Headlight low beam not working, other lights fine.

Not quite a D40, but my wife’s R51 Pathfinder headlights wouldn’t come on this evening. Parkers, tail lights, high beam, fog lights all work fine. Tried to check fuses, relays etc but it was dark and I was short of tools etc. the relay seemed to be clicking. Gave up the diagnosis for tonight and drove home carefully with the fog lights on and avoiding the non-street kit sections where possible because the kids needed to get to bed.

Any thoughts on what it might be?

Both globes randomly blown together? Or one was already blown and the other one went too?

From memory I think they have separate circuits for left and right, so unless both fuses went, I'd start by swapping at least one globe with your D40 and see if it works... Or swap one from the pathfinder into yours and see if it works... Probably the easiest and cheapest way to test it anyway.

^ Agreed. Assuming the low beam relay is working, that's the likely answer.

Turns out it was the obvious answer. In the quiet of the morning and the low pressure situation of not having to get tired kids home I checked relays again and they was plenty of clicking. Then I shone a torch into the headlights and could see a cloudy bulb on one side and thought possibly the other had a wonky filament. Tested both and found they were faulty as well. New globes, problem solved.

Man I hate getting those globes out though. No room for hands, clips that appear to have some sort of lock on system but are actually just a firm fit and need a good tug, rubber boots that get in the way and those retaining clips that won’t fold back far enough to get the globe out unless you have removed the plug and rubber which previously seemed impossible.

We haven’t driven at night much lately and not without street lighting . it’s possible one has been gone for longer than the other and we only noticed when both weren’t working.

Ah well, at least it was a reasonably easy fix....