delerium75

So lately at night, I've been having an issue with my high beams. I'll turn them on and one of several things will happen. 1st--one side will turn on, the other won't. Then momentarily later (within a second or two), the other side will. All other outside lights appear to remain on. 2nd--neither side will turn on (in the dark except for the rest of the exterior lights), then a couple moments later, either one or both sides turn on. 3rd--one side will turn on, the other won't for an slightly extended period of time (5 seconds maybe?) and a yellow or orange dash light (the upper bank of dash lights on the passenger side) will begin to glow (battery light? it's not on long enough to tell...since it's on the other side of the dash) and then one or both will come on and the dash light goes out. Flash to pass turns the headlights out or only one side or the other will work.

I've searched around here and can only find one post that was similar but had no replies from like 7-8 years ago...and it was a third gen I believe. I'm thinking headlight switch going bad? Or headlight relay? It appears to be getting worse...especially with it doing the no-headlights-at-all thing occaisionally.

Of note, I will be replacing the alternator later this week since I'm getting a pretty loud bearing noise after a few minutes of running plus some weird behavior watching the voltmeter. A couple times, with A/C running, turning on the turn signal to make a turn will cause the gauge to jump up and down a fraction of an inch in sync with the turn signal. Also, just some weirdness in general...down to maybe 11-12, then jumping back up to 14-14.5. So I'm also wondering if the headlight issue could also be a symptom of a failing alternator? 114K car, probably the original alternator, battery at 12.5-12.6 volts.

Amerikaner83

iTrader: (17)

could be alternator in the fact that it's not putting out enough for both lights @ the same time

Replace that and report back

vernk

I would say replace the alternator and go from there, is the battery at 12v with the car running of with it off, it should be at 14v while running.

delerium75

The worsening of the headlight issue has also followed the worsening of the bearing noise...so now that I actually typed that out and thought a little bit, I'm also leaning towards the alternator being the culprit. 12.5-.6 with the car off. Denso reman should be here Thursday...will report then or Friday.

seabob4

At least it's easy to swap. Probably the easiest alternator I've ever done.

Watch what you get and make sure you have a lifetime warranty on it. I was getting my re-mans from Advance Auto, damn thing would crap out after about a year and 3 mos. Soon as it would heat up (about 15 minutes of driving), voltmeter drop to around 11V. Could almost set my watch by it. Take it back, they'd test it...of course it worked fine, it's cool! Give me a frickin new one!

Last one's been good for a couple years now...

delerium75

Denso has 12 month warranty. It seems like any rebuilt or reman'd part is a crap shoot these days with so many using Chinese parts. I've had a nice amazon g.c. sitting around since x-mas so in the end, it cost me $60 and I'll get half that back with the core return. New Delco wasn't an option on amazon but they had new Remy. This new one (and the car) just needs to make it thru to next year.

delerium75

Well, it definitely appears to be the switch. Got the alternator in Thursday night (pretty easy and straight forward BTW but I wish I had a ratcheting wrench for that bolt on the back), drove it around and while the engine is properly quiet now and no weirdness going on in that area, the headlight switch was no better. So I took that out tonight and looked at it a bit. It looks like it could be taken apart--a plastic box with two end caps but 6-8 small tabs holding each cap in. There's some small metal contacts that the high beams pivot on and off of those depending on what you're moving the switch around to do. I just sprayed some electronics cleaner in there and q-tipped what I could. While the high beams work a little more reliably (not perfect but both came on more often than not), flash to pass is still not right. I didn't take the switch apart since I didn't have the time tonight but if it can be carefully disassembled, I bet with a good cleaning, polish up the contacts and greasing up the pivot points might keep it functional awhile longer but I'm sure I'll end up having to buy a new one sooner or later.