...unless TWW can help me figure out why my low beams don't work.

Vehicle in question is a 1997 Camry.

Yesterday morning I noticed that both my headlight weren't on when I got to work. I'm pretty sure I remember them being on when I left my house because it was lightly raining, but it wasn't dark enough that I would notice the lack of headlights outside of my garage unless they didn't reflect off the car in front of me (which is what happened when I pulled into my parking space).

Turns out my high beams work just fine. My indicator and parking lights work fine too. I don't have any lights on my dashboard saying I have a dead headlight. It's just my low beams that don't work.

I've checked all my fuses, jiggled wires, and looked at both bulbs -- bulbs look fine (they almost look brand new, actually). When I turn my headlights on, there's still the familiar "click" sound from under the hood. Just...no low beams.

More info:
I don't think it is the bulbs, since the chance of them both dying at exactly the same time is astronomically small. My car sat in my garage for a week while I was on vacation, and my lights worked just fine on Monday. I'm even 99% sure they turned on Tuesday morning when I left for work...but they weren't on when I got to work.


Any suggestions?

[Edited on August 22, 2012 at 7:37 AM. Reason : ]

8/22/2012 7:36:18 AM

I've had both of my headlights go on me at the same time before...it can happen. I didn't find out until I was bringing the car in to get my yearly inspection

Pay 8-12 dollars and swap out a new bulb. At the very least, you'll have an extra bulb for the future. If it works, then you know that it's the bulb. If it doesn't work, you can officially rule out the bulb.

8/22/2012 7:53:47 AM

Quote :

"I've had both of my headlights go on me at the same time before...it can happen."

Looks like that's what happened to me, too. What the frack.

I had a new set of spare bulbs I bought awhile back in my garage so I just went to check the bulbs one last time to completely rule them out. Turns out the filaments I looked at yesterday were the high beam filaments, and both low beam filaments were blown. I just missed it when I originally checked.

What the heck would cause both my low beams to die at the same instant? That's a bit disconcerting.

Anyway, my lights are back up. Now I'm curious if there's an issue elsewhere that would cause both lights to die at the same time.

[Edited on August 22, 2012 at 8:15 AM. Reason : ]

8/22/2012 8:15:22 AM

two identical parts are operated identically. doesn't seem strange at all to me that they would go out at about the same time. are you sure you weren't riding around with one low beam out for a little while?

8/22/2012 9:43:02 AM

It's normal. If you have daytime running lights that use the low beams they will almost always fail within a week or two of one another.

8/22/2012 10:31:06 AM

I think there are a lot that don't use the lowbeam lamps though. I know on our Alero the DRL's use the high beams, just at a reduced intensity.

8/22/2012 4:30:29 PM

probably got low on headlight grease.

8/22/2012 4:33:14 PM

Quote :

"are you sure you weren't riding around with one low beam out for a little while?"

It is possible but I would like to believe it is unlikely. I generally see the exact same pattern of headlights on my garage wall when leaving, and if it were suddenly reduced by half I'd think I would notice. But, stranger things have happened.

These were not DRLs, just normal headlights. Probably ~4ish years old, I would estimate.

Quote :

"probably got low on headlight grease."

Thanks for the reminder, I need to check my blinker fluid.

8/22/2012 8:18:03 PM

^Bulb grease/Dielectric grease is an actual thing, and it doesn't hurt to use it.

8/29/2012 10:38:21 AM