I have a 99 1.8T Quattro, and I went to go drive the other night just to realize my headlights do not come on. The switch turns my dash lights on, and my high beams still work. But my headlights or my front and rear fog lights do not go on. Checked the fuses on the driver side, and all of them are fine.

Any ideas? I kinda need my lights

 

The only thing I can think of would be burnt-out bulbs, but the chance of both bulbs burning out at the same time is slim. It could also be a loose wire somewhere, but it seems kind of odd that both headlights don't work AND your rear fog light doesn't work either. If there's a way to check the switch, try doing that. Loose wire by the switch perhaps?

 

do your wipers work? if not wiggle your key.

other scenerio is you have a faulty headlamp switch or a pain in the a** wiring problem

 

Try this ... http://www.audiworld.com/tech/elec114.shtml

Chaos had a similar problem but he hasn't updated his thread to say whether the switch was at fault or not.

 

Yea, my wipers work. I guess I'll be taking apart my headlight switch. So I guess that switch controls the fog lights as well?

 

you can't turn your fogs on w/o your headlights on (unless you're Canadian or you have the independant fog mod). If the switch to turn your headlights on is fubar'd and the circuit isn't completing, then it would stand to reason that your fog's won't turn on til you fix your inability to turn your headlights on.

 

I was thinking...
Is there a relay on the headlights like there is the high beams. I think the relay is much more likely to go bad rather than the actual switch. It was never flaky, like corrosion would make a switch do.

 

does anyone know which relay it is? There are relays way back behind the dash, viewable if you're looking in where the fuses are. I just don't know which one the headlights are.

 

Its the whole stalk.. I had the same problem a month ago, do your yellow corners turn on?

If they do but not the headlights then its the stalk that controls the headlights/ turn signal switch. Its a 170 dollar part, then another 60-100 (depending on labor I paid 60.. for private mech) to take off the air bag + steering wheel to install the damn thing.

 

ya, the corners are on. But still, what goes wrong in the switch, just corrosion? Isn't it more likely that a relay just goes bad rather than a switch that suddenly stops working due to bad contacts?