Low Beams not working in Auto

[Bruce Looney]

2004 XLT - When the headlight switch is in the manual mode all lights work, low beam, high beam, park, fog and cluster. When the headlight switch is set to auto everything BUT the low beams work. It appears to me that both positions use pretty much the same path. Any ideas?

 

[EddieS'04]

Most likley the master switch. Just a guess 'cause, it was on my t-bird.

 

[Todd Z]

Does your ST have daytime running lights ?..... Do you have the Dimmer on the dash set funny?......Is there something covering the sensor on top of the dash?



Todd Z

 

[Richard L]

With a 2004 the light sensor is on the back of the mirror, and you should have a slide switch that is a timer to adjust the time the lights stay on after the ignition is turned off. If the slide switch is all the way to the left it shuts off the auto headlights. There is also a sensor on the front of the mirror that detect the light coming in throught the back window. The system detect the light from the from the front sensor and compares it to the rear sensor to determine if it needs to turn on the headlights.



Be sure the slider switch is positioned slightly to the right and not on the "OFF" position. Of course, if you have your turn signal lever pushed forward, that will always turn on the highbeams. I kind of suspect that one of the light sensors in the mirror may be out.???



....Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

With a 2004 the light sensor is on the back of the mirror, and you should have a slide switch that is a timer to adjust the time the lights stay on after the ignition is turned off.

Nope, I have an 2004. The auto headlight sensor is on the dash, next to the vin#. They auto shut off after ignition shut down. Not adjustable in '04. Fixed off setting about 90 seconds..

There is also a sensor on the front of the mirror that detect the light coming in throught the back window. The system detect the light from the from the front sensor and compares it to the rear sensor to determine if it needs to turn on the headlights.

Nope, that is the job of the dash sensor. Next to the vin#



There is a sensor on the mirror picking up light from the rear for the auto dimming mirror.

There is a sensor on the mirror facing forward. I thought it might be auto headlight dimmer. Ford didnt use it on the Trac.



Ford did a different thing on 2004 and 2005 Tracs. Probably part of their world wide consolidation of parts. When they changed mirrors and light switches.

 

[Bruce Looney]

Quote:



Does your ST have daytime running lights ?..... Do you have the Dimmer on the dash set funny?......Is there something covering the sensor on top of the dash?



My ST doesn't have daytime running lights, the dimmer is fine and nothing is covering the sensor. With the switch in the AUTO position I can cover the sensor and I hear the relay energize and all of the lights come on except for the low beams. If the switch is in the AUTO position and pulled out (turns on the fog lights) then all lights, including the fogs come on except the low beams. The high beams work in either AUTO or Manual.

 

[Richard L]

Eddie,

My error. If you have a 2004 I'm sure you are correct. I had a 2003 and did not know that they changed the headlight sensor position from the mirror to the dash on the 2004 models.



My 2003 had a lot of options which included the electronic self dimming mirror. Do you have the self-dimming mirror? That might be the reason for the difference? Perhaps if the vehicle had the self-dimming mirror, they just packaged all the electronics for the mirror dimming and headlight sensor into the mirror?



The only problem I had was that the headlight sensor would not switch on the headlights until it was really dark. I taped a piece of window tint over the sensor on the back of the mirror and that worked to get the headlightsto turn on a little earlier. When I tried a second layer of dark window tint film to see if I could get the lights to come on even earlier, it caused the mirror to dim during the day??? LOL So the two sensor worked in unison to determine if the mirror should dim.



...Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

Rich,



I have the auto dimming mirror. Its sensor is for the mirror only.



As for the sensor on the front of the mirror. Ford didnt use it for auto dimming the headlights on the Trac.:sad: It is just there, doing nonthing.

I put a piece of tape on the one facing rear. I didnt like the auto dimming mirror. With the dark back glass. Not very often Ihave it all the way down at night.



My t-bird had the same 2 sensors as my trac, for headlights. No auto dimming mirror though.



With the problems you had. My bet is. Might be another reason ford changed the set up. Along with their parts consolidation, as I posted before. Ford went from over 100 different steering wheels, worldwide. To about 20.

 

[Richard L]

Eddie,

That appears to be an obvious change in the 2004 model. My 2003 did not have a auto headlight sensor on the dash, it was definitely built into the auto dimming mirror. I know that is true because when I taped a piece of darke window tint film on the sensor on the back of the mirror (facing the windshield) it made the lights come on earlier because it thought it was darker.



The small sensor spot on the face of the mirror is to detect the light from headlights approaching from the rear, however it also relies on the front facing sensor to let it know when it is dark otherwise it will not dim. That's why when I added a second piece of dark window tint to the front facing sensor it tricked the mirror into thinking it was dark and the sunlight hitting the sensor from the rear window was bright headlights and it dimmed the mirror...LOL



It's obvious that Ford changed the mirror sensor to control the auto headlights in the 2003 model, to the dash mounted auto headlight sensor in the 2004. That's why my 2003 mirror had a time delay slide switch on the mirror to control how long the headlights stayed on at night after you exited the truck.



...Rich