Lights not working

[jbell1981]

I recently bought a 2002 Ford Focus. On Friday both headlights quit working at the same time, about 5 minutes after I was on the road. The brights however still work fine. I started out by putting new bulbs in just in case both bulbs went out at the same time. However that was not the problem, they still don't work. I checked all the possible fuses and they seem fine. Would it be something messed up in the switch on the dash? Any help would be appreciated.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Have you checked for power at the headlight connectors?

[jeffreyd]

could be the turn signal or dimmer switch. we use to have a similar issue with crown victorias in the police fleet

[jbell1981]

Have you checked for power at the headlight connectors?

No, being that the brights work and it the same bulb, I didn't think to check if they are getting any juice. I will check tomorrow.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The brights are a separate circuit. I'm guessing that you will not find any power at the socket. I don't have any wiring diagrams for that car, unless somebody else chimes in I will take a look at some tomorrow afternoon.

The submodel might make a difference. Is it an LX, ZX3, etc?

[Jeremy airjer W]

At the multi-function switch you should have a green/red wire & green/blue wire. The green/red is the power in from the light switch. There should be power there as long as the light switch is on. If not than check for power at the green/black wire at the light switch if there is power there and no power at the green/red at the switch than the switch is probably bad.

If there is power at the green/red at the multifunction switch than check for power out at the green/blue wire. there should be power with the low beams on. If there is no power out than the muti-function switch is probably bad.

If ther is power at the green/blue than you'll need to pull the low beam relay, there should be two pins with power to them with the key on. the one that goes out with the key off is the power from the multifunction switch. If you have power on both of those try switching the high and low beam relays.

That should get you started.

[jbell1981]

Thanks airjer! It ended up just being a relay.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Thats a lot easier than the alternative! Here's a challenge when you have nothing better to do. Try to figure out how the upper and lower steering column covers come off! That one had me stumped the first time I had to replace on ignition lock cylinder on one of those!! Or maybe it was getting access to the lock cylinder lock pin....it's late!