but full beam and side lights do. Have checked dipped beam fuses and are OK, besides which its unlikely they would both have failed at once. Is there another single fuse that could cause this, or failing that what other single failure would cause dipped lights only to fail? TIA
It is not unknown for both bulbs to fail at the same time. A voltage surge from a poor connection, or from disconnecting jump leads with the lights on can cause this. I would swap a bulb first.
If the bulbs are OK, next suspect the dipped beam relay. Try swapping it with the main beam one. The owner's handbook should give the location of this.
The next culprit would be the dip switch. If you have the skills, disconnect it and short the live supply to the outgoing dip circuit. If the dip beams work, the switch is faulty.
If the above fails to identify the fault, it is likely to be a wiring/connector fault.
Post back and let us know. My guess? The bulbs :-)
HTH
Chris
It is also not unknown for cars to be running around with one dipped beam, the owner only realising when the second beam goes.
-- Stuart
Cant work out how to get at that in the dark...and am hampered by lack of bulb though it might be possible to see if its blown?
Unfortunately the handbook only says 'under the instrument panel' but buggered if I can find it. God knows how such a tiny car can have such a well hidden area. Will have to look tomorrow in the daylight and have a mega car swap & lift day as well :-(
I certainly dont have the skills, I would be *far* more likely to break something than do any good :-)
Will do, was hoping it would be a single fuse,and single relay would be next best bet ...if I could find the sod! I suppose if its both bulbs at least it wont be too expensive.
Good point its not my car and I havent seen it in the dark recently so that might have happened.
I had both dipped beams fail on a Shitroen ZX within ~2 hours of each other, and being french, they were quite hard to find in a hurry :-}
Luckily enough, the sidelights on a ZX are surprisingly bright !
Getting to the bulbs is a real pain - there's an article on swapping them on my website, I think it's the Ford Blue Vision page, heh.
As others have said, it could be that both bulbs have blown.
Or it could be the relay. There's a pull down panel under the steering wheel, to the right - well hidden. You could check here...
Ford multi function light switch failure is very common and it is normally the dipped beam that fails, if you can't get the bulbs out try holding the stick on flash that will light both high and low beam if the bulbs are ok.
Chris Whelan ( snipped-for-privacy@prejudicentlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Happened to me just before Xmas. Turned the lights on, dip came on, dimmed, back to bright, off.
I spent a happy couple of hours replacing relays and cleaning contacts before I checked the friggin' bulbs.
Tumbleweed ( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
SURELY you'd have noticed the lights not being as bright as normal? Or the fact half of the road ahead was dark? Or the fact you were only having one light reflected off the car in front?
It's amazing how many people don't notice one bulb blown but then they could only drive in street-lit areas. I once drove out of a petrol station at night and forgot to turn my lights on because the forecourt was so bright and there were loads of streetlights around. It was only when people kept flashing me that I realised (D'oh!) .
Some people are just are very unobservant (I'm only a little forgetful!)- and some don't seem to want to see properly as in cold weather they only bother to de-ice a tiny section right in front of their faces (that really makes me mad I could rant for ages on this!!).
back to topic - I had both my dipped beams fail within a day or so on my Fiesta so it could be that there was only a short time between one failing and the other. Getting to the bulb is a pain on the Fiesta too as you have to take the whole headlight off (and I'm always scared I'll drop it).
It is not his car. But you would expect two bulbs doing the same job to fail more or less at the same time assuming they were both of the same age. I would. I always replace both headlight bulbs if one fails, ever since I noticed that the surviving bulb looks yellower than the new one on the other headlight.
-- Stuart
Maybe - but sometimes owners don't spot these things, in the city your lights are there but not as vital as in the country.
When one of our headlight bulbs went in the Ka it was very obvious because I couldn't see jack. :)
"Fred" stick on flash that will light both high and low beam if the bulbs are ok.
Not on the Ka it won't - high beam is independent of dipped beam.
If you are driving in lit areas it's often difficult to tell if your lights are working or not.
Can't remember about the Ka, but flashing the stalk makes a fair few cars light up main beam bulbs / filaments and dips.
As I said, its not my car, so no I wouldnt have noticed :-)
First thing I tried, but the bulbs didnt light.
Surely this only works where the dip and main are physically separate bulbs? (It is inadvisable from the POV of lamp life to have both filaments of a dual filament lamp lit at the same time.)
Chris
I can see the fuses (which I have checked) but not the relays, must be v well hidden. It says in the handbook 'only to be changed by a mechanic' ...why would that be?
Anyway, I'm gonna give up and get a mechanic, we have a good local one here and as you say it doesnt look easy to replace the bulbs and I'll probably break something. Plus, football beckons on sat so I'd rather be doing that!
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