TWANITA

Hi- Both high beams are out on 2001 A6 but all other lights ,signals, etc work fine. High beams work fine when pulling back on the momentary lever so bulbs and fuses are good. Does this suggest the dash switch, the stalk switch , or is there a relay that could be bad? Thanks, Jim.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

If you have HID bi-xenons the inner two lights are halogen but do not come on with high beam.
They only light with the pullback.

Did they ever come on or are you just noticing it now?

monkeytronic

Out of curiosity was there a running production change in bi-xenon operation? I've personally verified that on the '02 4.2, with the headlights switched on, both of the HID projector shutters that effect low beam move out of the HID capsules' way and both halogen high beam bulbs switch on when the h/l dimmer switch is switched to its hands-free high beam position when the lever is pushed forward toward the dash.

The same operation happens momentarily when the dimmer switch is pulled back toward the driver for flash-to-pass.

Redneck Truck

My bixenon shutters are powered off of the halogen high beam bulb circuit, so that seems reasonable, and mine behave in the same fashion. The high beams and shutters would have to have different power sources for that not to be the case.

TWANITA

Mine are not xenons but are standard halogens which came new on the car. They worked fine for 9 years up until now with just normal bulb replacements..

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Then the simplest and most probable answer is the stalk switch needs to be replaced.
It's the signal device for the relay that powers the high beam. Pulling the stalk works the high beam, pushing it doesn't. Therefore it's the switch.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Dunno. My 02 S6 has bixenon HID low/high beams and the high beam halogens don't switch on (USA model) with the stalk pushed forward. They only switch with the stalk pulled back.