Q: While driving at night, headlights occasionally turn off, so using high beams which do work

asked by on May 20, 2016

The headlights are occasionally turning off by themselves and won't come back on. It is happening more often now, so I'm very worried because this is extremely dangerous driving at night. So I turn on my high beams, which do work, but that's not courteous to oncoming traffic. What is causing this and how can it be fixed?

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It sounds like there is a problem with the headlamp circuit. At first, I was going to say that the headlights have a poor ground connection, but then, looking at the wiring diagram for your vehicle, I noticed the high and low beams have a common ground. So, since the high beams always work, that can’t be the problem. My guess is that the multifunction switch has failed. This switch supplies a path to ground when the low beams are selected. Other possible problems include a short somewhere in the circuit or two internally shorted bulbs (which is not very likely). Electrical problems can be difficult to trace. Therefore, I recommend you have a professional, such as one from YourMechanic, inspect and repair your headlights.

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