darkstar3169 Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 I have a '94 Legacy L wagon and the low beams are not working. The high beams work OK and the flash works fine too. I have checked the obvious (fuses, relays, bulbs). The relays do "click" when the lights are turned on in the car. I assume this means they are working. My father and I tried to figure the wiring out but we had no luck. Is there a ground up at the bulb or is it just in the switch? Could it just be a bad switch? Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meep Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 do the lows use fuses or breakers? Are they separate circuits for each side (check). If separate, find the common points (1 or 2 relays, etc.?) and target those. Relays can go bad even if they make sound, but I wouldn't expect 2 to fail at once. You said you did check the bulbs, right? Ohm test or juice test? If the relay clicks, I'm not sure if the switch is the culprit, unless it's the hi/lo switch at fault-- that could do it. You need a diagram... mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 I once was puzzled when both my parking lights were out, and since I'm not an electrician, I started the cheap way and replaced both bulbs. They have both worked fine since... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias20035 Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 The left and right headlights are on two isolated circuits, even the switch on the turn signal stock has two contacts, one for each headlight. This level of duplication is required on all passenger cars by DOT regulation. So a common cause is very unlikely. I reviewed the wiring diagram and there is nothing in common that I can see that would prevent both low beams from working. Check the low beams filimant for contiuity (check resistance) or just change them both. Did you use high wattage bulbs and fry the wires? A mere 10-15 watts over the standard 55/60 or 55/65 will fry Subaru wires, the wires are very weak. Since the relays click, there is continuity from the interior switch to the relay, which is really good because a problem in the wiring here would be very difficult and expensive to correct. Check the wiring harness at the bulb for voltage, if none the wires between the headlight and relay are damaged or you need new relays because the contacts inside of them are not working (possibly burnt). It is very common for one bulb to fail and the second one to fail shortly after, which is why you are supposed to replace bulbs in pairs, including replacing the good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar3169 Posted November 29, 2003 Author Share Posted November 29, 2003 We just purchased this car, so I don't know if higher wattage bulbs were used. I doubt it since we bought it from an elderly man. We tried a test light on each of the terminals on the plug going to each headlight. With the switch on low beam, each terminal was hot. But when the switch was on high beam, only two of the terminals were hot. The other test we did was to run a grounded wire directly from the positive terminal of the battery to the headlight and the low beam did work. Hope this doesn't make things more dificult to diagnose. Should we just try new relays and/or new bulbs? Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted November 29, 2003 Share Posted November 29, 2003 Some of your post confuses me, but it sounds like you have a relay or maybe a wiring problem. If wiggling some cables around doesn't make the lights flicker then I'd definitely try the relay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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