Turn on headlights with engine off?

Hello All,
I'm trying to troubleshoot a loose connection on one headlight, '03 Jetta TDI. Head lamp flickers when you hit a bump..... I'm pretty sure I can find this by wiggling each connection independently but I'd like to do this with the engine off, given the cold weather, in the garage. Is there a way to turn on the headlights without the engine running? There must be a way to trip the relay? Thx, RT

Is this a serious thread?



I was thinking it was April the first....

Ignition in "on" position but car not running will get you what you want.

Okay in the interest of full disclosure, this isn't my car, I drive it infrequently and I don't remember the idiosyncrasies.....

Wife arrives home and describes flickering light issue. I went down to have a look, switched on the headlights, no lights. Turned on ignition, no lights. Hmmmm, started car, okay lights come on. Went about verifying the headlight issue, yes it flickers when I rap on it. Turn car off, lights go off. Turn lights on again, no lights. Start car, no lights. Okay its cold I'm not messing with this now, back inside. I figured this was an idiosyncrasy with the car...

Return to car a day later, after posting this question, try to turn lights on. No lights. Start car, no lights! ***! Apparently I was present to the last cycle of the headlight relay? I appears I have two problems to work on now.....