VW New Beetle RH Main Beam not working
Discussion
Scratching my head about this one if anyone has an idea.
Girlfriends car, had a smashed headlight, main beam not working. Swapped it out for a new headlight and the main beam still doesnt work. Swapped the bulbs around and put a known good one in there, still doesnt fire up.
Cables are the right way around, seated properly, seems all good. Headlight is seated on the mounting as far as it'll go. No warnings on the dashboard. I pulled the fuse and it looks fine to me, and the sidelights and high beams work fine anyway.
Cant really think of anything else to check with it now? Am I stuck with having to find an OBD scanner?
Thanks
Girlfriends car, had a smashed headlight, main beam not working. Swapped it out for a new headlight and the main beam still doesnt work. Swapped the bulbs around and put a known good one in there, still doesnt fire up.
Cables are the right way around, seated properly, seems all good. Headlight is seated on the mounting as far as it'll go. No warnings on the dashboard. I pulled the fuse and it looks fine to me, and the sidelights and high beams work fine anyway.
Cant really think of anything else to check with it now? Am I stuck with having to find an OBD scanner?
Thanks
An OBD scanner is not going to help you.
Check with a multimeter, have you got 12 volts on the correct pin of the bulb when it is switched on, also have you got earth on it's correct pin (compare to other side) I am guessing one will be missing & if you "hot wire it" it will work fine.
Sounds like you have a wiring fault.
Check with a multimeter, have you got 12 volts on the correct pin of the bulb when it is switched on, also have you got earth on it's correct pin (compare to other side) I am guessing one will be missing & if you "hot wire it" it will work fine.
Sounds like you have a wiring fault.
Falsey said:
Scratching my head about this one if anyone has an idea.
Girlfriends car, had a smashed headlight, main beam not working. Swapped it out for a new headlight and the main beam still doesnt work. Swapped the bulbs around and put a known good one in there, still doesnt fire up.
Cables are the right way around, seated properly, seems all good. Headlight is seated on the mounting as far as it'll go. No warnings on the dashboard. I pulled the fuse and it looks fine to me, and the sidelights and high beams work fine anyway.
Cant really think of anything else to check with it now? Am I stuck with having to find an OBD scanner?
Thanks
Did the main beam work before the headlight was smashed? If yes, the fuse is a very likely culprit, if no, the fault could be anywhereGirlfriends car, had a smashed headlight, main beam not working. Swapped it out for a new headlight and the main beam still doesnt work. Swapped the bulbs around and put a known good one in there, still doesnt fire up.
Cables are the right way around, seated properly, seems all good. Headlight is seated on the mounting as far as it'll go. No warnings on the dashboard. I pulled the fuse and it looks fine to me, and the sidelights and high beams work fine anyway.
Cant really think of anything else to check with it now? Am I stuck with having to find an OBD scanner?
Thanks
Oh jeepers. People trying to be helpful on the intergoogles eh. If the high beam, side lights and the headlight on the other side work ok it's not fuses, Canbus or any other nonsense. You just don't have voltage to the main beam pin on that bulb. Either it's a faulty bulb holder with a dry joint or broken terminal or the main beam wiring upstream of that. Trace it back to where you do have 12v between that wire and earth and then examine what's left very carefully.
Mignon said:
Oh jeepers. People trying to be helpful on the intergoogles eh. If the high beam, side lights and the headlight on the other side work ok it's not fuses, Canbus or any other nonsense. You just don't have voltage to the main beam pin on that bulb. Either it's a faulty bulb holder with a dry joint or broken terminal or the main beam wiring upstream of that. Trace it back to where you do have 12v between that wire and earth and then examine what's left very carefully.
Lights are fused LH and RHMignon said:
You just don't have voltage to the main beam pin on that bulb. Either it's a faulty bulb holder with a dry joint or broken terminal or the main beam wiring upstream of that.
This ^^^. Un-noticed damage to the bulb holder or adjacent loom seems like the first thing to check for.Mignon said:
Penelope Stopit said:
Lights are fused LH and RH
Then why does the high beam work ok on that side? Are you seriously trying to tell us there are four separate fuses for the headlights on that car? LH high beam, LH main beam, RH high beam and RH main beam? Go on wi' yer man.Penelope Stopit said:
Mignon said:
Penelope Stopit said:
Lights are fused LH and RH
Then why does the high beam work ok on that side? Are you seriously trying to tell us there are four separate fuses for the headlights on that car? LH high beam, LH main beam, RH high beam and RH main beam? Go on wi' yer man.Fair enough. Four fuses then, although I suspect even the people who thought they might be fused separately on each side didn't think they'd be fused separately for high and low beam as well. So the OP has a fuse to check first now at least. It's not completely clear from his first post whether "the" fuse he checked was the actual fuse for that specific circuit or one he thought was a main fuse for all the headlight beams. If the fuse is ok however then it's likely what I said previously was wrong.
Sorry I wasnt very clear. I was never under the impression there was only one fuse. I only mentioned the one fuse because its only the main beam affected, thus one fuse.
A friend of mine brought his OBD scanner around just for an attempt at least. When it was programmed for the Beetle it interestingly was able to scan for left and right lighting circuits seperately which I thought would be good. Then it couldnt get an OBD connection with the car no matter what we tried.
I hate this thing.
A friend of mine brought his OBD scanner around just for an attempt at least. When it was programmed for the Beetle it interestingly was able to scan for left and right lighting circuits seperately which I thought would be good. Then it couldnt get an OBD connection with the car no matter what we tried.
I hate this thing.
Mignon said:
Fair enough. Four fuses then, although I suspect even the people who thought they might be fused separately on each side didn't think they'd be fused separately for high and low beam as well. So the OP has a fuse to check first now at least. It's not completely clear from his first post whether "the" fuse he checked was the actual fuse for that specific circuit or one he thought was a main fuse for all the headlight beams. If the fuse is ok however then it's likely what I said previously was wrong.
My car's 23yrs old and has separate right,left,high,low, beam fuses. I would check power @ the fuses then work upstream or downstream depending on what I found.
Mrs was pulled over last night for driving with a headlight out and they wouldnt let her go unless it worked. She pushed the headlight housing as hard as she could and it came on.
Id say that its almost certainly the connector that is pooped. How Id go about replacing that I dont even want to think, but at least we know now.
Thanks.
Id say that its almost certainly the connector that is pooped. How Id go about replacing that I dont even want to think, but at least we know now.
Thanks.
Falsey said:
Mrs was pulled over last night for driving with a headlight out and they wouldnt let her go unless it worked. She pushed the headlight housing as hard as she could and it came on.
Id say that its almost certainly the connector that is pooped. How Id go about replacing that I dont even want to think, but at least we know now.
Thanks.
Look @ the bulb type and google the connector for it. I recently swapped one (easy access on my car) so quite simple, it'd been intermittent for a little while, triggering a "bulb out" light on the dash. The old connector was burnt out, presumably from a poor connection. Id say that its almost certainly the connector that is pooped. How Id go about replacing that I dont even want to think, but at least we know now.
Thanks.
E-bmw said:
An OBD scanner is not going to help you.
Check with a multimeter, have you got 12 volts on the correct pin of the bulb when it is switched on, also have you got earth on it's correct pin (compare to other side) I am guessing one will be missing & if you "hot wire it" it will work fine.
Sounds like you have a wiring fault.
I hate to say it........Check with a multimeter, have you got 12 volts on the correct pin of the bulb when it is switched on, also have you got earth on it's correct pin (compare to other side) I am guessing one will be missing & if you "hot wire it" it will work fine.
Sounds like you have a wiring fault.
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