2000 Chevy Impala Headlights Don't Work

[mighty_real]

I have the same problem with my '00 Impala LS (113K miles): no low beams and no DRL's.

Everything else works such as cluster lights, front parking lights and all rear lights. Switching the headlamps on manually will turn all of these on - plus it sets off the chime that the lights (should be) on - but still no low or high beams (everything else lights up as it should). The DRL's and headlamps switch on and off as they should with the lighting conditions - I can hear the click in the dash - but no front headlamp bulbs light up at all under any lighting conditions.

Headlamp relay (drivers side fuse box) is new (GM part) and we've swapped out the DRL relay (under the hood) so it should be OK.

I'm a parts person in a Volvo dealership. We have some ex-Cadillac techs here that have done a lot of electrical tracing as recently as last night. There's power everywhere (fuses and relays; in the dash and under the hood) and the light bulbs check out OK with a multimeter (the ground wire seems OK and tight).

If I pull on the directional stalk the high beams will go on with full power but will not stay on (no "click").

Thinking the problem might be this directional/cruise/high-beam switch, I phoned a Chevy dealer today that has one in stock($273.00 my cost). The parts person says that the high-beam function "clicks" - my high-beam switch does not "click" (does it "click" on anyone elses '00 Impala?).

I'd appreciate any insight that anyone might have - if any. I love my Impala very much and I owe it a lot so I'm close to taking it to the dealer for this issue.

Thanks!

John

[andred@telus.net]

2000 impala ls, when highbeam selected, switch does not hold brights on, all lights seem to work, could it be signal, cruise lever that is defective ?

[vintagemind1950]

Mighty Real, did you ever find out what was wrong? I have the exact same problem with my 2000 Impala.

[ogre73]

I know none of you want to hear this, but I had an issue that was similar, and the symptoms point toward it. What I was experiencing, and my wife experienced until I told her about it, was that sometimes when driving down the road, the headlights would just go off. It happened a couple of times, and I recognized that it was only when the brights were on that it would happen. The lack of responses here tells me that perhaps the solution has been found by the OP and following posters to be as simple as my solution. It turns out that this switch has to be "clicked" to be in a stable state. Meaning, if you go from dim to bright and don't hear and feel a click, the switch ends up in a "maybe-kinda-sometimes-works" type of state. It's not quite bright and not quite dim. Once I told my wife of the click, she had no further problems.
Try it. And I would be curious to find out if the OP and other posters had different problems.
Ogre