Headlights and Sidelights

Hi

I have just changed the Headlight (drivers side) on my Fiesta...just a couple questions..

On the old light when I had the engine off and put the lights on (sidelights) only the passenger (left) side would come on......when i put the engine on then both came on...is this right correct or should they both come on at the same time?

Now with the new one the sidelights don't come on at ALL - the headlights and full beam come on OK but no sidelights - any ideas? Could it be a faulty bulb? I spose i could get round this by never using sidelights (i only really use them when its daylight and its raining or when its just getting dark)

The new one is a lot brighter than the old one...how could I solve this? the new headlight came WITHOUT bulbs! so i had to use the lights from the old headlight - would buying new bulbs for both side solve things (both are about the same clearness...my old one was quite dirty on the inside) - how much could this cost?

Reply to
mo
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Have you tried pushing the indicator switch up or down to see if it affects which sidelight comes on? - ISTR Fords of a certain era had this feature. Baffled me completely when we had a MkII Fester.

Reply to
SteveH

umm,no didnt try that test...the indicators do work tho...

Reply to
mo

With the ignition off try fiddling with the indicator switch.

The respective sidelight should come on.

Reply to
SteveH

I remember having this conversation with my driving instructor. It's because your "side lights" are infact your "parking lights" - and if you're parking in a road which has a speed limit greater than 30mph you need to have your parking lights on. You can have both lots (left and right) but you only need to have the parking lights displayed that show the extent that your car is parked in the road. Using only one side of the car parking lights will mean your battery will last twice as long.

--Nick.

Reply to
Nick

dont you need to park opposite oncoming traiif if parking in said road? which explains why it only comes on in the passengers side when the engine isn't on.......doesnt explain why it wont come on when the engine is on like it used to!

Reply to
mo

AFAIK Fiesta does not have parking lights. Both sidelights should come on with ign off. If only one comes on then the little bulb on that side has gone. You may have dim-dip headlights which means that in the sidelight position with the ign on both headlights should illuminate but at half brightness (this is not the same as sidelights with ign off)

A new headlight will be much brighter than an old one, the bulb age will have little effect if any. If there is a faulty bulb or earth then this can cause one or both headlights to appear dim.

You need to sort the problems one at a time starting with the sidelights/ign off.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

I think this must be some german regulation - like you're supposed to leave your sidelights on when parking on an unlit road - as lots of Vauxhalls/Opels (my '92 carlton and my mates '91 cavalier included) have the same sort of feature. My R reg Mercedes Vito did it and the other, older Mercedes vans we had at work at the time all had some sort of way of leaving either nearside or offside sidelights on when parked up.

I'm guessing lots of festers were sold in germany and ford worked out it was cheaper for them all to have the feature than to fit it to some euro models and not others.

Douglas

Reply to
Douglas Payne

This would work if you took your car to France, but having the passenger light on when parking on the left would only show the part of the car that's off the road.

Reply to
jeremy

No - you must *always* park in the direction of traffic (left hand side of the road) even when parking in normal situations.

How often have you been driving on an unlit road at night at a fast pace only to come across a car that is facing your direction on your side of the road.

Turn the car around, and you can see red reflectors etc on the back of the car. You can see their rear reflectors far, far away, whereas their front bumper doesn't have the same reflection properties.

--Nick.

Reply to
Nick

The message from Nick contains these words:

Which if it's facing the wrong way can cunningly lead you to try to drive down the wrong side of it!

Reply to
Guy King

IT really depends what you feel the wrong way. IMHO all cars on the left had side of the road should be driving in the same direction and should be parked the same way around.

I do, however, understand that there is an issue about the "wrong side" of the car having the parking lights on in the OP's case - perhaps it's just buggered!

--Nick.

Reply to
Nick

Hi, I have a MK3 fiesta that did exactly the same, I thought the exactly the same as you guys in that it was something to do with the parking and leaving lights on. If the ignition was off and I left my lights on only one side would stay on, then when I turned the hey, the other side lit as well.

Until I had a surge that took most my bulbs out and I decided to get them all replaced, now with the ignition off both the lights stay on if I have them on.

Strange, maybe something to do with having different bulbs, I have no idea.

Chris

Reply to
Chris

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