75beetle

Okay i turned my car off the other night with the headlights up.And when i started it up i firgured they would just go back down but they wont go back down is there something i can do to reset them or something to get them to go back down.Or does anyone know where i can get a headlight replacement to get rid of the popup lights cause i really dont care for them.

rotordave

iTrader: (1)

There are plenty of threads about this (but none incidentally that cover my 7's particular cause for the same issue you're having), so try searching.

First, make sure the retractor switch is set to "down", you might have toggled it to up by accident.

Try cleaning the contacts in the retractor switch. The combination switch on the steering column can also be the cause. Look at the wiring diagram for your year to help isolate the issue.

There are ***** you can turn at the top of the retractors (covered by a rubber boot) to manually retract them if all else fails.

74RX4

iTrader: (10)

Check the third fuse (10 amp) from the rear (of car) on the left side of the fuse box. This protects the "down" circuit for the retractor motors. This fuse also protects dash illumination lights, tail lights, parking lights, marker lights, and all interior lights.

There are four wires in the plugs for the retractor motors. Yellow/green goes between the motors (and the indicator light if you have one), White/red is constant 12V for motors, Red is 12V for the UP side of the relay (from the combo switch), Red/yellow is 12V for the down side of the relay (also from the combo switch).

If the fuse isn't the problem and you need to get the lights down, supply 12V to the Red/yellow wire in either Retractor plug. If that doesn't work and you do not have constant 12V to the White/red wire in either of the plugs, check the terminals on the fusible link labeled "retractor". These terminals can become corroded. A small wire brush or a pocket knife can be used to scrape them clean.

75beetle

bump

rotordave

iTrader: (1)

What do you mean BUMP???

You haven't replied to either of replies you've had so far. Don't expect much help if you think you can take it for granted. Next time I won't bother.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

There is no bump until you have followed through with the above suggestions.

From underneath the car, locate the manual retractors, as mentioned by 74RX4/rotordave and rotate the headlights to the down position, there's an off chance that this will reset electrics. Then follow the other suggestions provided.

There are 2 controls for the headlights, the multi-switch on the column, which also turns on the lights, the other is a rocker switch which simply raises and lowers the headlights. If neither work, it's either a fusible link or a fuse under the dash in the main fuse panel. The multi-switch sometimes needs cleaning.

If you can't take the initiative to follow through with advice given, download the FSM and wiring manuals for your year from the link in my sig line and bone up on your 7. School is now in session and it's study time.
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shaunwil

Wow, I'm having similar problems and this has been the best info.

Hopefully I can fix it as well, spent almost 6 months hand winding !

Just a quick question, If its a switch fault can I install a manual 12v line to the red/yellow 12v if all else fails ?

Shaun

DivinDriver

iTrader: (15)

Normally, you're supposed to remove the RET fuse link before hand-winding, I thought.

shaunwil

Oh, been doing it for ages ! Can understand if it drives the ****, must spin it at fair old pace.

Shaun

rotordave

iTrader: (1)

That warning is only there in case the retractor starts operating while you're turning the ****, which might happen if it was jammed. Normally with electrical it will either go down or it won't.


I've been hand-winding for months too. I got as far as painting up a wiring diagram to post on this forum to try and get some help, but I've been too busy to write one of my long-winded posts. In my case, the wiring is bad, but I haven't given up hope that it could be something simpler, because I don't really want to replace the wiring harness or run a dodgy wire.

shaunwil

Just an update. I finally found the problem on mine. Checked the voltage on the over ride switch and it seemed to be ok. The White/red cable going into the headlight motor was showing voltage. Then I looked at the Red/yellow line that switches the motor into the retract. If I stuffed a cable into the back of the square plug on that wire and touched onto the positive side of the battery the retract worked perfectly.

Looking at the plug running off the main loom the cable changes to a Red/White Cable back into the cockpit. So I stuffed the cable into the square headlight plug and then stuffed it into the back of the White/red of the manual switch. Tried it again and it worked perfectly off the combination switch.

From that I spliced a fresh wire into the red/white end of the headlight square plug and fed it into the cockpit. On the manual switch the white/red wire needs to be spliced into, not cut. There isn't alot of wire behind the plug.

Now its working fine !

Shaun

rotordave

iTrader: (1)

They're basically the steps I followed to troubleshoot my problem shaunwil, and the solution is very likely to be the same. But I'm not happy running a single wire through the firewall to fix it, I want to find the fault and correct it.

rotordave

iTrader: (1)

See this thread for a resolution on my problem, which is probably the same issue you were having, shaunwil.