drivers side high beam cuts in and out on my 2001 9-3

[irish1985]

hi all,

i've noticed my drivers side high beam decides to work whenever it feels like it on my 2001 9-3 (base model). the "front light failure" on my SID usually alerts me when this is the case, as does the lack of the bright blue "high beam" indication light in the instrument panel. i'm confident it's not the bulb as i just replaced it...

the left high beam fuse under the hood (number is the correct ampage (10) and doesn't appear to be blown...

does this sound like a bad relay? any suggestions before i bite the bullet and buy the relay?

i found this thread on another site about relay repair:

http://www.customsaab.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61

unfortunately i don't own a soldering gun (nor have i ever attempted to solder anything) but i did want to see if anyone has any other dummy-proof checks i should attempt before buying the relay.

thanks in advance!

[protech5]

I would buy the relay. We see this all the time

[irish1985]

[mrosenfield]

I have repaired 2 of these headlamp monitors (2 different cars) and it's an easy repair. If you could find someone to help you learn to solder, you wouldn't regret it! One vehicle now has about 60K miles on the repair; the other about 25k. So the repair holds!
The problem is that the design of this monitor (looks like a relay, but it's not actually) uses two pc boards soldered at right angles, and it uses the solder as a mechanical as well as electrical connection. The first thing you will learn about soldering is DON"T USE SOLDER FOR MECHANICAL SUPPORT. It cracks over time, causing these failures.
There are actually about 6 soldered connections (can't remember exact number) between the boards; usually only 1 or 2 will be cracked. You can remove the orange cover and see the cracks with a magnifying glass.
Good luck!

[irish1985]

thanks. today i wiggled the relay and it's now working.. based on what everyone has said about this relay i'm assuming it won't last forever but maybe it was just a loose connection and it's still got more life? or does wiggling it and it working again mean that it could still need soldering?

[rjm32792]

My 2001 9-3 convertible had the same problem plus the drivers side headlight would intermittently stop working entirely. Since I didn't have a soldering iron at the time, I grabbed a few of the "relays" out of cars from the local junkyard. Two of them had the same problem, but one of them worked just fine. Also, wiggling the "relay" worked for a while, but it eventually stopped working.