No low beams on 2014 Ford Escape

Question

2014 Ford Escape Titanium 2.0L

Both low beams went out at once. They went out while driving. Turning the car off and on again fixed it once. Then it happened again and they are out for good.

I checked the fuses. They seem to be good. I found 3 documented fuses that it could be and all of them physically look ok. I plan recheck them w/ my multimeter soon.

I replaced the headlight switch left of the steering column. No difference.

I don't think there is a relay on the 2014 Escape. But I did listen to the light and I hear a click when the lights are turned on. I don't know where a related relay would be on this car.

The headlights themselves are probably beyond my ability/risk tolerance to replace. They require 2 Torx T10 screws to remove and it's not easy to see in there. I guess it's possible that they both went out at once. And without at least being able to remove the wire I don't think I can test for 12V w/ my multimeter.

High beams work fine. No dashboard error lights. So I think we can rule out the BCM.

I'm about to give up and let Ford ream me out of huge bucks on this one. Are there any thoughts on what might be at issue?

Answer 1

Despite the odds, both headlight bulbs failed simultaneously. Each bulb has 2 T10 Torx screws that must be removed. And an electrical wire that needs to be removed first. See this video for details.

I used super glue to glue the screw to the Torx scredriver. I still lost one screw to the body. It's so difficult to align these screws it might actually be easier to do the front bumper removal method.

Note, when you are testing for voltage at the low beams the car has to be turned on or in accessory mode (radio turns on). The low beams do not power on with any setting while the vehicle is powered off or not in accessory mode. I decided not to even mess with this test for safety reasons. The battery is also difficult to work with on this car.

Overall, this job isn't fun. It only cost me $35 for these D3S HID lights on Amazon. Knowing what I now know, if I could pay someone to do this for less than $500 I would probably choose that option.

Blown bulb on the left. Good on right.