9-5 Linear Headlights

[David_D]

Hello everyone,
I have just got a 2005 SAAB 9-5 Linear Wagon.
It seems to be a nice car and I hope I'll have good time with it.

Here is the thing.
The left side headlight bulb died.
I am trying to figure out which one if a low beam light and which is a high beam light.
I assume the inner ones are high beam lights, right?
I am not also not sure are those halogen or Xenons?




The one circled with the red line is the dead one. So is that one a high beam light or low one?
Halogen or Xenon?
What is that metal tube over that bulb Circled with the blue line?
What is that smallest bulb pointed out with a purple arrow?
And lastly would NAPA lights work for SAAB? The thing the closes store form is NAPA, I need to get this light fixed asap.

[silver2u]

looks like standard halogen to me (same as on my 2004 linear wagon)

afaik the head lights that are on will be either
- driving light, which stays on even in daytime (unless you remove the fuse that controls it, or maybe reset it with a tech2 ?)
- your normal night time headlight
- high beam

another poster on this forum indicated that some countries allow the high beam setting to have both the normal beam and high beam on at the same time (referred to as "euro setting" ?). in some countries (?usa) the normal beam light bulb will turn off when high beam comes on). some countries also have a "park mode" setting, where if you so choose on one side of the car a tail light and low beam front light will stay on at low power overnight (for ex if you park the car in a less visible roadside position)

the easiest way to check what bulb is defective, park in front of a show or large window at night (head on), and just turn your lights to various positions (off, on, high beam) and see which ones dont come on from their reflections in the window pane in front of you. then remove defective bulb and obtain a replacement from an autoparts store (the better brand of light bulbs tend to last long).

just be aware that for symptoms of "defective headlight" (or intermittent defective headlight), this can sometimes be caused by a defective orange relay (in the fuse box in the engine compartment). some early versions of that relay had poor solder points on it, and minor cracks in those connections could cause a headlight standard/high beam to fail (it did in my car to). i re-soldered the pin connections on my orange relay, and it is working fine now (replacement relay is about 40$)

[David_D]

Thank you so much!
I think the low beams are always on, at least on my car. (is it wrong?)

I have replaced the bulb (with NAPA bulb), but unfortunetly it is not working. So, the problem is not with a bulb I guess.

[silver2u]

if your low beam headlights are always on, these would probably be the then current version of "driving lights" that volvo and saab started using since the 70's as a safety feature (by increasing visibility of the car to other road users). so having your 2 tail lights and headlights (on low beam) are probably normal.

in older saabs (? and volvo) models there was a specific fuse that controlled this behavior, and if you didnt want this constant-on lights feature, all you needed to do is pull that fuse out. please note that in some countries this might actually be a legal requirement to have them on constantly ( ? like in sweden and norway). not sure if in our current 95 models it is still a fuse, or something that needs to be switched on/off in the car onboard computer with a tech -2 device (the owners manual probably will explain this better)

obviously next check your fuses if a light doesnt work and the bulb seems to be ok

if changing your light bulb doesnt solve it and the fuse is ok, it is worth searching the main saab forums for the "orange fuse" defect (see my earlier comments about its solder points). to diagnose it ideally you would want to swap a working relay, but if if you dont have one of those i noticed some other posters suggested you could try to gently tap it while you have your lights on (no need to have the engine running) and see if it briefly revives your defective light (if yes, you then either need to check the relay for solder cracks, or get a replacement unit).

[Pbuck1]

- The blue circled bulb is the High beam. Halogen.
- Should be no prob's to use a NAPA bulb for the circled, low beam, red one. And yes, they are on all the time.

[David_D]

Thanks guys,
It was a problem with a relay.

Everthing works fine!