Headlights on 02 reg. 406 Estate not working

[oceanis]

Can anyone help please , the dipped headlights have stopped working one after the other, I have checked the bulb and each of the fuses, all are OK. All other lights are working fine. Any ideas??

[stevewalsh]

Few years ago mine stopped working, on checking the fuse and finding it ok I started tracing wires. Eventually found that the picture in owners book of the fusebox was printed upside down and I had checked wrong fuse.

Worth Checking

Steve

[oceanis]

thanks steve, checked all the fuses & still no joy

Andrew

[steve_earwig]

Just to check, is this semi.mux or full-mux? (Com2000 or no com2000?)

[Doggy]

02 will be a full mux

.....engine fusebox, F9,10,11,12, ( 9 + 10 = dips), IIRC

[steve_earwig]

Apologies, I had a monging headache last night

Ok, yes, fuses 9 & 10, change them even if they look ok. They're both run off of the same relay so it won't be that.

[Busman]

Could you get a trusty multimeter onto the conector on the back of the headlight bulb to see if any electricity is getting that far?

[GingerMagic]

Hi, I don't mean to sound like your silly or anything, but when my headlight bulb popped I went to change the bulb but it was fine, fuses were fine too. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't working and was about to use my ' phone-a-friend' lifeline but then discovered I was changing the perfectly good Main-Beam bulb nearest the grill, not the headlight bulb....

What a twat. Can't believe I didn't notice sooner......

[oceanis]

Thanks for all your replies - I've done all thats been suggested and - Nothing! no lights, there must be other gremlins in there somewhere, i've put the voltmeter across the fuses and there's no voltage, anyone have any ideas where to look next??

[steve_earwig]

When you say across the fuses, do you mean with one wire connected at one end of the fuse holder and the other wire at the other? 'cos that's not going to tell you much. If you meant between the fuse holders and the ground then that's much more serious. Are you sure they went out one at a time? The reason I ask is the fuse panel (BM34) is mux, the relay for the dip beams (there is only one) is controlled via the mux

[oceanis]

Schoolboy error Steve, tested to ground on the fuses and have the 13v, nothing at the light end though. Any Ideas?

[steve_earwig]

Ah, cheers. That's not quite as worrying then. The diagrams don't show it but I've heard there's a bunch of connectors under the battery tray that can corrode, I'm not really sure but it must be worth a shot. Perhaps you could see if you can trace the cable route between the fuse panel and the l/h headlamp.

[k_f]

Sorry to repeat the obvious point already made but are you absolutely sure you're checking the right bulb ? It seems odd that one dipped lamp failed and then the other soon after yet it's not the fault of the bulbs. On my car the dipped bulbs failed almost together twice (several years apart I should add). Try swapping the dipped bulb for the main beam to be completely sure.

[oceanis]

Steve, thanks for your help, traced the wiring & found a broken wire, have headlights now!!

[steve_earwig]

Ah, splendid! Just out of interest, was it just the one wire then? Where abouts was it and was there a reason? Anything to do with this mythological connector?