1. Home
  2. SAAB Cars Forum
  3. '96 9000 CSE Headlights

'96 9000 CSE Headlights

Can anyone tell me or have experience with headlights not coming on sporadically? Our 96 started to not have the headlights come on when starting the car at night. Have not singled out if it is the switch or a relay or some other problem. Sometimes restarting the car works, sometimes just turning the switch on/off many times they finally come on. Just looking wondering where to begin, and if it is the switch, how hard it is to change that out? Thanks for all help and input.

Reply to
Chuck Grospitch
Loading thread data ...

With contact and light switch on (and lights not working), wiggle the relay, see what happens.

Reply to
MH

I had a few problems getting cheapo replacement bulbs to seat properly but that's unlikely to be the cause of a total lights-out. I guess it's more likely to be the relay or switch, but don't rule out badly seated bulbs. Perhaps you'd tell us what you find?

Reply to
Pidgeonpost

Does it matter if you try to switch between high beam and low beam? There are two relays in the path of the power source for both of the headlights. They are the Headlamp relay and the Headlight Dip relay. After that they spliot and go through seperate fuses so the symptom would be single sided.

Reply to
Malt_Hound

This is a classic symptom on the 9000's. The solder joint on the relay cracked due to restrcition to thermal expansion. Pull the headlight relay out. Carefully pry the internal out of its housing and examine the solder joints with a magnifying glass. Sometimes you don't need a magnifying glass. Reflow the solder joint and it should go back to normal.

Reply to
yaofeng

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.