Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

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adentonmiller
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Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by adentonmiller »

Hello all,

My son is coming home from Uni today, so I fired up his 2005 1.2 Polo which has been sitting on the drive for the last three months. Battery was dead, so I jump started it and took it for a spin to get it charged.

While driving it, I noticed that when I turned the lights on, the main beam was permanently on and the blue icon on the dash was on.

When I got home, I checked to see what was happening - and sure enough, the main beams are permanently on. If I leave the stalk in the dip position, main beams are on. If I push it forward to main beam position, main beams are still on. If I pull it back to flash, main beams are still on! (But it does seem to get brighter when I pull to flash - and switching from dip to main makes it kind of flick as you move the stalk.

So......any ideas? I guess it could be three things:

1) Relay - does it have one and if so, where is it? This seems to me to be the most likely candidate if the contacts for main beam are stuck on.
2) Headlight switch itself - not sure about this as it shouldn't really have anything to do with main/dip selection, right?
3) Stalk switch - although the lights do flick when using this, so I think this is OK

Anyway.....I would appreciate any advice or experience from anyone who knows.

Thanks in advance!


(The "check engine" light is also on - but that's another story and I have a diagnostic scanner arriving tomorrow to have a better look at that...)
adentonmiller
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by adentonmiller »

Just to add..... I checked all the fuses and they are fine. Dipped and main beams go out when I pull the appropriate fuse, however main beams just stay on all the time (apart from when the fuse is pulled).

Reading a bit more, it looks like these cars don't have a headlight relay at all. So I guess that rules that out.

Next culprit could the be the rotary headlight switch. One of those ordered from eBay for a tenner.

Failing that, I guess it will be the steering column switch unit. They are about £35, so here's hoping the rotary switch fixes it...
RUM4MO
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by RUM4MO »

You might be lucky with replacing the main light switch, initially I doubted that as I thought that the "power supplies" controller would do that changing/switching but it does seem that load currents do pass through that main light switch.

There is a Haynes repair manual for that car, Haynes number 4608 - and having that would help you with a car of this age as you don't know what next will give trouble, maybe look online for a used one though postage charges would maybe kill off anyone thinking about selling/buying a used one.

Edit:- I'm guessing for the time being you would remove the main beam fuse(s) so that he can use the car at night.
adentonmiller
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by adentonmiller »

RUM4MO wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:23 pm You might be lucky with replacing the main light switch, initially I doubted that as I thought that the "power supplies" controller would do that changing/switching but it does seem that load currents do pass through that main light switch.

There is a Haynes repair manual for that car, Haynes number 4608 - and having that would help you with a car of this age as you don't know what next will give trouble, maybe look online for a used one though postage charges would maybe kill off anyone thinking about selling/buying a used one.

Edit:- I'm guessing for the time being you would remove the main beam fuse(s) so that he can use the car at night.
We actually already have the Haynes manual. Although I don't know where he's hidden it. I'll find out when he gets here. Hopefully it will have all the wiring diagrams.

It's a stupid idea (IMHO) to have the lighting loads go through the switch rather than just have the switch control a relay, but that's the way it seems VW have done it....

I am indeed contemplating removing the MB fuses. But there is a possible alternative. The main beam will go off when you pull the stalk towards the driver - but only at a small sweep of the stalk. If you pull it all the way, the main beam goes on. I'll have little play with that later and see if it's controllable enough like that.
RUM4MO
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by RUM4MO »

Yes, the stalk assembly must also be probe to wear or small bits of metal falling off one contact strip onto another - that caused trouble with the indicators on some cars.

I'm guessing that you know or can look up how to remove the main lighting switch innards from the body , from memory you press it in firmly and rotate X degrees then pull it out.
adentonmiller
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by adentonmiller »

RUM4MO wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:50 pm Yes, the stalk assembly must also be probe to wear or small bits of metal falling off one contact strip onto another - that caused trouble with the indicators on some cars.

I'm guessing that you know or can look up how to remove the main lighting switch innards from the body , from memory you press it in firmly and rotate X degrees then pull it out.
That's right - you push it in at the off position, then rotate right to lock it, then wiggle it out. You can also hook a finger in via the fuse panel and push it out. Basically a 2 minute job to replace it - I had a go today to see if there was anything obvious wrong with the switch.

Hopefully the new switch will arrive tomorrow and it will fix it. If not, I have my eye on a used stalk switch assembly on eBay.
adentonmiller
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Re: Polo 2005 Dipped Beam not working - Main beam always on

Post by adentonmiller »

Well.... the replacement switch arrived, and I swapped it out. Sadly that's not the issue and the main beams were still stuck on.

So it looks like the issue will the the column stalk switches. I have ordered up a used one of those for £20 so will fit that next week and see what happens....
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