Failure Of Dipped Beam & Side Lights

[DavidG55]

Today my front lights have completely failed. I have no dipped headlights and no parking lights. I do have main beam and tail lights. Any ideas? The just went off with a dash message no dipped beam. Any help would be appreciated

[GMX]

Have you checked the fuse box in the passenger front footwell?

For both to fail at once, it points to a blown fuse but check the bulbs too. It's unlikely to be the bulbs, but it's good practice to check

You'll also need to ascertain why the fuse blew, which could be a bad earth

I've just noticed your S Max is a 2016 model, and therefore will be under warranty. In which case, you'd be better off taking it back to Ford dealer, and getting them to check it out under the warranty.

[DavidG55]

My mistake, it's a 2008 model. From my handbook I appear not to have a fuse for dipped lights. I have one for main beam F9 in the Central Fuse Box but nothing. Odd as there are fuses for all the remaining lights. I'm going to take out the headlight clusters to get access to the bulbs. One other odd event was on Friday night where the bulbs were dimmer than usual and failed yesterday. The real odd thing is no fuse? I see you have a Galaxy and my book suggests the same handbook.

[GMX]

No, mine's a Focus Estate.

If all your bulbs were dimmer on Friday, that points to poor earthing or the alternator output is not stable

[jeebowhite]

agree with the earth point, that seems to be the most likely culprit IMHO