High Beams not working

[Sliver_bullet]

Hello everyone, im having an issue with my high beams not working. I have replaced the fuses and the bulbs, and you can hear the relay click when i goto turn them in but no lights
Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[Bonburner]

which exact bulbs did you put in there

[7 skulls]

Need more info. When did your high beams stop working? Did you do or replace anything before they stopped working? Was the fuse or bulbs you replaced blown?

[Sliver_bullet]

I replaced them with the 9005XV Sylvania Xtravision Bulbs. The old bulbs did not appear to be blown, the filaments were still connected but the bulbs were black. Not sure when they went out the car had been sitting for the better part of a year and nothing electrical has been changed. Fuses were not blown.
The relays are clicking. Took a mulitmeter and measured voltage to ground and got 11-12 volts at the plug that goes into the bulb. And lost it when the highbeams were shut off.
Is there a way to test the bulbs?

[LimitedSlip]

Originally Posted by Sliver_bullet

Is there a way to test the bulbs?

You should be able to measure the resistance of any lamp that has a filament. Remove the lamps from the vehicle being careful not to touch the glass envelope with your bare fingers. A pair of cotton work gloves would be good. Use your multi-meter set to a medium ohms range and connect the meter leads to the terminals on the lamp. If the filament is good you should have a complete circuit - a low meter reading of less than 1K ohm maybe even approaching zero. If the filament is broken the meter will read high (infinity - open circuit) just as if you were holding the two meter leads up in the air not connected to anything.

[Sliver_bullet]

I did that. Got a good reading. Might be dumb but does it matter which way power is flowing? Because i have a green wire and a white and i measure power from the green and nothing on the white.

[LimitedSlip]

Originally Posted by Sliver_bullet

I did that. Got a good reading. Might be dumb but does it matter which way power is flowing? Because i have a green wire and a white and i measure power from the green and nothing on the white.

In an incandescent lamp, the filament is just a piece of wire with a certain small amount of resistance. Not only does it not matter which way the current flows, in a household light socket the current is reversing direction 60 times per second (60Hz AC). As for the voltage present in the headlight wiring, one wire is connected to vehicle ground (this one will measure zero volts) and the other eventually goes to +12 volts with a switch or relay in line to turn the headlights on or off.


Short answer, your measurements make sense.

[7 skulls]

Put one stock bulb back in one side and see what happens. Since that is all you changed. Multimeters are wonderful tools (specifically my ideal clamp on) but sometimes readings don't match reality for a variety of reasons.

[dragoontwo]

They also changed fuses. Why did you change the fuses? Blown?

[Sliver_bullet]

Sorta update. Could not ever figure it out. Ended up replacing the entire headlight since they were a little beat up. Put in OLM headlights which replaced the small harness and high beams are now using the low beam bulbs. And everything seems to be working. So i am assuming there was an issue with the wiring or the brand new bulbs i put in