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Both low beam headlights out
Ford Trucks Ford Trucks (alt.trucks.ford)
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#1
 
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Both low beam headlights out -
05-19-2007
, 02:50 PM
#2
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Vehicle is a 93 Ford Ranger. My son visited me yesterday and mentioned that one of his headlights was out. Upon observing, I noted that both low beams were out. I removed one headlight bulb and sure enough, one of the filiments is broken. My son swears that he had one low beam working just the night before. I suspect a wiring problem since the odds of BOTH low beams failing within 24 hours are very high. However, both of the high beams work ok. That leads me to believe that maybe the wiring and switch is ok. Turn signals, stop lights and parking lights work ok. If I replace both headlight bulbs and both of the low beam filiments blow, where should I start looking as to a short circuit? By the way, I checked the fuse box under the hood and could not find any headlight relay. Is there one? Does the Ford have a built in circuit breaker in the headlight switch as do most other vehicles? |
(two high beams, two low beams, but the lows also had another filament that
ran on high). Anyway, one night I noticed I had no low beams, but the
highs were ok.
I assumed it was a wiring problem and spent an afternoon troubleshooting.
I was ready to give up when my father-in-law mentioned the bulbs were
probably bad. Didn't believe it, but bought two new low beams, installed
and everything worked again.
RCE
#3
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#4
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It is odd that both woulld fail at the same time, but it can happen. Put new bulbs in and drive happy ... |
If they all failed like that I would do a voltage check on truck
because if you have high voltage from a bad regulatorin alternator it
can shorten headlight life a lot!!!
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TheSnoMan.com
#5
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Vehicle is a 93 Ford Ranger. My son visited me yesterday and mentioned that one of his headlights was out. Upon observing, I noted that both low beams were out. I removed one headlight bulb and sure enough, one of the filiments is broken. My son swears that he had one low beam working just the night before. I suspect a wiring problem since the odds of BOTH low beams failing within 24 hours are very high. However, both of the high beams work ok. That leads me to believe that maybe the wiring and switch is ok. Turn signals, stop lights and parking lights work ok. If I replace both headlight bulbs and both of the low beam filiments blow, where should I start looking as to a short circuit? By the way, I checked the fuse box under the hood and could not find any headlight relay. Is there one? Does the Ford have a built in circuit breaker in the headlight switch as do most other vehicles? |
#6
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Vehicle is a 93 Ford Ranger. My son visited me yesterday and mentioned that one of his headlights was out. Upon observing, I noted that both low beams were out. I removed one headlight bulb and sure enough, one of the filiments is broken. My son swears that he had one low beam working just the night before. I suspect a wiring problem since the odds of BOTH low beams failing within 24 hours are very high. |
part you'd see reduced voltage, and the lights would last forever. Odds are
it's just that the first light burned out 2 years ago, and you're just now
finding it out. If there is a problem it's that the system voltage is
running too high. You can easily check that with a volt meter.
#7
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Vehicle is a 93 Ford Ranger. My son visited me yesterday and mentioned that one of his headlights was out. Upon observing, I noted that both low beams were out. I removed one headlight bulb and sure enough, one of the filiments is broken. My son swears that he had one low beam working just the night before. I suspect a wiring problem since the odds of BOTH low beams failing within 24 hours are very high. However, both of the high beams work ok. That leads me to believe that maybe the wiring and switch is ok. Turn signals, stop lights and parking lights work ok. If I replace both headlight bulbs and both of the low beam filiments blow, where should I start looking as to a short circuit? By the way, I checked the fuse box under the hood and could not find any headlight relay. Is there one? Does the Ford have a built in circuit breaker in the headlight switch as do most other vehicles? Replace just one , that way they both won't 'blow'. :-) You're worried about |
#8
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On Sat, 19 May 2007 23:38:11 GMT, "Jeff Strickland" crwlr (AT) verizon (DOT) net> wrote: It is odd that both woulld fail at the same time, but it can happen. Put new bulbs in and drive happy ... If they all failed like that I would do a voltage check on truck because if you have high voltage from a bad regulatorin alternator it can shorten headlight life a lot!!! |
Only the Low Beams have failed, and there are only two of them. I would not
suspect a voltage regulator at this time.
Replace the bulbs and drive happy ...
PS
You should learn how to reply to the person you are actually talking to.
#9
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On Sat, 19 May 2007 18:50:31 GMT, "sf/gf" <sf90006 (AT) kart (DOT) com wrote: Vehicle is a 93 Ford Ranger. My son visited me yesterday and mentioned that one of his headlights was out. Upon observing, I noted that both low beams were out. I removed one headlight bulb and sure enough, one of the filiments is broken. My son swears that he had one low beam working just the night before. I suspect a wiring problem since the odds of BOTH low beams failing within 24 hours are very high. However, both of the high beams work ok. That leads me to believe that maybe the wiring and switch is ok. Turn signals, stop lights and parking lights work ok. If I replace both headlight bulbs and both of the low beam filiments blow, where should I start looking as to a short circuit? By the way, I checked the fuse box under the hood and could not find any headlight relay. Is there one? Does the Ford have a built in circuit breaker in the headlight switch as do most other vehicles? It is a quite normal occurance after one lamp fails. Once you have one lamp failed, the other will usually have a bit more voltage available |
Say what!?
My house has vlotage coming in from the nearest transformer. If I unplug
EVERYTHING except for one night light, the light is still only going to get
110 and draw the amperage it requires. It will not get blasted with all of
the voltage and current coming into the house. A motor vehicle works the
same way -- the alternator produces whatever it produces, and any given load
takes what it needs. If there are too many loads, then the voltage produced
will drop, but there is no way that any given load will be over-supplied.
What is normal is that two bulbs will have similar life spans and when one
of them fails, the other one is not far behind. I always replace headlamps
in pairs just for this reason.
#10
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Only the Low Beams have failed, and there are only two of them. I would not suspect a voltage regulator at this time. |
That depends because low beams are used the most and would suffer
first from over voltage. It only takes a few seconds to check voltage.
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TheSnoMan.com
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