[goatmanmitch]

Hello, my nephew has an 82 Bonne and there are no lowbeams until he turns on the highbeams. Then all four headlights come on. All lights worked properly until a few days ago. The headlight switch? I will be looking at this tomorrow and would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Thanks Mitch

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Only ONE wire coming OUT of the headlight switch for the headlights. DIMMER switch is where the one wire splits for low beam or high beam.

So could be dimmer switch is bad or possibly out of adjustment. Need to feel for a solid click when you work it. Column mount dimmers adjust with the mounting screws.
It's not uncommon for one headlight to blow and the other to go out shortly after. So don't go buying parts till you check everything out.

A good test light should be all you need to figure this out.

FWIW All four bulbs are suppose to burn on high beam. Same as older four headlight cars.

[Malibu]

I had a similar problem with an older 4 light car. Changed the low beam headlight in question and all was fixed.

[goatmanmitch]

But this is a four headlight car and the lows do come on when the highbeams are engaged. I will focus on the dimmer switch. Is this on the floor, or the column? I will find that out soon enough! Thanks

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by goatmanmitch

But this is a four headlight car and the lows do come on when the highbeams are engaged. I will focus on the dimmer switch. Is this on the floor, or the column? I will find that out soon enough! Thanks

Low beam bulbs have TWO elements in them, low and high.
High beam bulbs are single element, high only.

On low beam the two outside bulbs are on, burning on the low beam element.
On high beam all four bulbs burn on the high beam elements.

82 dimmer should be on the column worked by the turn signal lever. The dimmer switch itself is under the dash, on the column, worked by a metal rod from the turn signal lever.
As best as I can remember, one of the mounting screws, goes through or helps hold down the ignition switch.

[goatmanmitch]

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed that since there were four headlights that the lowbeams would only have one element. Mitch