Headlights/sidelights won't work 300tdi

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Flailbasher

Member
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57
Location
Swindon
Hi all!

I was driving early yesterday, with my headlights on full beam along with the Wipac 100watt lights on the front switched on. I then turned on my radio and stuck in my iPhone and was playing some music.

Shortly after my lights started going up and down and then cut out. Now they don't work. The only thing that works is when I flash my main beam by pulling back the lever. However, only the right light goes main. Not the left or the new Wipac headlights..

I have checked:

Fuses: fine
Yellow relay: fine (I'm pretty sure it's one of the yellow ones)
One sidelight bulb: fine
Looked at the headlight bulbs which I think are halogen: fine

Used another switch for the headlights and it didn't change anything. Only the front right headlight worked when it was flashed with the lever.

Could someone please tell me what I haven't checked and where to start looking? Thank you in advance!

A picture is attached of the fuse box/relays and I have takes the middle yellow one out.

Tom
 

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Have you got the Wipacs running of the headlight wiring?
Have you installed the relay mod as shown on the CFAQ section..
If not, then it is likely to be the Headlight stalk on the steering column as it is not designed for such high current. ( circa 30 Amps)
 
The first suspect I would think would be an earth connection quickly followed by an iffy lighting switch, but as you state you have tried a replacement switch and the issue is still there it can't be the switch.
So did you test fuses and bulbs with a meter or just looked at them? same with the relay, do you only have one relay in the combined lighting circuit?

What do you mean by "my lights started going up and down" alternating between main and dip?
Also do you think this snippet of info "I then turned on my radio and stuck in my iPhone and was playing some music" has some bearing on your lighting issue if so start testing there. Or is that something we can ignore.

Bottom line is get your multimeter out and start testing:)
 
Yeah I wired them into the main beam on the headlights, however the relay and fuses are all fine as I've tested them all with different testers. The bulbs are all fine as well.

Well no before when I played the radio as well as the lights on the radio would make a strange white noise sound and the radio was breaking up so I couldn't play the radio as well as having the lights on because I think some idiot put the wiring through the power line on the lights.
The radio still works though... Which is why I don't get the lights not working..

And by "up and down" I meant like from bright to not bright and then crash- lights out.

So basically all relays I can think of, including the Wipac are fine. Fuses are fine. Bulbs are fine.....
 
I did also smell some burning.. But I can't tell whether it was just me being worried or whether something actually melted.. It wasn't a strong smell so it could've been my imagination..
 
Flailbasher said:
I did also smell some burning.. But I can't tell whether it was just me being worried or whether something actually melted.. It wasn't a strong smell so it could've been my imagination..
Click to expand...

You nana it sounds as if you've overloaded your switch ...

Playing with auto electrics should be banned for people who don't understand what can happen ...

Did you use nice thick heavy wire for your Wipacs too?
 
It was the sidelight/dipped beam switch. I checked the main beam switch but not the other one. So all is working fine. It had basically melted so have re-wired the wipac's. :)
 
Flailbasher said:
Yeah the wiring for the wipacs was already in there. I replaced the relay and fuse and linked into the headlight main beam.
Click to expand...
Already there does not always mean already correct.

I have had many vehicles of all kinds come to me with spotlights tapped straight off the main beam, usually from just the one side.
Its bad enough when its a pair of legal 55w spots, a pair of 100s without a relay, well that's pushing 5x the current draw of a single high beam element. Why would a car manufacturer use 25A cable when they can use 5A cable much cheaper?
 
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