[Myko]

Recently the low beams just stopped working, the high beams and running/parking lights all work fine, but when I hit the dimmer switch, I have no headlights.

I thought it might be the dimmer relay, so I pulled it and jumpered it, then I had high beams whether I flipped the dimmer switch or not, ( I thought it might do the opposite ).

I guess there just must be a wire to the low beams that is shorted or broken?
Or perhaps a problem in the switch in the steering column?

Incidentally, around the same time I noticed that both my front and rear windshield sprayer had stopped working.

Anybody have any problems like this?

 

[Robert]

You didn't mention fuses. Did you check those? Sometimes a fuse for something else can go out (like for the sprayer) and can cause other things not to work.

 

[xkaibox]

You didn't say if you replaced the bulb or not. Its common for the low beams to burn out but not the high beams. Pick one up and install it, if it still doesn't work at least you have one new bulb.

For your issue with the wind shield sprayer, first check for a blown fuse. If the fuse is ok, then you have to check the motors. You will have to remove the inner fender on the drivers side, disconnect the 2P connectors from the washer motors. Test the washer motors by connecting the battery power to the No. 1 terminals and ground to the No. 2 terminals. If the motors fail to run smoothly or do not run at all, replace them. If the motors run smoothly, but there is not enough fluid pumped, check for disconnected, blocked or damaged washer hoses. (quote from the shop manual)

 

[Robert]

You didn't say if you replaced the bulb or not. Its common for the low beams to burn out but not the high beams. Pick one up and install it, if it still doesn't work at least you have one new bulb.

Can't believe I didn't think of that. But odds are that the low beam portion on both bulbs would not go out at the same time.

 

[xkaibox]

I have seen it before on my work van, one bulbs low beams quit and within a day or two the other one does as well. Seems to me when summer ends and the weather gets worse bulbs start going bad due to leaks or whatever.

 

[Myko]

I checked all the fuses under the dash, they are fine.
I'll test the sprayer motors but it seems unlikely that they would both fail as it also seems unlikely that both low beams would go out at near the same time.
But I have a spare head light that I will pop in to check, I am away from the vehicle for a week, but I will post what I find out then.
Thanks for replies.

PS The bulbs in the car now are sylvania silvers that I put in less than a year ago.

 

[Myko]

OK, I now just recently also lost both of my high beams, so I have no headlights at all.

I just checked on autozone and noticed that they carry the headlight switch; the fact that they carry it at all indicates that it is something that tends to fail at some point, so I am thinking that it might be my problem.

I am going home and pulling the switch to see what it looks like, has anyone done this? I am assuming it is not that difficult.

 

[Andre5]

I have not had any headlight issues, but of my windshield sprayers do not work. Please post if/when you resolve the windshield sprayer issue.

Thanks.

 

[Myko]

Are you saying that both your front and back windshield sprayers do not work?

If that's the case, do you believe that they stopped working about the same time?

 

[Andre5]

I have no clue how long both have been inoperable. I inherited the Odyssey from my father, and he does not recall even trying to use them. It has been in the family since new. I'll try and get around to looking into it in more detail in the next few weeks.

 

[Myko]

Well with the danger of looking like an idiot, I found out a couple days ago that it was in fact just my headlights.

I bought new headlights and the replacement headlight switch at Autozone, and found out the new headlights worked fine with the old switch.

But in my defense, just to recap the contents of this thread,
my low beams went out at about the same time ( I never noticed having only one low beam ), and about a month later, my high beams went out at about the same time ( again I never noticed having only one high beam ).

I drive around quite a bit at night, and I'm not usually excedingly dense; even if you don't notice the one headlight out driving on darker roads (which I do a lot), you just have to pull up at night in front of a 7-11 or Starbucks or any building with a lot of glass and it will be obvious.

As I said before, the bulbs were Sylvania Ultras, which by the companies' own literature, have like 3 or 4 times less lifespan that OE type bulbs. When the low beams went out they had been in about 11 months, and the high beams quit just a few days short of a year.

Personally, I like headlights to last a lot longer than that, and I also was not impressed with the supposedly better output and brightness of the Ultras; to my eye, they only seemed to put out a whiter light, not brighter or more illuminating. So I went with the Sylvania standards this time, $20 at Autozone for the pair.

A couple explanations come to mind about the bulbs appearing to fail about the same time:
1. Maybe when one bulb goes out, the change in current flow on the other bulb causes it to quickly fail also.
Or
2. Maybe these bulbs are manufactured to such tight specifications that they tend to just uniformly deteriorate.

Or perhaps both factors are at work.

I guess I'm just used to pre-halogen type headlights. I remember in the 80's and 90's, I might have a headlight fail on my vehicle, and another bulb installed at the same time might work fine for two or three years longer.

I will try to get around to checking out the windshield washer motors soon.