Bart-Jan

After a year of repair on the engine, my Porker fired up beautifully an drives great, but when preparing for the anual safety test, I noticed that the left high beam wasn't functioning.

The fog lights work perfectly (both), which I believe are the same light units.

I tried looking for the problem in the fuses, but I couldn't find the right fuse. The ones that I did try (main beam, driving lights, foglights) all were fine, but when I removed them the right high beam still was lit.

Can anybody help me? Could it be the switch on the column? does it switch the two lights apart from each other with seperate wires? Or should I test the lights relais? How should this function?

Brett928S2

Hi

I had EXACTLY the same problem recently.....I tried everything that you have, fuses, wiring and even changed both bulbs... in the end after advice on here I removed the plastic inner wing cover (after removing the wheel) and you will see a right angle in the wiring up underrneath where the light is as it comes through the inner wing, its held by a metal clip that bends back, and once I looked CAREFULLY at it I found the wiring was broken internally...I stripped back the insulation and rejoined it and the single main beam that had not been working , was cured

All the best Brett

Landseer

Separate fuses for L and R.

I think on your 16V Euro 85 that the fuses are the same as 84 Euro.

24 Highbeam Left
25 Highbeam Right

The two fuses are both fed from 56a coming from the light relay.

Similarly, the high/low selection within the column switch does not differentiate between left and right. That happens only at the fuse.

Unlike Brett, above, you have the issue with only one side, not both.

Check with a voltmeter at the fuses to confirm what I've taken from the diagram. I'm not the electrical genius of others here.
You might have a filiament out on the light itself. Easy to pull bulb and check there.

Brett928S2

Hi

NOPE.... I had a problem with ONLY 1 side mine is also 16 valve S2 ....

The other main beam and both dipped beams worked perfectly and it drove me nuts until I asked here and found the answer....

All the best Brett

Landseer

If the 85 ROW/Euro has the same panel as the 85 USA, then you should be looking at fuses 31 and 32, however.


Brett, what fuses does the 86 have? Round VW or flat plug-in? Did Porsche shift to the common panel in 85 when the USA/Japan cars went to LH?


Well, clearly I've started advising beyond my knowledge. Bad thing.

Am trying to figure out from wiring diagrams how Brett got that behavior.

LT Texan

when I had this problem with my left high beam, it was a bad ground. Good cleaning to the chassis ground directly in front of the headlight motor did the trick.

WallyP

The charts on our web site show relays and fuses for both USA and RoW.

Darklands

I had also a broken cable in the front fender of my 86.5 . It´s a common problem.

Bart-Jan

Thanks for your quick replies!

After searching some more on the net, I found there are differences between what lights are lit. With my '85 16V euro, the pop up headlights only light 'normal' beam, no high beam. The fog lights next to driving lights are lit when the high beam is switched on. Is this correct?

WallyP

The headlamps should have both high and low (main and dipped) beams.

On your car, the high beam indicator light is powered by the same fuse as the left high beam. If the high beam indicator works, the problem is a failed bulb or a break in the wire to the lamp unit. If the high beam indicator does not work, the problem is most likely fuse #31 or its connectors.

Bart-Jan

I tested fuse # 31, but not its connections. So I will do that probably tomorrow. Also, the blue indicator light on my dash doesn't function. I tested the bulb itself and that functions. I had to dril out the rusted screws and replaced them for stainless nuts in the plastic light holder and stainless allen bolts for fixating the glass unit.

However, what can be the reason for the foglights being lit and not the headlamps?

Alan

What the heck are you talking about.. its all over the place....

Describe what lights you mean by location...

e.g. you talk about only one high beam working but then you go on to say the pods have no highbeams.... you aren't doing yourself any favors by being unclear.

There are headlights - these are the pop-ups - they have high beam and low beam. There are foglights in the front bumper (on off with fog switch) there are auxilliary driving lights - these come on only with high beam and are unrelated to the foglights.

There are 4 fuses for the headlights 1 for each filamant L/R & High/Low

There are fuses for fog lights (1) and aux driving lights (1)

The most likely reason for any single aux driving light to be out is that the filament is busted.

If your pods have no highbeams you need to fix that - the low beams should go off even if the high beams don't go on - so sounds like a relay problem.

Alan

Mrmerlin

First check the wire harness that comes under each headlight pod ( this requires removal of the block off plates) in the fenders.
The harness is secured to the chassis, and the harness bends , this metal clip will also over time shear the wire and cause the wire to lose contact.

Brett928S2

Hi

Don`t forget mine is a U.K car 86 S2 (16V -310 hp)

Mine has flat blade fuses , which incidentally I have changed for the new LED blades, which have a tiny LED on the top , which when the fuse blows, the led lights up)..it makes it so easy to see a blown fuse...

All the best Brett

Brett928S2

Hi

Thats absolutely and precisely what happened to mine...

All the best Brett