LIGHTS on Lights OFF

[ORCoaster]

Driving home the other night in the rain and twisty section of the route I decided to pop on the high beamers.  Working good, then boom, DARKNESS.  Touched the lever ever so slightly and on again.  That lasted about 15 seconds then DARKNESS again.  This time I pulled the lever to get back to low beams.  They work fine. 

But the highs won't stay lit.  Played with the lever and only seemed to make it worse.  Or is there a relay on the highs and I was just heating it up and it was cutting out on me.  I looked at the Bentley and it shows a load leveling relay connected to the light switch.  Is this in the Fuse Box or under the hood in the engine compartment.

I have other relays and may just mod them in and take the load off the switch all together. 

Any ideas, comments on why I am in the dark when on high beams?  Not cool having them go out in a curve doing 15 over the limit.  No moon out either. 

[damac]

Is this the car in your sig?  I have read about mk1 cars having issues with water getting in from windshield seal and draining onto the fusebox leading to corrosion, etc.  I have an 82 jetta I am getting rid of soon and it has some picky electronics and sure enough I had to replace some relays from the get go because they were rotted inside out.  Also check over the stalk with the wheel off I think just to make sure everything is functioning.  Mine was going haywire to and the windshield wipers.  I yanked the part off an mk2 car I think.

I also have seen mention about taking the load off that switch for the headlights.  Same deal on the old f250 I had and I believe it had a breaker internally and allot of juice going through it.  I saw that switch do some wierd stuff like go off, inbetween light positions.  I did the relay mod to each of those with waterproof relays/housings and self resettting breakers on the highs and lows and never had an issue after that.  Also relayed the running lights on that one.

I got a 79 rabbit I am bringing back to life and if it weren't for a few wierd looking plastic taps with a few legs cut clear off, all the wiring and fusebox seems to be in sound shape.   But I am going to relay those lights no matter what.

[Dakotakid]

Need dimmer switch.

[ORCoaster]

damac,   Car is the 81 Rabbit in the sig.  If it wasn't raining cats and dogs out this weekend I would be pulling the  steering apart and checking the switch for sure.  Seems the most likely candidate. I replace the windshield two years ago and the seal was good.  I don't think that is the problem.  Will be doing that again soon as I now have a crack starting to spread up it.  But as far as I know no water inside.  I check all the time as I have redone the wing windows with the later model ones and need to be sure that they are doing OK.  We get so much water that you can't afford to have a leak because just getting in and out through the week makes the carpets soaking wet.

Thanks for the hints.  DAS

[CRSMP5]

between the fender and batt in the harness... follow the red wire into it.. cut it open... there is a steel crimp holding the hot wires together that turns green... gassers will quit running.. but as long as you hold the high beam on will run...

check that connection..

[745 turbogreasel]

Whenever it rained, I
'd have to pull all the relays out of my Caddy, and dump the water out of them before my wipers and stuff woud work.

[fatmobile]

 Probably just the high beam switch.
 You might find a melted piece when you take it apart,.. if' it's actually turning the lights off.

 Good time to upgrade to headlight relays if you really want reliability.

[R.O.R-2.0]

dimmer switch..

its got bad contacts on the high side..

all my rabbits have done that at some point..

thought it was a VW thing?! lol..

if you keep switching from lows to highs, eventually they stay on, until you hit a big enough bump to jar the contacts..

[ORCoaster]

I would rather not have to deal with the blackouts.  You know these coastal roads kev.  Sometimes that extra half a second is all it takes to be off the edge of the fog line.  And what do we have here my dear?  Ocean view?  Going to have to get them cleaned up after I finish the exhaust exchange.  On but not welded or sealed in any reasonable way. 

[R.O.R-2.0]

I would rather not have to deal with the blackouts.  You know these coastal roads kev.  Sometimes that extra half a second is all it takes to be off the edge of the fog line.  And what do we have here my dear?  Ocean view?  Going to have to get them cleaned up after I finish the exhaust exchange.  On but not welded or sealed in any reasonable way. 

yup, half a second is all it takes..

[ORCoaster]

Just to sort of finish this one off.  I did check the switch in the steer column and it seems to be good. 

I purchased 5 relays last summer for a dollar a piece on line and now I know why they were selling so cheap.  When they put the wires on them they reversed the red and black ones so unless you know that the # 30 isn't the ground but the always positive you are trying to switch over the darned things wouldn't work.  I just grabbed them up and did a test on the bench as they were the type that have 12 volts to one wire if no voltage to the relay and then send it to the other when you do.  I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on at first but with a diagram provided here on this forum a while back, THKs on that, I was able to just use a small screwdriver to release the keeper tab in the plug and swap the wires.

I wonder if all of them from that supplier are like that.  So, once I got that portion of the problem solved I installed two of them on the lights.  One for regular beam one for high.  I see that they are brighter now, not that orange glow off the road but white so that is what I was hoping for.  I will see if it helps with the peek a boo high beams on the next run to the big city later this month.