2G No Low Beams - all other lights appear to work.

[PieEyedPiper]

I'll admit this is something I didn't want to make a thread for, but since most of my research time is devoted to exams right now I could really use a hand.

I realized yesterday morning that I was driving with my fogs on but headlights off. Obviously my eyes were playing tricks on me, I thought. So upon arrival at my destination I checked my lights to find that my low beams were, indeed off.

-High Beams work great
-Interior Lights work great
-Side markers/turn signals work great
-Headlight fuse is good

After some searching a lot of people have had their switch go bad.
Also of note, I did not find a thread where everything worked but the low beams. It seemed anyone who had trouble had more than one thing not working. Any help would be appreciated!

EDIT:
Ok. I lied.
The side markers do not function. Now it sounds like a classic headlight switch case.

Anyone have luck with a replacement switch instead of OEM?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

So, after finally getting a little time to look into his further I priced out replacement switches from 50 to 75 bucks. The higher priced ones were sometimes OEM.

Instead of tossing money at the problem I decided I would inspect and attempt to clean/repair the switch.

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The switch comes out easily enough. The steering column comes apart with the removal of 3 philips screws on the underside and some mild coaxing.
The switch itself is held in by 2 screws that are very prominent. Be careful when reinstalling not to over tighten these.
Remove the two large connectors, one grey and one white. Leave the small white one alone. Once you have the switch out of the car it simply separates into two halves (and a bunch of tiny pieces) by carefully releasing the plastic snaps holding the case together. It was cake.

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Inside you can see a bunch of dielectric grease and some nasty buildup. I took a swab to collect and preserve as much of the clean grease as possible and did away with the rest. I didn't use any alcohol, but I gave the copper tracks a good scrubbing and even scratching in some of the more "burned out" areas.
All the pieces have a home and it's simple enough to get them right. Ever played Perfection? You'll be fine, and it's not going to blow up in your face if you take longer than 45seconds.
But that's really only half the switch. The other half is in the wand. I was unable to access this portion without destroying the switch. At first I thought there was a small allen screw holding the end together but it appears to be some sort of permanent anchor, instead. If anyone can successfully get that apart without damaging the assembly then you'd likely never ever have to purchase a new switch.

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Funnily enough, it turns out that my issue was never my switch at all. But at least it's clean and will function for long to come!
While I was reinstalling my switch I was doing some testing and I could clearly tell that when I turned on my headlights the relay under the hood was tripped. Just no lights.

I found a deal last year on some cheapo parts store ricer variety bulbs for 9 bucks on clearance. They're just a tiny bit brighter and whiter than stock. Hardly a difference, really. Having just seen the original bulbs from 1998 only minutes earlier in the cabinet where I store some of my tools I decided I'd toss those in and see if it was the bulbs.
The first cheapo bulb came out looking fine but my old stock bulbs fired right up in it's place. The second cheapo bulb was clearly blown. I'd honestly not considered that both headlights and both side markers could all burn out at the exact same time but that appears to be the case.

Something caused this. A short perhaps, but I can't find where. My wiring is in really good shape, if not a little stiff. At this point I'm just going to wait for it to happen again once I get the side markers replaced to tell if this was just a one time deal. We did have some heavy heavy rainfall around the time I noticed the lights had gone out. I know I was plowing an inch or few of water in at least one situation.