2004 venture headlight problem

I have been driving a 2004 venture for about 5 months and have noticed that when I hold the high/low beam switch on the turn signal lever up towards the wheel, that I get a brighter high or low beam than when I release it to it's normal position. Anybody else notice this, and if so, it sure doesn't look right, seems like you should be able to get the brightest light available when the turn signal lever is in it's normal position.

My 99 does that too. I have always assumed that it was because the high and lows are on at the same time when you hold it in that position, which I often do at night in areas of my neighborhood known for kamikaze deer.

That is exactly why. When you pull the switch towards the wheel it signals the high beams to come on. When it is released it signals the low beams to turn off. So in escense if you hold the stick back you will be running with 4 headlights on.

All of the vehicles I have owned in the past where the headlight dimmer switch was located on the steering column did this. I never paid much attention to it, thinking it was normal. I too use it sometimes when I travel on rural roads at night.

My brother did that quite a bit with his car, and I think that that is what caused his lights to keep blowing. I hear that it is possible to overload your circuits doing that. Fortunately, with the single bulb headlights, the bulbs blow. With the dual bulb headlights, who knows? Maybe it was something else that kept blowing the bulbs, but he went through them like they were diposable or something.

I took a voltmeter out to the venture and see that I only have 10 volts at the headlight when you switch to the high beam on the highbeam filament, and then when you release the turn signal lever, the filament voltage drops to 9 volts. I think it is time to take it back to the dealer for a little warranty service.. I suspect that everything will work better if there is 12 volts available to the bulb instead of 9.

The first trip to one of the local chevy dealers didn't get any results. They advised that the headlights were working as designed. Not satisfied with that, I took the Venture to another local dealer, and in about 1-1/2 hours they had discovered that the battery negative cable to the frame was corroded, and that the alternator ground was also corroded. Both areas were cleaned and the problem no longer exists. The headlights now have a little over 11 volts to them when the battery shows 12. This also did away with the variance in the luminance when I pull the turnsignal up and then release it. It doesn't get slightly dimmer anymore. I am now thinking that they are using solid state switching which drops the voltage .6 volts and I may just have to put in a relay to put the full 12 volts on the headlight filaments as an after the market mod to the system. Anyway, this appears to be the answer I was hunting for. Good luck to anyone else that has the same problem in finding corroded grounds as well!