High beam issue

[auh]

Hey guys,

Its been a while for me here. I think the last time I posted was when I was venting that my mechanic didn't change my crank gear bolt after he pulled the crank gear off to change the seal and the bolt sheered after he did my timing belt service. That was in June.

I just got my car back 2 weeks ago and he did a really bad job putting it all back together. The motor is fine, but my headlight housing wasn't bolted down, my battery cable weren't attached, my air intake hose I found in my trunk, that just scratches the surface. So I spent a week in my free time fixing everything that he didn't put back together right and I fired up my headlights to drive somewhere at night and my high beams indicator was on, dim, but on. My brights weren't on though. I went to switch them on to see if they worked, and they don't turn on at all. The indicator on the dash goes from half brightness to full brightness, but they don't turn on and my indicator won't turn off.

I'm inclined to think bad ground somewhere but I'm not sure where to look if that was the case, or if that is even the problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[bmos]

Well my first piece of advice is to find a new mechanic... He's clearly not attentive enough to work on your car.

He could have pinched some headlight cables during reassembly. I'd look at the wiring harness going to the headlights and see if it looks damaged. The shared ground wire (IIRC) is contained in that harness and is brown.

[auh]

New mechanic already found, found him for my other car while I waited for months to get this motor finished.

[walky_talky20]

I hope you got a DEAL on whatever work he did for you. Sounds pretty sloppy to me. He should probably stick to Cavaliers or something.

EDIT:

After looking at the headlamp diagram, I think your symptoms can be explained by both Hi Beam bulbs being missing or unplugged. The indicator will find a path to 12v+ through the fog light relay coil, thus providing a dim illumination with low beams - and bright illumination with high beams selected. This would also explain the lack of actual high beams.

So that's my guess - missing or disconnected high beam bulbs on both sides.

[auh]

Where would you suggest I look for them being disconnected? Maybe the ground is bad? I read on a vw forum someone had this prob plus a blinking brake indicator and it was a bad ground under the battery tray.

I don't have any wires under the battery tray but I def have a crazy blinking brake light indicator. Almost like the e brake handle wasn't all the way down so as I drive the light just flickers as if it had a mind of its own.