jerbear

My wife and I have a 1999 4Runner SR5 V-6, A/T. When she got home from work this evening she informed me that the headlights are not working. I went out to look at it and here is what I found.

Low beams don't work
High Beams do work
The high beam light on the dash does not come on when you engage the high beams.
Everything else works, running lights, horn, hazards, radio, HVAC.
Looked under the dash-no blown fuses
Looked under hood, the headlight fuses are OK.
I dont know what else to check, my wife is afraid to drive the vehicle.

jerbear

The truck started right up and drove fine this morning but still no low beam headlights. Any suggestions?

eric-the-red

Do you have a test light or a voltmeter. If not get one, they're cheap, and check if the low beam wire is getting power at the headlight. If it is then the bulbs are gone. If not it could be the switch in the steering column.

There's some info on here about the switch,

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml
but I would bet on burnt out bulbs

jackwolf

"When she got home from work this evening she informed me that the headlights are not working. I went out to look at it and here is what I found.

Low beams don't work
High Beams do work"

This is the premise. There is a joke in there somewhere.

jerbear

Problem solved. Replaced the headlight relay under the hood and put in two fresh bulbs. New bulbs didn't do the trick and just a new relay with old bulbs didn't work either. But the combination fixed the problem, it even restored the high beam light on the dash. Weird huh?

Ron Helmuth

glad to hear it is solved so quickly. Would you mind revealing the location of this headlight relay?

jerbear

The relay is under the hood in the fuse block on the drivers side fender. The schematic is on the lid of the fuse block, it is the relay designated "head". There are to little pressure clips that need to be released. If the relay is bad and you break the clips no big deal, but if you are removing things to test them then you are better of releasing the clips. I used a small flat head screwdriver commonly used for working on computers or electrical equipment. Hope that helps.

Ron Helmuth

thanks yes that is most helpful especially when others follow along on a search years and years later.

Very much appreciate the feedback and electrical stuff is never boring to me.