Headlights don't work

[berrywise]

The other night as I headed home for the night I noticed that my headlights were no longer working. I could get my brights to turn on as well as my fog lights but not my regular lights.

I'm a car newb but managed to open the hood (thumb) and find the fuse box. When I click the lights on and off I can hear the relay clicking. My problem is I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the fuses out. Using a pliers I feel like I'm gonna crush the things trying to get a grip on them.

I'm also wondering if it is even a fuse at all because it appears I have a fuse for each the left and right side lights and both of mine are not working.

Any ideas? Thanks guys!

 

[L8R]

Under your dash, where your interior fuses are, there is a tweezer (tan) you can use to remove the small fuses.

Check your harness connected to the bulbs. If you are running after market high watt bulbs, you may have melted your harness. I did that before...

 

[berrywise]

Under your dash, where your interior fuses are, there is a tweezer (tan) you can use to remove the small fuses.

Check your harness connected to the bulbs. If you are running after market high watt bulbs, you may have melted your harness. I did that before...

Hey that tweezers works slick ;o) Pulling them out and looking at them didn't really do much for me though. I'll stop and pick some new ones up on my way home just to see.

My car is completely stock and go figure I just went past 50,000 miles

 

[5PADZAM]

You should be able to tell if the fuses are blown or not by looking at the element inside the fuses.

Well, though highly unlikely, both low beam bulbs may have died at the same time. I have never seen or heard of it happening, but it is possible I guess. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[Qcpro5]

You should be able to tell if the fuses are blown or not by looking at the element inside the fuses.

Well, though highly unlikely, both low beam bulbs may have died at the same time. I have never seen or heard of it happening, but it is possible I guess. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

It has happened to me, both sides went out together...the very first night I had the car. (shrug)

 

[P5inMD]

Anyone ever have a problem running the stock fogs and after like a week, the low beams burn out? I used to drive with the fogs on at all times with the lows, but I kept having to change the low beam bulbs. They aren't high watt (I was forewarned) nor anything special. Now I don't use the fogs and the lows haven't went out yet. But I want my fogs. Any help?

 

[5PADZAM]

It has happened to me, both sides went out together...the very first night I had the car. (shrug)

That would suck. OK, now I can add that to my list of things I have heard of.

Anyone ever have a problem running the stock fogs and after like a week, the low beams burn out? I used to drive with the fogs on at all times with the lows, but I kept having to change the low beam bulbs. They aren't high watt (I was forewarned) nor anything special. Now I don't use the fogs and the lows haven't went out yet. But I want my fogs. Any help?

Nope, never had that problem. But I usually drive with my fogs off now. When I first got the car I always had them on and didn't have to replace my low beams.

 

[The Short Bus]

Nope, never had that problem. But I usually drive with my fogs off now. When I first got the car I always had them on and didn't have to replace my low beams.

I've never had that problem either. I've replaced just one low beam bulb since I got the car new, and I've always had the fogs on with the low beams. In fact now the fogs are on quite a bit more than the lows since I did the fog light mod last year.

 

[dilbert627]

I don't know if it's related to the fogs, but I have had to replace the low beams more than I thought I would... I used to drive with the low beams on all the time (for about a year and a half btw with no problems), then I had the passenger side burn out, replaced it, then a month or two later, BOTH burned out at the same time. Then I stopped running the low beams as much and starting running fogs during the day, and it worked ok, but today (about 5 months later) the passenger low beam is out again. Are there any known issues with the bulbs, or are there better bulbs than others? I think I used sylvania last time...

 

[pasadena_commut]

then a month or two later, BOTH burned out at the same time.

Do you turn off the headlights before turning off the car? When the ignition is switched off there might be a voltage or current spike, at least occasionally, and with the filaments hot they may be more prone to damage.

Also, what kinds of road are you driving on? A hot filament is a weak filament, so if you are driving on washboard it may shake the bulb to death.

 

[RABID_MP5]

Yeah I think Pasadena is on the right track. This begs the question of HID drop-in replacements: Are their bulbs more immune to voltage spikes and vibration?

 

[bazooka joe]

stock lights were pretty reliable, after market, well that's another story...not a lot of luck...sliverstars burnt out left and right! went HID 2yrs ago and they are great! i can see and haven't lost a bulb yet..

 

[dilbert627]

Do you turn off the headlights before turning off the car? When the ignition is switched off there might be a voltage or current spike, at least occasionally, and with the filaments hot they may be more prone to damage.

Also, what kinds of road are you driving on? A hot filament is a weak filament, so if you are driving on washboard it may shake the bulb to death.

I'm not sure, sometimes I might turn off the lights after turning off the car, but usually not. And usually I'm on the highway/street, although our parking lot is gravel... and there was a dirt road I was driving on regularly around the time they both went out, so that might have contributed... also, that was right after I got new tires, I thought it might have been something electrical that had gotten messed up accidently, but they checked and it was the bulbs.

 

[MarinerMan]

New P5 Fog Light

I bought it knowing that the fog light was out, so I replaced the bulb only to find that it still doesn't work.

So does that mean that it's the wiring,

...Checked the fuses (look OK)