[blueballin]

Hello! Well I had an opportunity to purchase an 03 turbo s from a friend that I couldn't pass up. The issues im having are first no dome lights and second no brights from the headlights.

I think on the no dome lights its the door latch/switch. It doesn't matter what door is open, driver, passenger, or trunk. I have checked fuses and they are all good. Any suggestions? The lights on the doors do work. Drivers side shuts on and off with the door being open or closed. Passenger side though stays on constantly. I unplugged that one for now.

On the headlights having no brights I have checked fuses and no issues there. The indicator light on the dash for brights is on. When I flip the switch nothing happens. Lows are the only thing working. I did read though if both lights are out then it turns the bright indicator on when the headlights are on. I am going to replace both bulbs and see if that works. Any ideas on what the problem is?

Thanks!

 

[blueballin]

Also the dome lights do work when you turn them on manually with their switch just not when you open any door. Yes i did set the switch to open with the door.

 

[bme]

If the passenger door light stays on, check to see if the alarm is setting (with a beep), if not you probably have a bad micro switch in the door latch. However this should not cause the problem with the dome lights not working from any door as they come on when the doors open (seems like you would have the opposite problem). If you can find someone with a scan tool that read measuring block values you could see what the the computer thinks the door is doing, for example the door latch could be sending a signal the door is closed when it is open.

Theoretically if the door light is on the dome light should come on.

Congrats on the TS, mine is an 03 as well.


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[red99]

Just to be clear, the dome light switch has three positions: off, "door" and on. In the center position the light should switch with the door. There is a delay, so when the door is closed it will take about 30 seconds for the light to turn off. Since the car is new to you I thought it would be good to verify this.

 

[jfoj]

As for your headlights, you might likely just have both low beam bulbs out. All the bulbs should be H1's. This is not uncommon as the DRL are not dimmed much on these cars and the headlight bulbs on on ALL the time therefore they burn out often.

The 2003 has halogen projectors. The bulb you actually see by looking in the headlight lens is actually the high beam bulb.

When both low beams go on the 2003, the the high beams will not release as there is no load on the circuitry.

My guess is your low beam bulbs are burned out?

 

[red99]

The 2" diameter hazy lenses are the low beams. They should be on whenever the ignition is on and the parking brake is released. They tend to burn out often so it could well be they are both burned out.

 

[blueballin]

Thank you for the replys. I did check the dome light position and letting it sit with doors closed to see if it fades out and no luck. The more I read Im kinda leaning toward the door switch. The car has 120000 on it and lived a lot of its life driving a mile or so on dirt roads. Ive been cleaning dirt out of every spot imaginable!

Im going to check all the bulbs tonight. I bought 2 new H1s for the high beams. The low beams are on just no high beams at all. The lens on the passenger side is completely broke out due to hitting an animal. I have a complete replacement coming for that. SO this car should have daytime running lights? The only lights that come on when the switch is on are the low beams through the opaque looking lens and the small bulbs to the side. The brights below that are not covered never come on. When the light are off you can hit the bright switch and nothing lights up but the indicator on the dash does light?? So when headlights are on no brights but the indicator says they are? Am I overthinking this and its just bad bulbs like most of the time? Thanks again!

 

[IndyTom]

Thank you for the replys. I did check the dome light position and letting it sit with doors closed to see if it fades out and no luck. The more I read Im kinda leaning toward the door switch. The car has 120000 on it and lived a lot of its life driving a mile or so on dirt roads. Ive been cleaning dirt out of every spot imaginable!

Im going to check all the bulbs tonight. I bought 2 new H1s for the high beams. The low beams are on just no high beams at all. The lens on the passenger side is completely broke out due to hitting an animal. I have a complete replacement coming for that. SO this car should have daytime running lights? The only lights that come on when the switch is on are the low beams through the opaque looking lens and the small bulbs to the side. The brights below that are not covered never come on. When the light are off you can hit the bright switch and nothing lights up but the indicator on the dash does light?? So when headlights are on no brights but the indicator says they are? Am I overthinking this and its just bad bulbs like most of the time? Thanks again!

Yes, all the Beetle's have daylight running lights which run off the low beams. Perhaps the previous owner disabled them via the light switch pin ? You may want to take the switch out and see if any pins are bent over. You may have a bad switch. As most have said it's rare for the High beams to go out. 99 per cent of the time it's the low beams that go out.

 

[blueballin]

Went home at lunch and tested all fuses again. They all checked good. When I tested the brights again drivers side worked but no passenger. ?? About as fast as I got excited thinking the bulb on the passenger was the culprit the light came back on the dash and no brights. When I get off work I'm goin to change the pass side bright and see if that changes anything. No luck at all on dome lights tho. Could a bad door switch make all not work? If the pass door or trunk is open and not work too because of a faulty driver door switch?


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[blueballin]

On the dome light issue I'm thinking that it could be a bad passenger door switch. Since the light on the door constantly stays on it would tell the rest of the lights to stay on as well. ?? Think I should go ahead and buy a door latch assembly?


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[jfoj]

I have my memory backwards.

If both high beams are out, the the headlight control will default or hang on high beams. The high beams rarely fail, however, people harvest the high beam bulbs for the low beams! Same bulb number. Ask me how I know!

With only 1 high beam out you should not have that problem, but there could be other factors. The wiring in these lights is small and can overheat and burn up, both inside the headlights and at the switch. Some could have swapped wiring inside the headlight by accident?

Buy yourself 2 new H1 bulbs, not fancy ones, just basic. Replace both low beam bulbs and make sure you have 2 good high beam bulbs from the leftovers. Check your wiring inside the headlight assemblies while you are in there. Then see what happens.

 

[doc32469]

I'm wondering if possible there's relay for high beam? Even tho i dont have owners manual for mine. I wish have one.

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[blueballin]

I pulled both headlights and swamped the high beams with low beams and put the new low beams in and it works! I had to tape up a lot of the little wires due to insulation coming off. The grind wire for the running light was melted together with the headlight. But now I have no DRL at all?? I can live with that for the time being. I am going to get 2 new bulbs and try that.


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[blueballin]

In the pic you can see where I had to tape up. How do I get the headlight switch out to see if DRL has been disconnected?


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[bme]

In the pic you can see where I had to tape up. How do I get the headlight switch out to see if DRL has been disconnected?


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Push it in and the twist the switch to the right and it will pull out


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[jfoj]

DRL will need to have the parking brake off. There may be a relay for the DRL as well?

See if you can find anything up once you pull the headlight switch either melted or modified to keep the DRL off.

 

[blueballin]

Pulled the switch and it looks to be in great shape. No melted or modified wires at all. Will see if I can find a relay. Thanks.

 

[jfoj]

Another possibility is the DRL have been programmed off?

 

[IggysMom]

I know lots of people here want the DRLs disabled. It's a popular mod. I've been told by many that I need to do mine but I could really care less to do it. I don't mind the DRLs for now. We will see how many times I have to change the bulbs before I change my mind I guess...lol. Hopefully that is all that is keeping yours off is that someone disabled them on purpose.

Your melted wires sound so familiar. I went to change a "burnt out bulb" recently and found that the whole wire assembly had melted (the bulb was actually still good). It has been re-wired with a couple of single wire H1s from Auto Zone and I did find a new wire assembly at the junk yard last time I was there. I guess I will get around to putting that one in if my re-wire ever stops working (although I had all intentions of doing it properly as soon as I got the correct harness...lol).

 

[blueballin]

Thanks again for the replys. Do I have to take it to a dealership for them to see if it has been programmed off? Not that I want them on but just for my own piece of mind! Or what scan tool/programmer should I get so I could do this stuff? This is my 2nd bug and my 3rd VW. My other was an 03 gti vr6. I think investing in a program or scanner would be worth it. Thanks again!