I have a 2006 3S GT Sedan. I bought it new in August of 2006 and have about 46,000 miles. My warranty ran out last month and all of a sudden last week I have no high beam headlamps. I have checked the fuses in the footwell and they appear to be fine. I opened the fuse box under the hood and jiggled everything though there isn't anything listed in the owner's manual in that box having to do with headlights.

When my car was about 2 months old they had to replace the "junction box" because my headlights would not turn off (unless you disconnected the battery) and the horn would sound continuously. Along with that was rough idling and no response from the gas pedal.

About 18 months ago they had to replace the junction box again for similar symptoms though it was mostly the rough idling and no response form the gas pedal.

Could this high beam headlights be another symptom of a failed junction box? Will I get any help out of Mazda even though I'm only about 30 days out of the warranty?

I appreciate any help I can get! It will be several days before I can take the car in to a dealer -- I live about 100 miles from the nearest Mazda dealer.

Thanks!

 

sorry to say but dont expect any help from your dealer with an expired warranty, but in this case it may just be blown bulbs if they were not replaced from the other incident, get a set of high beam bulbs (9005) and see if they work.

 

+1 check the lamps themselves. It's uncommon for both sides to blow at the same time but not unheard of.

How much do you use your high beams? I ask because since you have the OEM HID lowbeams you have another option. Basically park the car in front of a wall, and with the leveling dial set to "0" mark the wall with where the cutoff for the lights is. Next turn the dial to "1" (which will lower the cutoff on the wall). Then open your hood and manually adjust the projectors via the aiming screws on the back of the headlights until the cutoff is back at the marks you put on the wall. You end up with setting "1" being at the same level as "0" was previously. Then if you flip the dial to "0" when driving it will actually raise your cutoff up above stock and give you a longer throw on the light.... similar to what high beams do. You might find this especially helpful if you drive on poorly lit back roads a lot.

 

Thanks for the replies.

First, I use my high beams A LOT because I live in a rural area where I rarely meet cars so I need to see down the road.

Second, I can't say I totally rule out needing new high beam bulbs but what are the chances BOTH would go out at exactly the same time?

Thanks again!

 

I have been waiting to see if anyone had high beam failures... Yes the PJB is the likely culprit. The 'stick' control enables a ground signal to the PJB, which runs into a micro control and ultimately turns on a relay. That relay is undersized in my opinion, which is why I put in a current limit circuit for my high beams.
I'll try to remember when I get home to see if I wrote down what the relay is, but i'm guessing it's fried. There could be a corroded connection on the PJB as well, wiggling connectors on that may help if that's the case.

 

Before anything else I'd pull the high beam lamps and see if they're burnt out. It could be the PJB, but rule out the easy things first.

Even when you get them working I still suggest doing the aiming mod for your leveling switch. That way when you're on those back roads you can make your HID's that are three times brighter than the high beams throw further down the road.

 

here's some PJB pics, hope they attach ok - this is located under the glove box on the passenger side.

Just read the aiming comment... This is a good idea, but they may be low to start with, I know mine were adjusted to different levels from the factory (right was well below the left). I'd say to re-adjust them when out on a flat road, so they just hit the horizon. You can make this the 1 setting if you wish, depends how much you will be blinding people if it's forgotten.

If you're more ambitious you can rewire the headlight aiming switch by swapping parts out, so you can refine the 0,1,2,3 for whatever spacing between them that you want. I've got data on this, but haven't posted it on a forum yet (lazy me).

 

I think I have found the culprit! Using the info from djs2571 I removed my PJB so I could give it a good inspection. There is a lot of black *something* in one of the connector recesses and the 3rd pin down in the right row is either broken or very loose. I'm thinking the black might be some soot from something burning and I do see some green stuff that appears to be some corrosion. That connector recess and the one next to it are full of what I assume is some silicone grease -- I'm assuming to keep the corrosion down and possibly any moisture out. That is probably from the last couple of PJB replacements. Now that I am pretty sure I know what the problem is I'll decide how I want to go about fixing it. I appreciate all of the advice on doing the adjustments to my HID low beams but I'd rather the regular high beams work and not have anything "rigged" -- I'm irritable that way!

Below are a couple pics of my PJB and what I found. What I'm wondering is what is in the box that requires all of the computer work, reprogramming of keys etc if you replace the entire box? If all I had to do was order a new one of these and would be back in business it would sure be nice!

 

Glad you found the issue, pin is connector J04-F - which leads to the sunroof control. And the 6th pin down is for the high light relay control (i've got the wiring diagram) - and it looks like that pin is either all black, or missing / in the connector that you pulled off.
The green turns to black over time I think, either that or it's the plating corroding, or just due to is electricity being around (which can cause things to grow like that black stuff). I know that corrosion does turn black, if it wasn't for the broken pin you could just clean stuff up and be done.
Since this has been an issue since early in the car's life, mazda should continue to warranty the issue until it is resolved. It definitely looks like they used grease to delay the problem coming back when they replaced the PJB... mine has no such lube on it - it's not supposed to need any sealing from the factory.
but i'd definitely have them replace the PJB (or get a junkyard unit) - and also get a connector from the junk yard, since you'll have to replace some or a lot of the corroded pins in there for it to be completely back to normal. this is a doable job - no need for a complete wiring harness or whatever the dealership says, that's what's cheapest for them to replace is why that is their suggestion.

I've successfully pulled pins, added a wire, and replaced the pin on these connectors, just takes some time and patience with a soldering iron and small tools.

if I can help any further, do let me know - but it looks like you found the issue... now you need to find where the moisture is coming from so it doesn't happen with the next PJB.

 

Is there any melted plastic on either the PJB or the plug that goes in that spot? It just reminds me of the headlight dimmer module on my old '88 ranger. The headlights kept turning off while driving at night. Anyway when I'd disassemble the the dimmer from the column it would be slightly melted all around where the plug connected to it, and it would be all blackened on both the plug and dimmer. After replacing the dimmer three times I dug a little deeper and found that several of the wires going to the plug were badly corroded about 2-3 inches from the plug and that was causing the heating up and eventual shorting out.