head light mystery

Technical advice Q&A

Topic author
snowdmc
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:13 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

#1 head light mystery

Post by snowdmc » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:13 am

Hi All,

When i bought my car a few weeks ago i hadn't noticed that the dipped headlight on the drivers side was blown, no problem as they were sealed beam units and i was keen to upgrade to H4 halogen lights instead.

So after swapping out both units, the headlight on the drivers side is still not working(dip) (brand new bulb) but the full beam works ok, fuse is intact - i'm a little bit stumped as to what the issue is, i checked the voltage and registers with 12v at the terminal, but this drops to 2v once i connect the bulb. i thought it might be a bad earth, but the full beam works fine and they share the same earth connector.

Is there a headlight resistor or similar on each side that may have blown, like the old motorbikes used to have?

Help greatly appreciated, driving home on 1 headlight was not fun, but was brighter than 2 sealed units tho

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Topic author
snowdmc
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Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

#2

Post by snowdmc » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:15 am

forgot to say everything is fine on the passenger side, perhaps the previous unit being blown should be a telling indication to something?

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christopher storey
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#3

Post by christopher storey » Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:15 am

It is likely to be corrosion on one of the connectors, probably on the right hand headlamp side of the double one . I cannot remember whether the high beam is blue /white or blue/red , so check both

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Topic author
snowdmc
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#4

Post by snowdmc » Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:30 am

thanx, i ordered new connectors when i bought the lamps, so will wire these in and let you know how i get on

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christopher storey
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#5

Post by christopher storey » Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:37 am

I've checked, and blue/white should be the main beam

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Topic author
snowdmc
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#6

Post by snowdmc » Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:31 pm

thought i should post a quick update, car is currently at the garage so cannot do any work on it yet, have been told that the loom plug on the passenger side is notorious for causing light problems, so when i get it back, will give it a wiggle and go from there :)

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1954Etype
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#7

Post by 1954Etype » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:01 pm

snowdmc wrote:thought i should post a quick update, car is currently at the garage so cannot do any work on it yet, have been told that the loom plug on the passenger side is notorious for causing light problems, so when i get it back, will give it a wiggle and go from there :)
Wont be the plug if only one is working. It has common feeds to the headlights (b/w for main b/r for dip) which is split inside the bonnent nose.

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#8

Post by snowdmc » Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:39 am

Ah I see thanks for that, how accessible is the wiring in the nose?

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#9

Post by 1954Etype » Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:20 pm

snowdmc wrote:Ah I see thanks for that, how accessible is the wiring in the nose?
You have to remove the sugar scoops. Remove the LHS one first as that is where the junction box is.

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