Driving home last night my mother noticed that both her headlights were out, main beam works and all other lights work but the headlights simply will not.

All fuses checked and double checked, seem fine. Bulbs checked but don't have replacements to hand.

Is there anything else I can check or a common fault?

I'm not sure of the year but it's a classic automatic Civic (~1980)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

check to see if there is voltage at the plugs and voltage at the fuse when the lights are supposed to be turned on.

 

When you say main beam do you mean high beams? If everything but the highs work I'd replace both bulbs if you have no means of checking the circuit. Not unheard of for 2 bulbs to fail

 

Sorry, yes - high beams. Both high beams work without issue but low beam aren't playing at all.

I don't have any means to check the circuit at the moment but will get a multi-meter. I've changed the bulb on one side to see if it made a difference (had one spare) but nothing.

I would expect the new bulb to work without the other, is this correct?

 

I was going to say that what I have seen happen a few times is that initially one of the (low beam) bulbs burns out and the driver doesn't notice, so they keep driving it like that with only one headlight for days/weeks/months and eventually the other bulb burns out, too. To the driver it appears that all of a sudden they go from having both headlights to no headlights, when in reality they went from one to none. But then, you said this...

Yes, one headlight should definitely work without the other. If you are sure that the spare bulb you tried is good (meaning that you can SEE that both filaments are unbroken when you hold it up to a light, right?) then the only likely thing I can think of is that there must be some wiring or connector issue on the hot side. It is unlikely to be a ground issue because the high beams still work, and I am 99% sure they use the same grounds as the low beams. Good luck.

 

ive got the same problem. its not that they burnt out. when i would be going down the road. the low beams would just shut off. and if i turned the switch a few times they would come back on. or if i hit a bump theyd come back on. now they dont come on at all. but high beams work. ive tried new bulbs and everything and nothing. tried checking the voltage but my stupid multimeter pins are too big. if anyone figures this out or knows anything i can try. please email me at rmagnetta2011@gmail.com thanks

 

check to see if you have power at all pins on the headlight if you do trace it back to find the burnt wire at or around the switch.

 

It's probably the switch. Same problem on our 83 1300. I tried to spray electrical contact cleaner in the contact area and they started working again.

BTW, It is almost impossible to find a new one. i found one at Rockauto.com but it was well over $200.00.

Pull the switch out if you can and spray the contact cleaner all over any moving parts you can find. We also lost the W/S wiper switch but it came back after doing the contact cleaner trick. Good luck!

 

i assumed the switch also. but i used the multimeter on the battery and had someone turn the lights on and off and theyre still pulling power. so im assuming that rules out the switch. im taking my dash apart now to inspect and replace the hot wire i found. also to add to my problems but my battery was dead the other day i went to start it up. so i think theres also a short somewhere. so im going to check all the fuses and see which ones constantly pulling power and start from there. if i find nething out ill be sure to let you guys know.

 

i want to add that i did take the bulbs out of the low beam sockets and put them in the high beams and the bulbs did work.

 

i replaced the wire. like i figured it was an idiots job of a stereo system. so it had nothing to do with the lights. i pulled and checked all the fuses and theyre all good and all theyre all the recommended size. so im back from page 1. any ideas?

 

i finally got them working. it was the switch after all. i bought another one from the junkyard. (from the car i just junked coincidentally) and it worked fine. i decided to take my original one apart and found that there was dielectrci grease caked all over the contacts. which explains all of the shorting problems i was having. i used rubbing alcohol to clean all the contacts and put some new dielectric grease on the contacts and it works fine now.

 

Thanks for the update. I'm having some electrical issues with my Accord at the moment, so I'll try replacing the grease.