Mk6 Headlights: Full Beams

[fiestadriver]

Hi all,

Just bought my first fiesta; an 08 MK6 I believe; it's a brilliant car and I love it! Just one "problem" though...

When using the full beam, is it usual for the dipped beam bulb to go out when the full beam is used? I can pull the stalk all the way back and get both beams at once, but when I let it go, I only get the main beam bulb, and it's just annoying that I'm getting less light around the front of my car; when you're driving down lanes, you want to be able to see what's potentially going under your front bumper!

If this is normal, is there any way of getting round it?

Cheers!

[MRC89]

Hi all,

Just bought my first fiesta; an 08 MK6 I believe; it's a brilliant car and I love it! Just one "problem" though...

When using the full beam, is it usual for the dipped beam bulb to go out when the full beam is used? I can pull the stalk all the way back and get both beams at once, but when I let it go, I only get the main beam bulb, and it's just annoying that I'm getting less light around the front of my car; when you're driving down lanes, you want to be able to see what's potentially going under your front bumper!

If this is normal, is there any way of getting round it?

Cheers!

It's normal.

It's a dual filament bulb (H4), the one lower power filament(55w) provides dipped beam, and the 60w filament provides the high beam, to change the beam pattern the whole reflector dish moves(?), The full beam filament turns off, followed by the dipped turning off, If you hold the stalk back you can have both on at the same time as this is a safety overlap to make sure the lights are never all off between switching, but I wouldn't of thought doing this for prolonged periods of time will be good for the bulbs, or your finger.

I don't see many ways you can get around it other than wiring in a separate H7(dipped) and H1(full) bulbs instead of having the H4(combined).

Maybe you could wire H7's into the sidelights that stay dimmed under normal conditions (acting as sidelights), then full power when full beam is active. Or modify the dish and put 2 sets of bulbs in each. There's no real plug & play options here.

Another option would be to look at aftermarket headlamp units, that are perhaps better thought out, there's several out there.

If your car has front fogs, they're good for short range. Shouldn't really use them when there's no fog, but if you're only using them in conjunction with full beams, then neither should be seen by other cars.