High beam and open door noise not working
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 27
Likes: 0
From: Canada
High beam and open door noise not working
So one day out of nowhere the noise when you leave your lights on and open the door went away, and not too long after that my high beams stopped working. My low beams work but when I switch to high beams, my lights go off. I changed the bulbs recently so that's not it. Any suggestions?
Last edited by Jay_G; Feb 5, 2017 at 05:36 PM.
84SE-EGI helpy-helperton
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,584
Likes: 542
From: Phoenix, AZ
Well known issue with these cars as Mazda decided to save a few bucks and wire the full 12v through the control switch on the steering binnacle. The 'right' way to do it includes using [RELAYS] to actuate the 12v from the battery to the lights, and is how the Black Dragon retrofit light wiring harness works. There's an active thread on that right now, as a matter of fact.
You may be able to get by through cleaning of the light switches inside the steering column. Know that this is a pretty complex mechanism and you need to be handy to get them working again, and it also requires removal of the steering wheel to get to the switch mechanism. It's located centrally on the shaft, and the switches for high beams and parking lights are actuated there. One guy had luck spraying electronics parts cleaner in there thoroughly and got lucky. I've had to take mine apart on several occasions because they get crudded up and cause high resistance.
There's nothing more distracting that trying to activate your high-beams on a dark road at speed and you lose all lights... I've had this happen, and it sucks.
The once-and-for-all fix is to install [RELAYS] to power the headlights, both regular beams and high-beam circuits.
You may be able to get by through cleaning of the light switches inside the steering column. Know that this is a pretty complex mechanism and you need to be handy to get them working again, and it also requires removal of the steering wheel to get to the switch mechanism. It's located centrally on the shaft, and the switches for high beams and parking lights are actuated there. One guy had luck spraying electronics parts cleaner in there thoroughly and got lucky. I've had to take mine apart on several occasions because they get crudded up and cause high resistance.
There's nothing more distracting that trying to activate your high-beams on a dark road at speed and you lose all lights... I've had this happen, and it sucks.
The once-and-for-all fix is to install [RELAYS] to power the headlights, both regular beams and high-beam circuits.
Last edited by LongDuck; Feb 7, 2017 at 12:39 AM. Reason: Changed 'solenoids' to 'relays' because I post late at night!
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 27
Likes: 0
From: Canada
Well known issue with these cars as Mazda decided to save a few bucks and wire the full 12v through the control switch on the steering binnacle. The 'right' way to do it includes using [RELAYS] to actuate the 12v from the battery to the lights, and is how the Black Dragon retrofit light wiring harness works. There's an active thread on that right now, as a matter of fact.
You may be able to get by through cleaning of the light switches inside the steering column. Know that this is a pretty complex mechanism and you need to be handy to get them working again, and it also requires removal of the steering wheel to get to the switch mechanism. It's located centrally on the shaft, and the switches for high beams and parking lights are actuated there. One guy had luck spraying electronics parts cleaner in there thoroughly and got lucky. I've had to take mine apart on several occasions because they get crudded up and cause high resistance.
There's nothing more distracting that trying to activate your high-beams on a dark road at speed and you lose all lights... I've had this happen, and it sucks.
The once-and-for-all fix is to install [RELAYS] to power the headlights, both regular beams and high-beam circuits.
You may be able to get by through cleaning of the light switches inside the steering column. Know that this is a pretty complex mechanism and you need to be handy to get them working again, and it also requires removal of the steering wheel to get to the switch mechanism. It's located centrally on the shaft, and the switches for high beams and parking lights are actuated there. One guy had luck spraying electronics parts cleaner in there thoroughly and got lucky. I've had to take mine apart on several occasions because they get crudded up and cause high resistance.
There's nothing more distracting that trying to activate your high-beams on a dark road at speed and you lose all lights... I've had this happen, and it sucks.
The once-and-for-all fix is to install [RELAYS] to power the headlights, both regular beams and high-beam circuits.