turning on fog lights - causes high beam light to come on?

[coffeesucker]

Last night I replaced my high beam bulbs with HID's. I did the low beams about a month ago and this issue was not happening

Tonight I took the car our for a drive, first time its left the drive way in over a month ( working from home sucks ).

I turned on my fog lights to show a friend the difference between factory bulbs and the HID's and my high beam light came on in the dash.

I checked both fog lights and they are both working.

What would cause the high beam warning light to come on, since I put the xenon bulbs into the high beams sockets?

The warning light did not come on before I put the new bulbs in last night, I did not have the high beams on when I switch on the fog lights.

I know this is a really odd question, but Im just wondering what would be causing this to happen. I have not had a chance to pull the HIDs out the high beam sockets yet to see if the warning light still comes on when switching on the fog lights

Oh yeah.....

US '01 986 non S :(

[Chris_in_NH]

hmm. weird.

first off, i am assuming that you put the bulbs in the correct locations. the Boxster's headlights are counter-intuitive as the 'high beam' bulbs are located in the BOTTOM position, and the normal headlight bulbs are in the TOP position within the pod.

secondly, when you say 'HIDs' - exactly what kind of bulbs did you get? did you do a Litronic conversion or are you talking about halogen bulbs that have an HID 'appearance'? the reason i ask is because if you use a bulb with too high of a wattage/operating temperature, you can melt your headlight pods' plastic lens. and you do NOT want to do that. $$$

to turn the fog lights on, you must turn the switch 1 click to the right and pull the switch out 1 click. is that what you did to (try) to get the fog lights to go on? (just making sure...)

are you SURE that the high beam switch was not clicked to the hi-beam ON position?

i wrote a whole big long post before, but it boils down to these questions.

- what happens when you try to turn the fogs on (do the fogs turn on, but the blue high beam dash light goes on but the high beam bulbs do not turn on, etc.)?

- what happens when you turn the high beams on? (does the blue dash light turn on and the high beam bulbs turn on normally)?

- what happens when you turn the low beams on? do they work normally?

- can you use the fogs and the low beams simultaneously? does the blue hi-beam dash light turn on when doing this?

basically, what are the results of every possible light switch position? ;)

do your fog lights turn OFF when you turn the hi-beams on? (they should, unless your car is hacked to allow them simultaneously.)

it could be a problem with the ignition switch. sometimes the car's electronics start acting flaky when the ignition switch starts to go bad. have you noticed the ignition switch sticking at all when you turn the key? also, make sure the headlight pods are solidly mated to their connectors inside the fender. i suppose it could be a problem with the stalk, or a relay or something like that.

hopefully, your answers will help pinpoint the problem.

[por986]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the HID bulbs? I have no idea as to the solution, but interesting as I heard of a similar problem on NPR's Click and Clack today. Guy in Alaska with a Minivan though, and he replaced his low beamers with HIDs and when he turned on his highs, the lows stayed on rather than turning off as they typically would. Lows and highs on at the same time.

A quick test, maybe put the original bulbs back in and see if it still happens? At least then you can narrow it down should that be the case.

[coffeesucker]

hmm. weird.

first off, i am assuming that you put the bulbs in the correct locations. the Boxster's headlights are counter-intuitive as the 'high beam' bulbs are located in the BOTTOM position, and the normal headlight bulbs are in the TOP position within the pod.

Yes bulbs are in correct locations. I have had the lows in for over a month before installing the highs

secondly, when you say 'HIDs' - exactly what kind of bulbs did you get? did you do a Litronic conversion or are you talking about halogen bulbs that have an HID 'appearance'? the reason i ask is because if you use a bulb with too high of a wattage/operating temperature, you can melt your headlight pods' plastic lens. and you do NOT want to do that. $$$

they are true xenons, not the cheesy look a likes. And they actually run cooler then the factory bulbs, the head light assembly's hardly even get warm now where before you could really fell the heat from the factory bulbs. xenon kits purchased from http://www.cqlight.ca/index.php?cPath=32_45

to turn the fog lights on, you must turn the switch 1 click to the right and pull the switch out 1 click. is that what you did to (try) to get the fog lights to go on? (just making sure...)

Correct

are you SURE that the high beam switch was not clicked to the hi-beam ON position?

high beam was / is not turned on

i wrote a whole big long post before, but it boils down to these questions.

- what happens when you try to turn the fogs on (do the fogs turn on, but the blue high beam dash light goes on but the high beam bulbs do not turn on, etc.)?

exactly what happens, lows turned on, pull switch for fogs and presto high beam indicator on dash comes on

- what happens when you turn the high beams on? (does the blue dash light turn on and the high beam bulbs turn on normally)?

yes highs come on and fogs go off

- what happens when you turn the low beams on? do they work normally?

yes lows work correctly, actually all lights work correctly, its jst the high beam indicator comes on when fogs are switched on

- can you use the fogs and the low beams simultaneously? does the blue hi-beam dash light turn on when doing this?

yes

basically, what are the results of every possible light switch position? ;)

all lights will work correctly, only issue is high beam indicator comes on when fogs are switched on

do your fog lights turn OFF when you turn the hi-beams on? (they should, unless your car is hacked to allow them simultaneously.)

fog lights do go off when highs are switched on

it could be a problem with the ignition switch. sometimes the car's electronics start acting flaky when the ignition switch starts to go bad. have you noticed the ignition switch sticking at all when you turn the key? also, make sure the headlight pods are solidly mated to their connectors inside the fender. i suppose it could be a problem with the stalk, or a relay or something like that.

i will try to reseat the headlights today and see if anything changes tonight

Thanks for all your help.

hopefully, your answers will help pinpoint the problem.

Edited December 10, 2007 by coffeesucker

[juniinc]

probably not your ignition, pull your high-beam bulbs out to see what happens

[Cassiebox]

Did you use a relay when installing your lits in the high beam? I suspect not (plus I checked out the link you posted and looks like the kits don't include a relay - just the ballast and ignitors) ;) .

Although the OEM wiring harness might be able to handle the increases needed (when igniting the xenons) it's best to still power the ballast/ignitors directly from the battery thru a relay. This will not only protect the OEM harness, but also isolate their circuitry. On the low beams, the ground is isolated within the circuit so it's not a big deal. On the high beam though, the ground is shared and tied in with the fog (see pic below). Since most warning/idiot lights in the car are triggered by grounds (brake pad wear, e-brake, etc.) I presume the high beam indicator is too. So, w/out a relay in the kit, and assuming your ballast/transformer in the kit is grounded (as it should be), your indicator light is being triggered by the false high beam circuitry. Meaning, once you turn on the fogs, it's going directly thru the "false" high beam circuit to the ignitor, back to the ballast and then to ground. I'd add a relay to one side and disconnect the other to see if it fixes like I think it should.

On another note, I'm not so sure converting your high beams to lits is the best choice. Most retrofit mfgs even recommend agains this because:

1) HIDs do take more than "a second" to fully ignite and reach their desired light output. In situations where you need to flash someone your HID hid high beams will not be very functional.

2) It is strenuous on the components to have them turned on/off repeatedly ie: needing to flashing people.

Anyhow, here's the schematic showing the shared ground which I think is causing the problem. Obviously it's a little more complicated than my brief explanation above, but hopefully you understand the concept. Good luck :)