Chrysler Repair: Sebring convert: no high beam output, fog light switch, fog lamps


Question
I have a 1999 Sebring V6 conv. that has a funny high beam problem.  The high beams don't work when normaly driving.  The high beams flash fine, head lamps on or off.  The fog lights never light.  The high beams won't stay on, they only flash as you pull the multi lever, and then go out.  Low beams always work fine.  You can get the high beams to stay on if you activate the foglight switch, then you can go back and forth from high to low and even turn the lights off then on, and high beams will come back on.  But they will stop working after going to lowbeams because then the fog light switch is off.  I thought it was the switch until I discovered they work when the fog light switch is pulled.  Is there a body computer that controls the lights or something?

Answer
Hi Brian,
I don't see any body computer involvement in this circuit. It appears to me that one explanation is that the low/high beam switch contact is oxidized such that when you turn on the lows and the fogs (current for both type of lights goes thru the same contact) the extra current going thru the contact temporarily heats up and cleans up the contact surface, so that when you go to highs the contact is 'made', but once you turn off the highs and drop back to lows (and without the fog lamps) then the contact cools down so that when you go back to highs it is faulty again. I see no other possible explanation. You might try spraying some contact cleaner inside the body of the multi-function switch to see if you can improve that contact surface.
But my theory is caput if you mean by "the fog lamps never light" that in fact your fog lamps don't work at all, ever. That would be strange for if the right low beam works then the fog lamps should work too because it shares the current on a side path to the fog lamp switch. So, do or don't the fog lamps work?
I do notice that the pin for the high beam output is #8 on the switch, while the pin for the fog lamp output is 9. It may well be that the high beam switch contact is caput, but that there is a short between 9 and 10 which turns on the highs when the fog lamps are 'on', but then turns them off when the fog lamp is off.
Basically, I believe the multifunction switch is probably messed up. If you pull the blue plug on that switch, you should have continuity between pins 4 and 8 of the switch when you have it in the high beam position. If not then that would prove the switch is bad.
Roland