 

[Despotes]

I noticed my daytime running lights aren't working either. So, it's likely both bulbs are bad?
Been working long hours. Haven't had time to troubleshoot.

 

[tickerguy]

Entirely possible. They're easily reached from inside the hood; the bulbs themselves are pretty cheap and it's instantly obvious when you look at the filament if it's burnt. Just don't touch the glass on the bulb itself (the oil on your fingers will cause it to fail MUCH more rapidly than it otherwise would.)

Some cars are a royal BIATCH to change headlamps on without doing things like removing the front bumper cover or similar. The Gen3 "6" is pretty easy; I keep a spare set in my spare tire well (both high and low, both bulbs.) If one burns out you can bet the other one is VERY likely to do so quite soon thereafter, so if one burns out the best practice is to change BOTH.

 

[Archerfish]

If one burns out you can bet the other one is VERY likely to do so quite soon thereafter, so if one burns out the best practice is to change BOTH.

This is what I said to my son when I replaced his headlights. I installed one headlight and showed him how to do it then I let him do the rest, including the parking lights.

Then I told him to keep the working one as a spare since it's still running. It's more like an "emergency cheapskate" spare.

 

[Despotes]

Any suggestions on which bulbs to buy? I'd like a brighter bulb, but don't want to sacrifice longevity. I drive 2 hrs a day. 1 hour in the dark half the year and almost half a year in the dark for 2 hrs a day (for 4 years) so these OEM bulbs have lasted a long time.
I just swapped with another relay and they still don't work. So, it is the bulbs unless there's something else I'm unaware of.
Are there any LED lights that would give decent performance as high beams? As I understand, LED's aren't that great for the projector/low beams correct?

 

[tickerguy]

DO NOT buy any of the "Silverstar" or similar bulbs with a COLORED glass envelope. They're NOT brighter; they are actually dimmer, but filter out part of the spectrum! Factually, from a "can I see it" perspective a somewhat-yellow color temperature provides you the best vision at night; light in the "blue" part of the spectrum is materially worse in terms of actually allowing you to see things. This is why factory HID lamps are not blue-tinted in color.

You can go to a 9011/HIR1 (65w .vs. the standard 9005 55w) for the high beam replacement if you slightly modify the tabs with a dremel. Side-by-side what you have to trim is obvious; look at the socket and tabs and you'll see what needs to be done immediately and it takes 2 minutes. They're considerably brighter but there is no free lunch -- they burn out faster. You can also modify H9 bulbs for the low beams the same way and that also makes a big difference, is inexpensive, does NOT draw more current but again the trade-off is shorter bulb life.

Wagner 9011 replacement lamps are available cheap on Amazon, which are likely repackaged Phillips. You can find them in the auto parts stores but 9011s are an "unusual" size for American cars and so the parts stores tend to try to rob you on them.

 

[Despotes]

Are the Sylvania XTRAVision bulbs similar to the "Silverstar"? They look clear.

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

Yeah, I personally despise blue tinted lights. Much prefer daylight white
LED's?

 

[Despotes]

The XTRAVision bulbs did the trick. Both bulbs had burned out at the exact same time.
I'd like to replace the low and high beams with LED's if that's possible with the projection style housing.

 

[tickerguy]

Don't. You can, but you will NOT find LEDs that actually put as much light ON THE ROAD in the correct pattern even in a projector housing. Proper use of LEDs requires a housing and emitters specifically built for each other, not a retrofit. The problem is that LED emitters cannot run nearly as hot as a filament without being destroyed so they need cooling provisions to get the heat out of the chip and you can't do that effectively while maintaining the geometry needed to "mimic" a filament in the space and configuration necessary. There are "better" and "worse" implementations of retrofits but IMHO all are good for show cars but I've yet to see a LED retrofit option that I'd want on a car that I actually drive at night on real roads.

The easiest and best retrofit option is what I pointed out above (and is what's in my car.) While the high beam difference is not enormous it's very noticeable -- the low beam improvement, however, is VERY material and yet does NOT blast oncoming drivers at all.

The XTRAVision bulbs are meh. They work but don't produce that much more light (definitely no better than going to 9011s) and they're EXPENSIVE by comparison (about double the price of two Wagner 9011s)

 

[mmmmark]

On passenger side I had to loosen the wheel well liner and go from the bottom. No slack in the wire and I had to do it blind reaching my arm up in there. It is NOT easy.

 

[tickerguy]

On the 3g cars? I can easily get to both bulbs from the top on mine; it's a blind shot by feel but I didn't have to come in from the bottom or otherwise take anything off.

 

[mmmmark]

interesting. Several things on my car are interesting. It was one of the first that hit the ground in Texas as early intro 2014. It was manufactured in 2012 and was in the showroom Christmas 2012. It does not have i-Eloop and has early radio that couldn’t be upgraded to new firmware so Pandora and reliable Bluetooth are non-existent. Who knows what else. Last time it was in for service the tech was very interested and said it was an odd setup. <shrug>