Cavalier Starting in the 1980s. the Cavalier made a name for itself by offering an affordable 2 and 4 door compact.
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98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

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Old Sep 2, 2007 | 1:16 AM
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Default 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

Hey everyone....new here.

I have a 1998 Cavalier base coupe in which the driver side highbeam doesnt work. Have tried the obvious like changing the bulb. Still doesnt work. Funny thing isthat the daytime running lights on that side of course work...but yet no highbeam. We looked at the wiring going to the headlight and also replaced the combo switch just in case that could be the prob....nope. Still doesnt work but yet the DRL does....what else could it be?? Never seen something like this happen before so I dont know what to do. Also checked the fuses....nothing. Now when I bought the car, it was wrecked on the driver front...like someone hit a deer. Had to put a new driver fender and headlight assy in, but everything worked right after that. Basically went to use it one night and saw that it didnt come back on. Any help would be appreciated on this cause I dont wanna have to pay Chevy loads of money that I dont have just to get this fixed!!

Thanks!!
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Old Sep 2, 2007 | 9:05 AM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

bump
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Old Sep 4, 2007 | 2:18 AM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

noone on here has any advice or solutions to this???? I dont want to have to take this thing to the dealer...thats why i asked on here.
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Old Sep 4, 2007 | 11:56 AM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

My sister had a 98 sunfire on which different random bulbs continuously went out. make sure theres no corrosiion in the housing
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Old Sep 4, 2007 | 12:56 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

thanks for the reply and advice....yea we checked the cond of the bulb, housing, and the connections...all good.
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Old Sep 4, 2007 | 3:35 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

This happened to my cavalier...if you want a cheap fix, get some wire and amp connectors, connect the wire to your passenger side highbeam and run it along to your driver side highbeam power wire and attach it. This worked for me for about 2 years then i finally replaced my wiring harness because my blinkers went out.
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Old Sep 5, 2007 | 2:37 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

yeah i need a cheap fix cause the car wont pass WV inspection until i get it working....what color wire would i tap into on the pass side....and would i cut the driver wire and then attatch it or just tap into the driver side (the one thats not working). Would it affect the daytime lights or the lowbeams in any way? Thanks so much for the info...I would have tried something like this but was told it was doine on my dads friend's cavi ad it ended up frying something so i didnt know.
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Old Sep 5, 2007 | 3:58 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

If I recall correctly the high beam is the samelamp used for the DRL. So it sounds like the wiring and socket are sound.

The DRL module supplies reduced current to the high beam lamp so likely the problem is in the module not switching to the higher current needed for the high beam.
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Old Sep 5, 2007 | 11:40 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

ok..is the DRL module diff from the DRL relay in the fuse box inside the car? I did have to put a new relay in it back when i bought the car.

Does the DRL Module supply the limited current to BOTH highbeam lamps or to just one?

Is there any way to test this module to determine if it really is bad or not? Where is it located in the car and what does it look like?

Something I thought was interesting that happened to me the other night with these lights....I basically was messing around and it was at night. What I did was had the low beams on. I turned them off and paid attention to the way they went from headlight to DRL....I heard one click from inside the dash and then they came on. Then I turned the headlights back on and went over to the highbeams. This time when i turned the lights off and it went to switch over to DRL I heard like 3 or 4 clicks and then the pass side DRL ( the one with the working highbeam) came on...then a couple seconds later the driver side one ( this highbeamdoesnt work)came on and when this happened, the pass DRL seemed to dim a lil bit to match the brightness of the driver DRL. I dont know about u guys but I thought that was a lil weird so I thought i would share that with you all and see what u guys thought about it.
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Old Sep 6, 2007 | 10:34 PM
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Default RE: 98 Cavalier High Beam Help!!!!

any ideas
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