I’m hoping for some advise for diagnosing issues with my headlight switch in my car.
The problem is that when my headlights are on, the right headlight is on bright and the left headlight is a normal low beam. When I switch the hi-beams on, the lights flip and my left headlight goes to hi-beam and my right headlight is low beam. I have messed with the switch a little and realized that the actual switch itself seems to be the problem. If I put a little pressure on the headlight switch, both brights will come on simultaneously. I would like to try and DIY the problem but I figured I would try to get some more insight on the potential causes before taking anything apart.
Figured as much, just wondering if there is a common cause of this. Maybe I just need to clean it up. Just not trying to dish out $150+ for this entire switch
are there separate bulbs for hi beam and low beam? Two separate bulb units, or just one.
I’d start by making sure something didn’t get swapped up front, ie: Hi beam on low beam wire, and vice-versa.
On my 2000 Chevy, I can pull slightly back on the hi-beam lever and get all 4 lights to come on- and I have nothing wrong with mine. In fact, for some Chevy model’s, you can get an aftermarket board that will make this happen when you select high beams.
I think you’ll find that the switch is designed to not be disassembled and repaired. Unless your time is worth nothing to you, you’re much better off just buying a new switch.
No harm trying. You’ll have to remove the switch, which probably entails removing the steering wheel. After that put the switch on the work bench with good lighting, see if you can spray some CRC contact cleaner on the contacts. Measure the ohms before/after, hopefully that will show a major improvement. There’s a very good chance this will be a waste of time and the only solution is to buy a new switch. But it might be fun trying. If you want to save $$$ on a replacement switch you could get a used one from a junkyard, another idea that for a vehicle of this vintage is probably a waste of time. Look on bright side, there’s probably other functions in that switch that are about to fail, so replacing it will solve you a bunch of future problems before they happen. Multi-function switch failure is a pretty common problem noted here. I expect you are looking at ponying up for a new switch.