I have a 91 firebird and both headlights work on low beam but not on high beam. when I click the high beams the indicator on the dash comes on but both headlights go out. My car has a tilt steering column with an airbag. These are my questions...Is the high beam switch bad or mis-adjusted? Also can I switch it out with a column that doesn't have an airbag fairly easily? The column is loose at the tilt and the horn also doesn't work. any suggestions? Thanks

 

There's several possibilities...

1) Both headlights have broken elements for the high beams. These lights have 2 elements inside, one for low, one for high - the high beam element might be bad in both lights.

2) malfunction with hi beam switch, which would need replaced

Since you get the hi beam indicator lighting up on the dash, I'd say #1 is your problem. It's unlikely that the switch is bad since the dash indicator lights up. Buy one new headlight, plug it in, and see if it works - if so, then you know, and buy another one.

The actual hi beam switch itself is located above the brake pedal, at the bottom of the column. When you move the hi beam lever, you'll see a rod moving up/down the column into a switch. Two screws hold it on, and they can be loosened and the switch adjusted by sliding up/down the column - those two screws remove to replace the switch.

But I'm betting you just need new headlights.

On the column, you need to consider a few things ...

1) might be illegal to swap out a non-airbag column for your car in your area - need to check with local safety inpsection stations first.

2) need to check with your insurance company. If you are getting a discount for an airbag, but get rid of it - they could have a case for not paying a claim in the future (ie you are frauding the insurance company by paying less in premiums b/c you are getting a discount for something you don't have).

3) VATS - a non-airbag wheel will most likely not have VATS - thus you'll need to rewire a VATS key cylinder into the new column, or else bypass the VATS module so that the car will start and run.

 

Ok just wondering. How hard would it be to replace just the wheel or get a column just like mine but without tilt? Or can I tighten the looseness in the tilt? I have a feeling a loose tilt will not pass inspection.

 

Here's one of many good things found in the technical articles section. You should check some of this stuff out.
https://www.thirdgen.org/steeringcolumn

 

Ok cool. The problem had ended up being that someone had CUT, yes cut, the wires going to the high beams. I reattached and everything is ok now. You may ask yourselves what kind of idiot cuts the wires to his headlights? Well according the girl I bought the car from it failed inspection for an idler arm and headlights(specifically no high beams). That tells me one thing...the mechanic was trying to take advantage of her because she's young and female. One wire not attached could have been an accident but both wires? And they were cut clean not pulled out or worn out very clean cut. It's people like that that give the honest technician a bad name. Really uncool.