Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
1994 Dodge Dakota, lost its low beams but high beam brights still work. Is this a relay problem or a fuse problem?
I don't have the truck to look at it, it is at college with my son, so I need to talk him through the fix.
Both headlamps at once?
It could be several things. Since I'm not familiar with that year Dakota, it might have separate high- and low-beam headlamp relays (actually, I'm 90% certain it DOES since I own several earlier mopars that work that way). Under the hood there should be a box with all the higher power relays in it- the underside of the relay box lid will usually have a diagram showing which relay is which. The relays just plug in, so its super easy to swap the low and high relays and see if the problem moves to the high beams. That will also let him safely drive the truck- driving with only high-beams is dangerous. Another possible suspect is the multi-function switch in the steering column, since it routes power either to the low beam relay or high beam relay after receiving power from the headlamp switch. Its harder to replace that one (and more expensive).
It could also be that both low beam filaments burned out- but them doing so at the same time would make me think there's another underlying problem like a voltage spike, excessively high voltage, or a fluctuating voltage.
