So lately when I get into my car and turn my headlights on they seem to take anywhere from 1/3 minute's to come on. I checked fuses,plugs and wiring and everything seems normal. usually about the time it takes my car to warm up they turn on. I replaced the bulbs about 7months ago. If i flash my high beams they work but as soon as I turn them(high beams) off head lights still off.

99civic if that helps any

 

Was also wondering what causes this. Mine have a delay as well sometimes, but only about 10 seconds or so. Thinking it might have something to do with the headlight relay?

 

Try this, drive and get your car warm (running temperature) maybe 30 minutes before dusk (light enough to where you're still allowed to drive around with your lights OFF). Then when the engine is warm and in the middle of the thermostat (basically your car is warmed up), try to turn on your headlights. It is my guess that if you try to turn on your headlights AFTER your car is warm that they'll turn on either immediately or at least much faster than what they have been currently doing.

You're probably thinking this isn't exactly practical but the point is to isolate whether or not your lights aren't working due to a part in the circuit not capable of operating unless it's warmed up. One example of this is a capacitor, a capacitor that is failed or nearly failed will not function at 50F but when warmed up to say 85F it works perfectly fine. You said you just noticed this, does this mean 2 months ago, if you turned on your car at night, this wasn't an issue?

 

Well at first like up above it took maybe like 5 seconds didn't think anything was wrong but all of a sudden one day it just took forever.
Well the other day I came home than went to go get some food like an hour later and it only took like maybe 30secs. They turned on much faster. So I'm thinking the same thing maybe I just gotta warm up my car b4/for they turn on

 

it happens to me in my 93 coupe on cold mornings, a little lag for the headlights to come on. its longer when it is colder out. hope this helps, as i have just learned to deal with it lol

 

I'd still wanna figure out why.

 

Wow... a problem I've never heard of!! I just recently picked up a '94 civic coupe. I haven't physically seen it yet as I'm in the middle east but I hope this isn't something I have in my future. I personally plan on installing HID's at some point. The warming up of the car and engine sounds like a culprit to me as well... Always something different haha!!

 

IF ALL ELSE FAILS...... simply run a new power wire and switch to the headlights. the stock wires are pathetic anyways!

all it takes is 2 relays, a inline fuse holder/fuse, a 3 way switch and some wire. 2 runs of wires one for low beams and one for high beams and some short wires for the ground wires. and also buy some new headlight wiring plugs so you can just ditch the stock harnesses.

you can test the colums headlight switch with a light tester to see if its geting voltage coming out instantly or if the delay is from the switch or input power but its probably ok on the colum. if its good then just run the new wires from the colums headlight output fused and to the bulbs up front.
the stock wiring is just so small it doesnt take much for those wires to break apart! i had a issue with my old 94civic with the passenger headlight just verly lighting up... it was due to the previous owner using some Ttaps for some weak @ss led washer sprayers turds, those broke the internal wires almost completly thru so it only had a few threads of wires to power the light bulbs. i simply cut that section out and crimped it back together and it worked great then. hell i broke the wires just using my automatic stripers the wires are so weak inside!

from factory they just made those wires large enough to do what they needed and nothing extra thats for sure!

 

yeah worst case I just fork out the $$$ for some h.i.d's

 

well if the power wire is your problem then HIDs wont help still. you still need to replace the wiring if its the real problem!
on a side note. i love my bi-xenon hids!!!!!!! not as good as a retrofit but for the price it kicks @ss!!!!

 

Well on 3 different days I drove around and turned them on after it was warmed up and they turned right on

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jers99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well on 3 different days I drove around and turned them on after it was warmed up and they turned right on</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's doubtful it's any wires. Go find the service manual for this car, look up the schematic for the lighting system and find out how many components are involved. I see people saying there are two relays, unforuntately out of context it's pretty useless which is why looking at a schematic of the lighting system would be most helpful.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by addiction2bass &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">IF ALL ELSE FAILS...... simply run a new power wire and switch to the headlights. the stock wires are pathetic anyways!

from factory they just made those wires large enough to do what they needed and nothing extra thats for sure!</TD></TR></TABLE>

What "extra' duty do you expect the wires to do? The wire guage is adequate for the application intended.

I would suspect the combo switch (under the light control stalk) is going bad.
The contacts are probably burnt and it takes a few minutes for the poor connection to heat the contacts enough to make a good connection to light the headlights.

 

been noted, been solved, follow this... http://www.b18c5eg.com/how2/lightswitch/

works the same for an EK.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Perfectionist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What "extra' duty do you expect the wires to do? The wire guage is adequate for the application intended.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

wires corrode and rust over time. the wires for the headlights are so small from factory. sur ethey work but hell i put larger wires on my led lighting i add.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Perfectionist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What "extra' duty do you expect the wires to do? The wire guage is adequate for the application intended.

I would suspect the combo switch (under the light control stalk) is going bad.
The contacts are probably burnt and it takes a few minutes for the poor connection to heat the contacts enough to make a good connection to light the headlights. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe he could try putting a blow dryer against certain parts on a cold day, a process of elimination to figure out which part is bad.