2001 Chev Cavalier Malfunction - Electrical & Lighting Systems

Question: The headlamps on my car dont work. iv'e checked all the fuses I know of. The DRL dont work either. I replaced the DRL relay to no avail. When I first put the car in Drive the Lights come on (DRL)then I hear the relay clicking and they go out. All the marker lamps, blinkers work fine...just the Headlamps (high or low beam) dont work.

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Technican: Since the headlamps come on, even if only for a moment before the clicking starts, there must be a short. The headlight switch has the circuit breaker built into it, should a short occur-this breaker will trip and reset rapidly in order to provide the hope for enough light to pull the car over during a night failure. Start by looking around the headlights for a wire that is pinched/shorted to metal. Have you had the car battery replaced recently? Is the battery sitting on the wire harness? Did an old battery leak acid onto wires and now enough has eaten through to short the wires? Any recent body work that may have the wires routed wrong could chafe the harness on a metal edge. If all looks OK, unplug both/all headlights. Turn the system "on". Is the circuit breaker still cycling? Yes? There is a wiring short you haven't located yet. No? Plug the headlights back in (one at a time). Any circuit breaker cycling now? Bad lamp is cause, or, headlight switch internal circuit breaker is too weak to handle the load. Replace the switch. (RARE)

Owner: Thanks for your answer. Originally the problem was the DRL. The dealer gave me a code...he wrote down two numbers..B2600 and DRLE2202. I'm not sure which number is relevent. At that time the regular headlamps worked fine. Now the headlamps don't work, but the DRL work for a few seconds then go out (along with the clicking sound). I would think if there was a short a fuse would have blown. Does the DRL use the low beam lamp? If so, the lamps should be fine, because they come on for afew seconds. Can you shed any more "light" on this? Thanks Ralph

Technican: If a fuse for headlamps has blown it would be in a fuse/relay box under the hood I suspect. Before I shoot my own foot, I'm going to get a wiring diagram for your car ( I just don't have them all..) and zero in on this. Do you have an OWNERS MANU that tells where fuses are and what they protect? More tomorrow if possible,

Owner: Yes..I have a fuse location diagram and I have checked all the fuses. Each headlamp has its own fuse. A new problem has cropped up...the Fog lamps don't come on now ( they did yesterday). I'm confident nothing I did caused this new problem. Thanks again Ralph

Technican: The I/P FUSE BLOCK (left side under dash) has a 15amp FOG FUSE, a 15amp HDLP CIRCUIT BREAKER, and a 15amp RT HDLP FUSE. Have you checked this circuit breaker? Does it heat up and trip? The HDLP CIRCUIT BREAKER supplies power to the DRL RELAY. The RT HDLP FUSE supplies power for the high beam "FLASH-TO-PASS feature. The headlamp and fog lamp switches supply ground for these circuits. If you find all to be in order and believe the headlamp switch to be good, then you only have the car's BODY CONTROL MODULE (behind left side dash) left to fault.

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