Driving home tonight I discovered that BOTH Left and Right headlights are out. Everything else works -- high beams, running lights, etc. I suppose it's possible, but I've never had both go out at once on me. I checked the fuses, and they're ok (each headlight is on a separate fuse anyway).

I'm going to check the bulbs tomorrow when I have daylight (or maybe Turkey-day if I don't get to it). But in the meantime, I'm curious: Anyone else had this happen? Any other info on whether there's another cause?

 

Regular or Bi-Xenons?

 

Regular.

Dealer said it's not unusual - my car has daytime running lights, so the headlights are on all the time. I bought a couple of bulbs last night, and then came down with food poisoning (no, I didn't eat the bulbs). I'm going to try the new bulbs as soon as I can get outside. If it turns out to be something else, I'll post an update.

 

Same thing happened to my 993, both went out at the same time. Unfortunately, the new spare I had must have been damaged in transit, because it didn't work either...So it took one-hour of my independent's time to figure out that both did go out at the same time, and the spare was bad...

He's been working on Porsche's for 30 years and said both go out together "all the time." Although that was a first for me.

 

Replaced the bulbs today. Noting here for the archives that they did both go bad at the same time. One bulb was visibly bad (broken filament). The other had no visible problem but didn't work -- a replacement bulb worked fine so I assume the bulb was bad.

Now, here's the newbie DIY warning: Have some extra bulbs around, and be prepared to check ALL lights before you close up the car. After I got everything sealed up, I discovered that my high beam and fog light on one side decided to go out as well. I know they were working before. I have no idea what I did to cause it; I didn't drop the headlight assembly or bump it (certainly no worse than the bumps it sustains in regular driving), and I didn't touch any bulbs with greasy fingers. Of course, I didn't have any extra bulbs, so it'll have to wait for another trip to the auto parts store.

 

If it is not a bad bulb then unlock the headlight and slide it out a few inches. Then slide it back in and lock it. This may improve the electrical connection on the back of the headlight housing.

The other thing to check is the male plug on the headlight mounting bracket. It is held in with a plastic clip and if the clip breaks then when you slide in the light it does not make a good connection because the plug is being pushed away from the female connector in the back of the light.

 

Ok, thanks for the tips! I'll give it a try.

 

interesting....

i have the same problem as well. both left and right lights went out within days of eachother. everything else works fine - high beams, fog lights, side markers, blinkers, etc.

havnt had time to change the bulbs. dealer charges 2hrs labor to change but i figure a $10 part isn't worth $95/hr to replace, so i'll do it myself when i find the time.

 

Last week, my dealer replaced both of mine gratis...

 

Penguinking, for what it's worth, there's no way this is a 2 hour job for the dealer. So far I've invested a little over an hour, and that includes the trip to buy the bulbs, reading the manual as I figure out how to access the headlights, digging out the special tool from the toolkit (have to remove the spare to get at it), etc., etc. Granted it'll take me another 15 minutes to check the things Toolpants suggested, but I'd be shocked if a dealer needs more than 5 minutes per headlight. At 4:15 on Thanksgiving Eve, my dealer offered to do them on the spot if I could get there by 5:00 -- no way he would offer that if it took 2 hours. (I couldn't get there in time, and figured this would be a low-risk newbie project to start learning more about my car).

 

well it might have just been an hour. i don't exactly remember the full quote but it was alot. either way the dealership charges by the hour only, so whether it takes 1 minute or 59 to finish the job, i'm still charged for 1 hr of labor. if its as easy as everyone says i'll just change the bulbs myself.

any good sources on factory bulbs or possibly aftermarket comparables?

 

That's crazy - Both of mine are out as well. I spoke to a mechanic about it and they were convinced that the problem lies in the relay or the switch. I hadn't even considered that it could just be the bulbs. I guess I'll be swapping them out tonight to see if that fixes the issue....

 

Toolpants, you were right. Clip on one side is broken. Big chunk of plastic is gone, and I didn't notice until I opened the other side and compared. The bulbs look just fine, so I'm guessing I must have broken the clip somehow, or it was broken but had a good connection until I pulled it out the first time. Ah well, so much for the easy DIY.

 

You might want to attend one of the local work on cars days.

We have seen this a few times. Jeff