| See also Eunos headlights |
| My headlights have stopped working. Symptoms are as follows:- Small sidelights work. No 'Dim Dip' from the headlights. No Dipped Beam. High Beam works. All the fuses are OK. I believe that there are 2 relays that control headlights. 1 up near the fuses on the drivers side inside the car. This is an electronic relay that controls the headlamp retractor. The other is on the nearside in the engine compartment. I've ordered a new one of these (its cheaper than the retractor one!). If this doesn't work am I missing anything? I have a UK spec MX5 (1995) and I hate electric's! (11/99) |
| Strange as it may seem, you may have blown both dip filaments. I had a similar thing on a 309Gti Peugeot a few years ago. Suspected the worst --- major electrical meltdown, but we replaced one of the bulbs and got light back on that side, ditto the other. In addition, the "dim-dip" uses the same filaments which could explain the loss of these as well.Theory is that as one bulb blows, there is a surge which blows the other one. No guarantees but it's worth a try initially. (11/99) |
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I'd agree - it must be the bulbs. Sounds as though Phil has ordered the dim/dip relay, but that can't affect the dipped beams if the headlight switch is on - only the dim setting with sidelights on. And if the headlamps are popping up, it's not the retractor relay. Wiring/earth faults (except for a small section of wire) would only affect one bulb. The only other possibility is an unlikely combination of faults in the switch. Of course I could be wrong! BTW - Dim/dip does no good at all for halogen bulbs - they depend for operation on evaporating and redepositing tungsten on the filaments, and the redeposition only works if the bulbs are operating at design temperature (and therefore brightness) - and that is NOT the dim setting. So, unlike for normal bulbs, operating at reduced brightness actually shortens the life of halogen bulbs. Another reason to throw the dim/dip relay away! (11/99) |
| I understood that if a car was fitted with new with Dim/dip headlights, the Dim/dip facility has to be retained, otherwise it's an MOT failure item - can anyone confirm this? I drive with headlights on anyway if I need to - there doesn't seem much point in the Dim/dip technology. That's probably why it's no longer used on new cars... (11/99) |
| I used to refit the relay for an MOT but forgot at the last one. No problem. (11/99) |
| Although, when I went to refit the dim-dip, it didn't work. I blew a headlamp bulb on Friday (during a 120 mile drive in the dark - *not* when I wanted to lose a lamp), and pulled over to plug the dim-dip relay back in so I would as least have a semblance of two headlights. On trying the lights, the dim-dip still failed to work. Everything else looked fine, nothing disconnected. I didn't have time to work it out, and have since bought a pair of "30% extra" Xenon bulbs from Halfords. BTW I can't tell the difference between these and normal halogen bulbs. They cost 9.99 each. (11/99) |
| But that wouldn't do anything. If your headlamp bulb (dip beam) has gone, that's your "dim" filament as well. "Dim" only works when the sidelights alone are on (and the ignition is on) - it lights the headlamp dip filaments as well at reduced brightness. (11/99) |
| I understood that if a car was fitted with new with Dim/dip headlights, the Dim/dip facility has to be retained, otherwise it's an MOT failure item - can anyone confirm this? Technically that's probably true - but you're going to a very picky MoT station if they check this. Anyway, all you need do is disconnect the relay or the resistor and reconnect it at MoT time. My wife's 205 has had non-working dim-dip for years, and has never failed an MoT. (11/99) |
| I drive with headlights on anyway if I need to - there doesn't
seem much point in the Dim/dip technology. That's probably why it's
no longer used on new cars... The British Government wanted to make it a legal requirement, but since driving on anything other than proper headlights (if lights are required) is illegal in the rest of Europe, they couldn't get it past the EU committees. So they have load adjustment instead. (11/99) |
| Had rather a disturbing incident last night while driving down a country lane. I went to flash my headlights to let a car out from a junction and the head lights went out but no full beams came on. Needless to say it went very dark for a short while. All the other lights work, normal dipped headlights are ok, but putting on the full beams turns the lights off. Any ideas before Mr Mazda UK charges me 40 quid to have a look. BTW it's a mk1 95 Eunos S-Special, so doesn't have the separate lh and rh full beam fuses in the footwell fuse box. (1/01) |
| Main beam filaments gone? Or a short or other wiring fault somewhere. Have you got a diode installed/or how do you flash if headlights are down? Did they work before? Do they work on normal main beam? (1/01) |
| Honestly haven't had a look at the bulbs themselves, but would both go at the same time? They're only about 4 months old. Don't have the flash mod installed, so I have to put the lights on dipped then yank back on the control stem to flash. Thet still work fine on dipped, but if I flash or click them onto full beam they cut out. Could it be a relay or something, because I can't find a separate fuse anywhere? (1/01) |
| Main beams are on a different fuse to side lights/normal lights and radio AFAIK. Try that first or be charged 40. PS I wouldn't use mazda as a local autoelectrician will be cheaper. (1/01) |
| I have had two mx-5s with this problem, the combination switch was at fault, they can be stripped down and contacts cleaned if you are careful. (1/01) |
| Found the relay as described, the rearmost of the two, disconnected it and removed the resistor with heatsink. (It was short of a mounting since fitting the K&N filter). Dim-Dip now removed. Headlights still pop up with the sidelights on though, any ideas? (9/01) |
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Early cars have different headlight wiring from slightly later ones - not sure when the change came but I think in early 91. So this only applies if you have a G or H and two relays behind the relay rail inside the rear of the nearside wing (later cars only have one - the dim/dip relay, and I think the retractor relay is mounted on the front (more accessible) side of the relay rail.) For later cars you only need disconnect the dim/dip relay. I'm afraid it involves a little (simple) wiring. What you need to do is to remove the plug from the dim/dip relay (the rearmost of the two behind the rail) (as you have already done) then: Cut the White/Blue (White wire with Blue tracer) leading to the other adjacent relay (the retractor relay) - don't cut it too close to the plug. Now connect a wire (doesn't need to be too heavy - it's only going to carry relay current) from the stub of the wire you've cut attached to the plug to the feed to the fog light switch (White/Black). This isn't too convenient because fog light switch is next to the steering wheel, so you'll have to feed this new wire into the cockpit - the big rubber grommet under the washer bottle is a suitable place - it's accessible from inside the car if you remove the glove box and fiddle with the carpets - from there you can lead it across to the steering column area. Make sure that the wire isn't chafing on anything, and that it has good connections - your headlight pop-up depends on it now! Use male/female spade connectors with insulators or in-line bullet connectors at the relay end and a Scotchlok connector at the fog light switch end. Wrap the now-unconnected end of the original White/Blue wire with insulating tape. (9/01) |
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Finally got there much thanks. The early car has 2 relays the same on the wing side of the rail. The rear relay is the Dim-Dip relay Remove/disconnect it |