High Beams Not Working At All

[DeLoreanDMC81]

Hey Everyone!

So my high beams to my car quite working about 2 years ago, it hasn't been a big deal to me since the low beams still worked. I went ahead and purchased a new relay kit thinking that might correct the problem, and of course it didn't

So here is my problem, the low beams work just fine, but if I turn the high beams on, the low beams will turn off and none of the front lights work at all. When I put the low beams back on, the low beams come back on. I can hear a relay clicking in the back when I switch from low to high, and vice versa.

I've checked the two high beam lights to see if they work, and they do. I also pulled the headlight switch out and nothing looks melted or damaged.

So I'm at a loss, I have no idea what's going on?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much, and Merry Christmas!

James
6408

[Michael]

The highs are on their own fuse aren't they? Also isn't there a circiit breaker in the mix?

Without a wiring diagram and a multi meter you are basically just guessing. The best money you can spend on your car is the set of tech manuals.

[davidc89]

Stupid question: Are both of your high beam lights burnt out? Are they the right headlight beams?

[Flicky]

A volt meter would tell you if you are getting juice to the sockets. Does the blue light on the dash come on? The car doesn't need to be on if you pull back (towards the wheel/seat) on the stick. I think the headlights need to be on for the switch to work in the forward/locked in position.

also, just to make sure someone hasn't messed with things there, do you have the green dash light when in normal headlight mode?

I had it where my high beams had the polarity mixed (mine are LED...a normal one might not have this problem). If you look at the 3 leads I had to swap the east and west ones to make it work. The volt meter will tell all to you once you get into that. You can hook up some wire to the battery or something to test the light and see if the pins are different.

Now I got to go look at my car, I've forgotten if all 4 lights have a 3 pin or just the 'low beams' do.

[David T]

A volt meter would tell you in you are getting juice to the sockets. Does the blue light on the dash come on? The car doesn't need to be on if you pull back (towards the wheel/seat) on the stick. I think the headlights need to be on for the switch to work in the forward/locked in position.

also, just to make sure someone hasn't messed with things there, do you have the green dash light when in normal headlight mode?

Do you hear the relay click when you hit the high beams? Check fuse # 15. After that you really do need a meter and have to start trouble-shooting the circuit.

[Flicky]

Fuse #15 is your high beam in case you were wondering. 14 is the lows.

15 is the right most one 3 rows down. 14 is above it. They are both 20A.

https://support.delorean.com/kb/a53/electrical-relays-and-relay-updates.aspx

[Andrew]

The high beams have their own dedicated fuse and relay. For the purposes of trouble shooting, I would first check the fuse, then try swapping the relay with a known good relay. If that doesn't solve the problem, then it's time to verify individual power and continuity with the assistance of the wiring diagram and a multimeter. While a fancy multimeter is nice to have, the $5.99 budget model from Harbor Freight is all that is needed for this project.

[DeLoreanDMC81]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

The high beam worked at one time, then they just stopped. I never swapped them out, or messed with them.

I've checked the fuse and it is OK.

The blue light on the dash does not come on, but the low beam light does. When I pull the headlight lever, on the steering column, toward me I can hear and feel the relay in the compartment clicking. So I know it's trying to work.

This might be a stupid question but I thought I'd ask. I changed out my center console, trunk, rear engine, interior courtesy lights, and door lights to LED's. Would that affect the headlights in any way? I know that if you change the battery light, in the instrument cluster, with an LED, it affects the charging system somehow. So just curious if switching out those lights messed, or disrupted something?

Thanks again, and I hope everyone is enjoying their day!

James
6408

[davidc89]

I guess I would start with pulling the high beam lights out and verify if power is in the harness plug. You can use a test light or a multimeter to check this. If you use a test light, I would recommend using one with a bulb other then one with an LED setup. Nothing wrong with those, but it takes a lot less power to light up a LED one. If you have a weak ground a LED test light won't necessarily be able to tell you that, because it can still light up.

[Flicky]

I'm going to guess it is a bad #2 relay. I bet the click is the #1 relay going off. I think you can swap 1 and 2. Note that these are numbered in some weird Irish style so that #1 is the closest to the fuses on the bottom side (towards the seat back/away from the engine wall), then #2 is to the left of that. They are the bigger square things, the little rectangle things between the relays and the fuses are breakers (19 and 18). Pull out #1 at least and see if the clicking stops when you pull back on the lever.

Those LEDs that you swapped should have no impact on the headlights. The only other LED thing is the blinker relay that needs to be LED compatible if you swap the blinker lights over.

[DeLoreanDMC81]

Good news everyone, my high beams are working once more! It's been so many years since they worked.

I have no idea what I did, but whatever it was it worked. I was just testing out the fuse area with an ohms meter, then stuck the fuse back in and now it works. Even the blue light on the dash comes on.

So one problem down, now to tackle a few more.

Thanks again!

James
6408

[Michael]

Good news everyone, my high beams are working once more! It's been so many years since they worked.

I have no idea what I did, but whatever it was it worked. I was just testing out the fuse area with an ohms meter, then stuck the fuse back in and now it works. Even the blue light on the dash comes on.

So one problem down, now to tackle a few more.

Thanks again!

James
6408

Probably means your fuse was corroded. Fuses should be cleaned or replaced once a year. Also it's recommend that you run without the fuse box cover.