1. Home
  2. Volkswagen, everything else
  3. 2000 Passat DRL's/low beams broken

2000 Passat DRL's/low beams broken

So I turned on my headlights last night and *pop* no more headlights! They went out a split second after turning them on, which makes me wonder if there could be a short in the switch?

I do not know if it was factory or the dealer or my mechanic, but my low beams have two 15A fuses and the manual says they're supposed to be 10A, which is interesting because I checked all other fuses and the values are correct. Both fuses are good. The fogs work, the high beams work, but no lows, period. Should I be using 10A fuses?

Any suggestions? Timely advice is most appreciated as it gets quite dark by the time I head home. :)

Thanks!!

# Nathan

Reply to
Nathan
Loading thread data ...

How many times have the bulbs in your house gone out when you've turned them on? millions I bet, its the same for cars. Although if they continue to break and not lasting more than a year each change the fuse to 10A if you think it'll help, but if it is an overload in the circuitry then your fuse will blow instead of your light, think fuses are cheaper than buying new headlight bulbs all the time.

Reply to
Joe

Sorry, I should have thrown one more detail in there: the bulbs themselves are NOT blown, they just don't turn on. The filaments for both highs and mains look brand new still.

I thought the switch was separate from the DRL system, so I'm a little baffled as to how one might affect the other... what could have caused the mains to just stop functioning like this? Can a faulty headlight switch take out the DRL's as well?

How many times have the bulbs in your house gone out when you've turned them on? millions I bet, its the same for cars. Although if they continue to break and not lasting more than a year each change the fuse to 10A if you think it'll help, but if it is an overload in the circuitry then your fuse will blow instead of your light, think fuses are cheaper than buying new headlight bulbs all the time.

Reply to
Nathan

You probably have a DRL relay hiding somewhere and it could have gone faulty. Or the headlamp switch...if you have a test meter you should be able to test continuity between the terminals of the 12V input and the low beam output.

Reply to
Matt B.

Right you are, Matt! Pulled 173 apart and sure enough, one of the traces had about a 3mm gap that was clean down to the PCB. Looks like I'm without DRL's for a while (big loss there). Thanks for the input!

#Nathan

You probably have a DRL relay hiding somewhere and it could have gone faulty. Or the headlamp switch...if you have a test meter you should be able to test continuity between the terminals of the 12V input and the low beam output.

Reply to
Nathan

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.