Saturn SC2 both headlights out

[ingrid]

Hi! Brand new to this forum...thanks in advance for any advice on this! My daughter has a 1999 Saturn SC2..both headlights went out at same time (including the highbeams). It still has running lights though. My husband checked fuses and bulbs...he said they were all fine. Wondering if anyone has any ideas what could be the problem? Thanks so much!

[carriedi]

there are two fuses for the headlights in the underhood fuse panel. rhdlp and lhdlp they are both 10A fuses. from there power goes to the headlights. So if you check the headlight sockets you should have power at one terminal and nothing on the other terminal with the lights turned off. with the lights turned on you should have ground at that terminal. the wires out of the multifunction switch are dark blue to low beams and pink for the high beams. they ground the headlights to complete the circuit. You will need to take off the covers off under the dash and check those two wires to see if the headlight switch is grounding the headlights. the black wire from the headlight switch is it's ground wire. it goes to a splice behind the instrument cluster then on to the ground connection G100 at the left front fender.

hope this helps. switches going bad is common

[ingrid]

thanks for your reply! After looking at it more closely, my husband also thinks it is the switch. Do you know if the whole turn signal/headlight switch/on off thing (sry I don't know what its called!) has to be replaced, or is it a fuse/piece inside it that can be replaced? Is this something we could do ourselves? thanks again!

[carriedi]

the turn signal switch, headlight switch... it's all one piece called the multifunction switch

[ingrid]

Ok, thanks! Just to clarify, it is the whole mechanism that is about 8 inches long next to the steering wheel correct? thanks again!!

[carriedi]

looks like this, but you should verify that this is your problem first.

[ingrid]

ok thanks you so much! I did google it, and it doesn't look like the easiest fix...probably have to spend the money for a professional. I believe we had this all replaced like 1 1/2 ago...can't believe it would go out again! thanks so much for all your help! Much appreciated!!