werdna
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- TDI
- 2003 Jetta Wagon, 2013 Touareg Sport, 2015 GSW
Hi, all, and my apologies for in advance for asking a question I could answer at least half of with a few minutes and my (far, far away) Bentley manual.
Anyway, after toggling the high-beams on and off a lot for the past few days (moose-dodging at 2am in the wilds of New Brunswick), the low beams have started to not come on when the high beams come off! This can be very, very exciting in the right circumstances, but I can not recommend it for fun. Turning the main (stock) headlight switch off gets my low-beams back as DRLs, and switching the high beams on and off a few times gets me my low beams back (eventually), though it confuses the hell out of any other drivers in range.
My fuzzy recollection is that voltage for the headlights goes from the ignition to the high/low switch to the headlight switch to the headlights, which suggests that my high/low switch has almost certainly crapped out, and that whole switch cluster is probably sold as a unit for more than my car is worth.
Sound right? Where does everyone go for dealer-type parts? (Is there a better mail-order option than to belly up to the local dealer parts counter?) I've been getting maintenance stuff from the fine people at tdiparts.com to date, but they don't have everything. (On the other hand, given the expected price, maybe I should head for the junkyard instead.)
Thanks for any clues/advice/recommendations! (If anyone has a spare switch cluster (2003 Jetta GL wagon, but I think it's generic A4), feel free to write, too!)
Anyway, after toggling the high-beams on and off a lot for the past few days (moose-dodging at 2am in the wilds of New Brunswick), the low beams have started to not come on when the high beams come off! This can be very, very exciting in the right circumstances, but I can not recommend it for fun. Turning the main (stock) headlight switch off gets my low-beams back as DRLs, and switching the high beams on and off a few times gets me my low beams back (eventually), though it confuses the hell out of any other drivers in range.
My fuzzy recollection is that voltage for the headlights goes from the ignition to the high/low switch to the headlight switch to the headlights, which suggests that my high/low switch has almost certainly crapped out, and that whole switch cluster is probably sold as a unit for more than my car is worth.
Sound right? Where does everyone go for dealer-type parts? (Is there a better mail-order option than to belly up to the local dealer parts counter?) I've been getting maintenance stuff from the fine people at tdiparts.com to date, but they don't have everything. (On the other hand, given the expected price, maybe I should head for the junkyard instead.)
Thanks for any clues/advice/recommendations! (If anyone has a spare switch cluster (2003 Jetta GL wagon, but I think it's generic A4), feel free to write, too!)