headlights

[tick73]

my wife was driving home tonite, lights worked, she stopped at tesco, went to drive off 10 mins later, lights failed to work.

side lights work, but dipped and full beam do not ( full beam works with the pull on the stalk, but goes out as soon as released ).

any ideas? thought it may have been a relay, but have been told that the lights do no have a relay.

[zollaf]

first job, check the bulbs. it wouldnt be the first case of lights not working, only to find both bulbs gone. second job, check the fuses. just looked and there is a fuse for each side, no1 & no 2, so unlikely both have gone. i would then say its either bulbs or switch.

[tick73]

Thanks - have tried both with no joy...

Any further suggestions greatly appriciated!

[Golf tdi Hal]

sounds like the headlight switch itself is at fault, the stalk pull for main beam being a different circuit.
If you have a friend with the same age golf, try swapping the switches over.

sorry, can't be much more help

[SammoVWT]

I had this happen to my car the other week, turns out that my connectors were loose going into the headlamps, try pushing the connections in and making sure theres no break and the earth is good.

I lost earth on a relay and my lights wouldnt switch from sidelights to main/dipped. Try that before you rip your car apart.

You can always test the lamps by running a 12v and a gnd into the bulbs, just make sure you put a fuse on it, 1-2 amps on the 12v line should sort it (assuming 55w bulb anyway)

[Trog_nfs]

Best way to check bulbs is to stick them on a little 9v battery, if they light up they are fine.
Grab yourself a multimeter and check you have live and earth on the headlights first.

[tick73]

problem solved.

it was the headlight switch on the dashboard,
got a replacement off ebay for £ 8 including postage.
works like a treat.

thanks for the help.