2005 Honda Accord. Replaced the fuses even though fuse looked good. Took it in to have bulbs replaced but still did nothing. Went on vacation for about 2 weeks, car was in the garage. Came back used it first night everything fine. Next day went to turn on headlights and both were out, but high beams worked. Low beams aren't working but high beams work. Any ideas?
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6 Answers
I would bet the problem lies in the relay, which should be located under the hood. It should look something like this:
Each of the high beams and low beams will have their own relay. The switch which is only used to energize the relay. The relay provides the power for the head lights.
The underhood fuse box should look like this:
On the underside of the cover, there should be a diagram showing which ones the relays are. Each for the high-beams and low-beams should have the same type of relay, so you can swap them out to see if this is your issue. If this is the issue, it will get you to the parts store so you can pick up a new one as well.
Relays don't usually go bad, but like all mechanical things, they don't last forever.
answered Sep 27, 2014 at 23:17
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Not sure which relays would be for the lighting. I want to assume and say the ones with the green caps? They have equal volts. And the 3 black have equal volts. Sorry not much of electrical savvy on my part. I can't tell from the guie either– ChrisCommented Sep 27, 2014 at 23:48
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Like I said I above, look under the cover (turn it upside down). It will tell you which is what.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 0:28
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It only has pictures on the relays. All the fuses have descriptions (lo/lo left (for left lowbeam fuse)) but the relays have small pictures that I can't decipher.– ChrisCommented Sep 28, 2014 at 1:00
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@Chris - you are not following, my friend. Take the top off (the black thing - otherwise known as the cover). Turn it over to see the under side of it. That is where you'll see what I'm talking about. It should have the entire layout of your fuse box with descriptions to which ones the relays are and what they go to. The ones with numbers on them are fuses, just higher rated than what you have in your cabin fuse box.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 2:24
Relays are little micro-switches with electromagnetic actuators that make the mechanical action of switching. This electromagnet needs a continuous solid ground connection to work consistently. The ground leg on the relay relies on its pole connector to make complete connection to the ground circuit of the relay/fuse board that holds all these plugged in components. The ground circuit connection from this relay/fuse component receptacles board must have good connection to vehicle body/frame ground connection.
If corroded or loose, this ground connection for the component board will create numerous bad connection results ranging from fried hot-spots on the board and in the fuse/relay receptacles to relays that have internally damaged contacts that will perform oddly and provide anything from temporary connection to partial connection to no connection. All randomly produced from varying degrees of conduction affected by heat and other varying physical conditions on the circuit at that particular moment. Often these relay/fuse boards are mounted on plastic supports that insulate the board to the vehicle frame.
Connection from the vehicle grounded frame is accomplished via a wire conductor or incorporated into the circuit board's thin film grounding conductor pattern routed through one of the hold down bolt/screw into the metal frame to achieve necessary ground connection. So a good ground connection for this relay/fuse circuit board is critical for it to function. Connection to ground often becomes corroded or vibrated loose. Wire brushing, re-crimping and re-tightening has solved many a phantom dysfunction on these connection dependent relay/fuse boards. These relay/fuse box bolt/screws ground connections sometimes require looking underneath these boxes to identify and confirm this ground connection.
In the fuse box, as shown in the picture: Left-low beam is fuse F1, right-low beam is F6. Also look at the two 40amp fuses, marked F15 and F19. These two 40 amp fuses feed the other fuses. Fuses F1 to F4 are supply-fused by F19, and fuses F5 to F9 are supply-fused by F15.
I've had this problem before and it turned out that the switch in the stalk failed in a way that prevented low beams from working, but not high beams. The relays (as listed by others) would be my first place to look, but if you can get at the stalk connector, it's usually pretty easy to test the switch for proper operation (continuity).
answered Nov 4, 2014 at 17:03
We had this problem on our 2006 Dodge Ram we took it to a mechanic he hooked it up and sent it new codes bc it need an update and it fixed the problem
I dont know where you looked for the fuse, but I found that it's not under the hood of the 2008 accord. It's beneath the steering column by the driver's left foot. Fuse no. 30. There's another one on the passenger side (one to each individual lightbulb) , but I only had to change the passenger side and both headlights started working..
