help, headlight problems

[d.cheverie]

so i need some help, somehow my high beams have stopped working and now i have daytime running lamps on. never had this before, i hate DRL. and i need my high beams. I drive a 99 explorer sport. it has the auto lamp feature. dont think that it is the problem. I live in canada, winter has been pretty rough and icy this year, maybe a relay died? someone help!

 

[purple exploder]

I am not sure about the hi beams, but I had the same problem with the DRL, it turned out just to be the auto lamp switch on the rear view mirror. Just double check to make sure its not something little like that

 

[d.cheverie]

nah, its not the auto lamp switch. At night, the auto lamp turns on fine, and if i turn it off the DRL come on. basically there is no way to turn me healights off completely, except by putting on the high beams. That doesnt make sence. WTF :thumbdwn:

 

[budwich]

Not sure I follow this but your DRLs should be on at all "run times" unless your highlights (either thru auto or manually) are turned on.... so I don't understand your statements... please explain further.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

what about low beams? do you have them. or if you jiggle the multifunction switch, will your lights turn on, or off. here's what happened to me, if i hit a bump, the lights would turn off, or if i used my turn signals, once again the lights would turn off. the multifunction switch was bad, and i had to get a new one. not sure if that's you problem, but that's what happened to me

 

[Cobraguy]

Why do you hate DRL's if I may ask? It's the law up there, it's safer, and is unnoticeable to you while you are driving. I guess I just don't understand your logic there.

 

[d.cheverie]

lets forget about the DRL for a minute. I just know that i never had them before and now that i have this high beam problem, the DRL work. when i turn on the highbeams my driving lamps turn off, the corner marker lights still work, all signals still work, the taillights still work, just the driving lights themselves turn off.
What is the multifunction switch?

 

[hworksinc]

You mean the fog lights? Explorers don't have driving lights AFAIK. The fog lights are supposed to turn off when the high beams are on... There's a thread around here somewhere with info. on modifying them to stay on with the high beams.

If the high beams are not coming on when you move the multifunction switch (the switch on the steering column - aka MFS) to the high beam position, than there's probably something up with the MFS or a relay. You could try swapping the high beam relay - it's under the hood by the airbox if i remember correctly...

 

[d.cheverie]

nope, its not the fog lights, those work fine,and everything else works fine. Its just when i engage the high beams, the headlights completely turn off, instead of the highbeams coming on, i figured it was something with the relay. Is there an unused relay i can pop out and put in place to see if thats the problem, like the runroof relay or wipers relay or something?

 

[hworksinc]

I think the wiper relays (in the big fuse box under the hood) are the same variety as the high beam relay. I not home right now, but I can check once I have my manual in easy reach.

 

[d.cheverie]

so i checked under the hood, made sure all the relays were seated properly. Now the headlights work fine, except still no high beams, there are no more DRL. that is good, i guess it wasnt DRL, just must have been a loose relay and some kind of voltage was getting through, i dont know. But i checked the bulbs themselves and the high beam fillament on both bulbs is toast. Not sure how that happened.

 

[budwich]

I guess you use your Highs so much that they burned out... that's why you don't have any DRLs ...

 

[d.cheverie]

I hardly ever use my high beams,and i dont have DRLs beacause it never had them from the factory.

 

[budwich]

Must be a "foreign" truck as DRL's were law from 96 on as far as I know.

PS. make that 1990.

 

[Cobraguy]

and i dont have DRLs beacause it never had them from the factory

Huh??? Then what is this:

and now i have daytime running lamps on

 

[d.cheverie]

i've never had DRL normally, just for some reason when both my high beams blew, i did have the DRL, now that i have replaced the healdlight bulbs, everything is working fine now. what seemed like DRL must have just been some low voltage getting through a short.