High-Beam Issues

Hello! I have tried searching through the various threads and have been unable to find anything similar to my issue.

 

I drive a 2012 Legacy 2.5i Premium, no fog lights.

 

My high-beams do not work. For a short while, I would activate them, and about half a second later, they would come on for about a second, and then turn back off. This is for both pull and push on the stalk. It was not one specific side, but both sides.

 

I am unaware if a fuse has anything to do with it, but we have checked them and they are all fine. We (my husband and I) were able to locate the relays for both the regular lights and the high beams. Both relays function (we swapped them with the horn relay and both worked fine in that spot). Past that neither one of us is comfortable poking around without guidance, as we're used to working on older cars (96 Ford Escort for example) and we know that Japanese cars are build differently than domestic. We do have a voltmeter and I have several spare fuses.

 

The DRLs do work, on their own setting, and on "auto," and I've read on here that the Legacy uses the high-beam bulbs at a lower power for the DRLs, and this seems to be the case.

 

Any assistance in diagnosing the issue would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you.

Edited March 6, 2020 by Zack Kilgrave

Check the fuses first. They get checked the same as the Escort. There will be a fuse box under the hood and one inside the vehicle. Check all of them.

Check the fuses first. They get checked the same as the Escort. There will be a fuse box under the hood and one inside the vehicle. Check all of them.

 

As the DRLs worked fine I did not check them originally. All the fuses are okay, none blown.

As the DRLs worked fine I did not check them originally. All the fuses are okay, none blown.

 

Did you check them visually or with the voltmeter? It's always best to check them with the meter. Either verify continuity across the fuse or check for power at both sides of it.

 

Does the dashboard indicate the highbeams are on when it is supposed to?

I haven't checked the fuses with the voltmeter, but I'm not sure which setting to use, or what the results are supposed to be. (My husband is the one who knows how to use it, but he's asleep right now.) The dashboard indicator does illuminate.

Did you check them visually or with the voltmeter? It's always best to check them with the meter. Either verify continuity across the fuse or check for power at both sides of it.

 

Does the dashboard indicate the highbeams are on when it is supposed to?

Have you tried to jiggle the wiper switch? Maybe there's a worn contact inside.

Check the DRL relay - it is on the ground lead for the headlights - if the DRL is on, the relay puts a resistor in the ground circuit, pulling the voltage down (dimming the brights) and if the DRL is off, it is supposed to switch to the other side so that the ground is just a ground - if it's not closing the circuit when it's supposed to, then you won't have the ground connection for the brights, and they won't turn on. When the brights are off (but are supposed to be on), you can check the resistance on the ground side of the connector - should be very low resistance to ground - if it's open, that's likely your problem.

Have you tried to jiggle the wiper switch? Maybe there's a worn contact inside.

I tried that tonight, the stick has no play in it.

Check the DRL relay - it is on the ground lead for the headlights - if the DRL is on, the relay puts a resistor in the ground circuit, pulling the voltage down (dimming the brights) and if the DRL is off, it is supposed to switch to the other side so that the ground is just a ground - if it's not closing the circuit when it's supposed to, then you won't have the ground connection for the brights, and they won't turn on. When the brights are off (but are supposed to be on), you can check the resistance on the ground side of the connector - should be very low resistance to ground - if it's open, that's likely your problem.

 

We will definitely give this a look, thanks. Where in the car is this located? I in the engine fuse box?

We will definitely give this a look, thanks. Where in the car is this located? I in the engine fuse box?

Should be this guy (the lid to the fuse/relay box is labelled)

have you removed and inpected the bulbs? if not, while your there you can set your volt meter on dc volts, turn your high beams on and you should measure source voltage across the plug.

Should be this guy (the lid to the fuse/relay box is labelled)

 

Thank you. I figured it might be in the engine bay box, but wasn't sure. I appreciate the electrical diagram also. Pulling the relays before was very trying as we don't have a puller tool, but we ordered one that should be here Monday. We'll probably test that on Wednesday.

have you removed and inpected the bulbs? if not, while your there you can set your volt meter on dc volts, turn your high beams on and you should measure source voltage across the plug.

 

We have not tried this as we did not have information about what current the voltmeter should read. We will most likely check this on Wednesday. Thank you.

We have not tried this as we did not have information about what current the voltmeter should read. We will most likely check this on Wednesday. Thank you.

 

 

 

Don’t measure the current across the headlight connector without the headlight in the circuit. You’ll blow either the fuse in your ammeter or the headlight fuse.

 

As for measuring the *voltage* at that terminal, that should be 12V in either switch state, DRL’s or high beams. If you find that the voltage across the high beam filament supply to the ground isn’t 12V, you either don’t have a supply to the hot terminal or the ground terminal isn’t connected. You can check the voltage between the supply terminal and some other thing at ground (negative battery terminal, an engine bracket or something like that). If that’s 12V, your ground wiring is bad. If it’s still 0 or 0-ish, you’ve got an issue in your supply, either wiring, a relay, or a switch.

 

 

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This was the culprit right here. When I first tried to pull it, the cover of the relay came off. Finally pulling the relay itself showed discoloration near contact points. Pulled the Main Fan 2 relay right next door, and put that in and SUCCESS the brights were functional again. I feel silly for not having noticed that relay at first, or looking closer at discovering that the DRL used the same bulbs as the brights. Replaced that relay last night.

Should be this guy (the lid to the fuse/relay box is labelled)

 

Thanks to everyone in here who chimed in. Your assistance is most appreciated.

Congrats on figuring it out and thanks for sharing the solution. Always good to have that documented here in case anyone else has the same issue.