Headlights won’t turn on (14 Viewers)

[racevws]

So last night, I was going to make a run for some groceries and when I turn the lights on as I was backing out of the driveway, only the parking lights came on. This is for my Lexus 450. I checked the headlight relay with one from a different Cruiser, that didn’t fix it. I checked the fuse box and the right and the left fuses are both OK.

I don’t really know where to check after that. The headlights are kind of like an automatic thing on this car, different from my 93 Land Cruiser. Is there another relay somewhere that I can check? The relay I checked was the one under the hood.

 

[thatcabledude]

Bulbs any good? I know that sounds stupid, but people have rode around with only one working and didn’t know and then think they have a bigger problem than just bulbs when the one working one quits.

 

[BILT4ME]

So last night, I was going to make a run for some groceries and when I turn the lights on as I was backing out of the driveway, only the parking lights came on. This is for my Lexus 450. I checked the headlight relay with one from a different Cruiser, that didn’t fix it. I checked the fuse box and the right and the left fuses are both OK.

I don’t really know where to check after that. The headlights are kind of like an automatic thing on this car, different from my 93 Land Cruiser. Is there another relay somewhere that I can check? The relay I checked was the one under the hood.

If you pull on the stalk for "bright light flash" do any or all light come on?

 

[racevws]

If you pull on the stalk for "bright light flash" do any or all light come on?

I think I tried that, but I'm not sure, I will for sure do that tonight to check. If that's it, then I should replace the stalk assembly, correct?

 

[BILT4ME]

I think I tried that, but I'm not sure, I will for sure do that tonight to check. If that's it, then I should replace the stalk assembly, correct?

No. That's part of the diagnosis

 

[racevws]

No. That's part of the diagnosis

ok. Will update this evening.

 

[racevws]

Bulbs any good? I know that sounds stupid, but people have rode around with only one working and didn’t know and then think they have a bigger problem than just bulbs when the one working one quits.

I will take another look, but as of about a month ago they were both fine. Will check the obvious

 

[General Grant]

Hello,

I just finished fixing this problem on my Land Cruiser after many moons of not being able to drive at night.

I referenced this thread:

Headlight Problems,....Electrical Gurus please help...!!!!

How do..... Im into this like way into it......1994 FZJ80 ABS after some parts replacements, some testing, and more testing I think I have narrowed down where the problem lies.------****Looking for a ffirmation there*** Let me say ahead of time that, while trouble shooting, I have found...

forum.ih8mud.com

I also have a factory service manual handy that I used to troubleshoot the headlight circuit.

The problem that I found was that every piece of the circuit was functional, but I wasn't getting power to my headlights from the switch side of the under-hood relay. My problem was a faulty factory splice that corroded apart 8 inches away from the firewall. It was a large bundle of stranded wires where 3 red/white wires transition into one red/white. I would check it out.

-General Grant

 

[DivByZero]

I'll also add, for my non-US model with the quad lights (but the same is probably true with the single-piece ones in the US) the way power is routed isn't very intuitive. There's one light relay, and both the high and low beams get +12V routed to them all the time when the lights are on. What changes is the ground. Counter-intuitively, the high-beam indicator light on your dash is fed +12V through the ground return from your low-beam windings, which is short-circuited to ground through the switch to turn the indicator off when high beams aren't selected. If both low beams are burned out, your high beams will work, as will "flashing" the high beams by pulling the stalk forward, but the high beam lamp won't illuminate on your dash. This doesn't mean anything is wrong with your combination switch or the rest of the circuit - it's by design, just not intuitive. This was so they could drive the whole thing with a single relay.