Great stuff

MY 2000 S.

I believe that my headlight switch is bad. The driver's side headlamps won't light when the switch is turned (and the key position is on run). I replaced both the standard bulb and the high beam bulb (and the burned out fog light bulb) today. Both of these bulbs work when the flash high beam is pulled, but not when the permanent on direction is pushed. The headlamp bulbs don't work when the switch is pulled to fog light position (the new fog light bulb does work then). The passenger side lights work fine in all situations.

I see pics of the replacement URO brand switch online. Yet, I don't see the fog light indicator on the switch. The PET disc shows 996-613-535-00 as the part number (no other number for S).

Is there one only switch type for base and S?



Thanks.

... I would carefully check the headlight's connection.
Many times the connector doesn't engage correctly because of a bent pin or skewed mounting.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 315,000+ miles: [garage.pca.org]
[www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

The original part has been superseded by 996.613.535.01

But I would definitely take Pedro's advice about the connector first. Also, heat in the headlight unit over time can cause the wires to melt resulting in a bad connection.

Also, note: [www.autohausaz.com]

(I can't vouch for the company but I like AutoHausAz and it's definitely cheap)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2026 06:47PM by Boxsterra. (view changes)

Parts online.

The switch replacement fixed my driver's side headlight issues.

A few things to note:

The old switch was difficult to separate from the top hat shaped cover, where the switch tabs lock into. My vent is leather covered, so the gaps between the cover and housing are tight. My mechanic worked on that separation removal for over an hour. He ended up drilling a few holes in the hat cover to allow him to push on the switch while twisting and pulling on the bottom. The holes are small and are covered by the external switch cover. He completed the replacement without damaging any of the leather on the housing. Pretty good, since the switch hadn't been removed in over 20 years. The old one had a lot of identification markings and was built in Italy. The new one is a URO and has some labeling, but no ID for where manufactured.

I replaced both high and low beam lights on each headlight side. When I removed the headlight assemblies, I noticed that the internal wiring insulation to the low beam lights each had a small slit in them (right by the connector). I assume that the repeated use of the headlights causes the wire to heat up and split. This might be a good thing to check on these 20+ year old cars. I wrapped the split portions with electrical tape. Removing and replacing the headlight assemblies is not difficult. Just use the metal tool in the spare tire tool kit.

I'm glad you got it sorted out. If either of your headlights starts to work intermittently, the seating of the electrical plug on the back of the unit (per Pedro) and the heat damaged wires inside the headlight housing are both prime suspects.

Cheers.