Any clues on what may be the problem with my dimmed headlights....

[The Stigenator]

I posted on GStwin & Focus Fanatics, so far no response on Focus Fanatics on it and not much from GStwin. ZV doesnt know exactly whats up. My coworker suggested get the alternator checked. I will replace the battery on my digital meter to see if the voltages drop.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/f...howthread.php?t=157343



In an earlier post I had mentioned that my AC fan stopped working. That is now fixed, it was the fan switch (not the fan resistor). Anyway around the same time my drivers side headlight started to burn at 30-50% brightness. I looked at the connector looked like it was melting.

HISTORY:

So back in December 2007 I got a ticket from LAPD for a non working headlight (fix it ticket), evidently my headlight burned out while I was driving around. Anyway I attempted to take off the bulb and replace it and the connector was melted on the pins (sylvania H4/9003 LL). So I bought some new H4/9003 connector tips and tried installing them in the car. I spliced it and using a crimp connector connected it. Immediately I noticed that the brightness was a bit weak. Now I may have grounded the metal part of the bulb to the chassis (damn brother didnt notice where he put the bulb on the car). Anyway I wasnt happy with teh connector one of the connections came off so I ended up taking it to an auto shop which did electrical work too.

Note: This was the 2nd connector that was put in, the first one was done by myself using crimp connectors around 100000 miles ago. The original connector on the passengers side melted first. I did not have any problems with the low beam/high beams before december 2007.

He reconnected it by splicing and soldering the connectors. After he did that I noticed my "high beam light" on the inside was dimly on. It was no biggie. Well Intially i did not realise that he miss wired the thing a bit. One side (passenger) was on high beam and the drivers side was on Low Beam. When you switched to High Beam, the beams reversed. Anyway it didnt bother me I drove around like that.

CURRENTLY:

So right after my AC thinge stopped working, i noticed the drivers side headlight was burning dim. So i took it to another auto repair/electrical place. He corrected the wiring issues by resplicing it and making a new connector. Now both headlights are on LOW beam when its on low beam and high beam when its on high beam.

PROBLEM:

So since yesterday that took it to the shop to get it corrected, the HIGH BEAM indicator light inside is constantly on. The LOW Beam light on both headlights are burning at 50% brightness or lesser. I told him at the time i picked the car that the headlight is not bright enough, but he was telling me it was my oxidized lens cover (i will polish that today) and plus it was day time and it would be fine at night. Anyway I also showed him the high beam light being constantly on before I left.

Last night I took it out for a drive, and sure enough its not bright enough. I cannot see anything, i went down this particularly dark stretch of road (no street lights) and i couldnt see anything. Heck on the freeway its down right dangerous since you cant see the reflectors all that well. In high beam all is well and its nice and bright.

So my plan is to measure the voltage across the low beam and high beam leads. I want someone to post their voltages on the low beam and high beam (when car is running and not running). I also plan to measure the voltage between the battery running and not running. If the bulb in low beam is using significantly lesser than whats battery is putting out in voltage then I got to figure out whats wrong.

Any idea what may be wrong????

CLIFFS:

Connectors respliced by mechanic due to low brightness on low beam.
Now Headlight working at 50% and the high beam indicator is ON all the time.
what may be wrong?

Update
Here are the voltages I got today:

Engine Off:

Battery: 17.00
Headlight Low ~16.85 + 6.74 (on the highbeam connector)
Headlight High ~ 16.85 + 16.85 (on both connectors)

Engine On:

Battery 19.8v
Headlight Low ~17.85 + 8v on highbeam connector
Headlight High ~18.2 + 18.2

In lowbeam.. the top filament comes on and then very dimly the bottom highbeam filament. In Highbeam ONLY the lower filament comes on.

 

[njmodi]

1. Are you running over-wattage bulbs? there is no reason for the stock connectors to melt if you are using the correct bulbs.
2. Sounds like way too many splices and connectors for me to make any real sense of it - headlights are pretty simple. Some have dual-filament bulbs, one filament for low beam and one for high and some cars just use a completely different bulb for each beam setting.. sounds like yours are the dual-filament type... and it also sounds like someone's done either a shoddy job with the wiring... if the factory connectors melted - it's likely the rest of the wiring is in bad shape...
3. Your best bet is to buy a new harness, and run new headlight wiring right from the battery with new relays and new connectors...

 

[The Stigenator]

No I am not running overwattage bulbs, just regular plain jane Sylvania 9003/H3 LL bulbs. and yes the stock connectors melted with the normal bulbs. I used to run Sylvania Cool Blue at one time but that has the same wattage 55/65W

There were no splices, rather there were cut and connected. So technically its now setup properly on the bulb connector side.

A new hardness from Ford runs about 300 thats the whole cars harness. I dont think they got one just for the headlights. I am hoping the wiring has not melted and causing this. Well evidently its getting voltage but probably not the amps with it (not sure if amps matter here).

The fuses are okay, i could not pull out the relays to check on them.

I was thinking of stopping by autozone and having them test the alternator / charging system to see if somethings up.

 

[91TTZ]

Dim headlights are often a ground problem. Check the ground wire coming off the headlights.

 

[The Stigenator]

I had autozone test the charging system and Alt its all good. Ground can be an issue a bit of corrosion was seen on the ground cable. However of its beyond what I can see I don't know. ZV says if its ground it won't be bright in high beam.

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Dim headlights are often a ground problem. Check the ground wire coming off the headlights.

okay so I put in new batteries into my digital multi-meter. How do I check for a ground problem on the headlight. We already know its leaking over from one end to another in low beam though the voltages are not right, i'll measure them tomorrow at lunch to get a clearer idea.

 

[LTC8K6]

Don't forget to consider your headlight switch as a possible problem.

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Don't forget to consider your headlight switch as a possible problem.

I dont see how that could be potentially a problem (the switch on the dash works fine, it turns on power to the parking light and headlights no problems).

The stalk switch for the high beam / low beam seems to be operating fine too. I will try test it if i can figure out how to.

 

[The Stigenator]

update
So to humor the mechanic who said the reason it looks like there is lower light output is because my lenses were all oxidized.. i spent part of this evening (about an hour or more) wet sanding my headlights and running some polymer resin to finish it off. It was a kit I bought at one of the auto stores a while back.

Well I can see the bulb now, but seriously light output isnt all that much. I plan to take it out for a drive a bit later to see if it made a difference. I dont think it has. But we shall see.

In the end the fundamental issue is that its not getting the voltages its supposed to be getting.

 

[njmodi]

When i suggested running a new harness - I didn't mean to replace the entire factory harness just run new harness for the headlights themselves. Right from the battery for positive and ground to the engine somewhere... you can buy a replacement harness for your car on Ebay (For example). That's the best way to solve this problem. New harness + new relays and new grounding...

 

[The Stigenator]

I am yet to find a new harness for just headlights .. know any? i cant find them on ebay.

 

[njmodi]

So here check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...QrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

The way these harness kits usually work is that the "existing" headlight plugs are used to trip the relays on the new harness, but the power and ground for the bulbs is through the new harness entirely...

Let me know if that makes sense? I can try draw something up for you... also - you can ask the seller for more info - they might have a canned set of instructions they can send you...

 

[SJP0tato]

I agree with njomdi, it sounds like some of the stock wiring harness/switch was ruined by whatever it was that melted the connector.

You can try to replace the stock wiring with something equivalent, or since you're in there I'd recommend re-doing it properly and setup a relay system to trigger/power the lights. Since the switching still seems to work, just not the power to the bulbs doing this should help sort out the problem.

Read this site for more detail on what to do:

http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tec...ingHeadlightRelays.htm

Just make SURE to follow the directions for setting up the fuse so you don't melt any other components. And double check your connections.

Good luck!

 

[The Stigenator]

So I took the car out tonight for a drive. This was after i had buffed out the oxidation that was on the two headlights. While the power output is lower, I must say its a far cry from what it used to be. I'll talk to the mechanic to see what can be done about the high beam connector being constantly on, it was on when he reconnected the new bits. If not I am actually not too bothered.. its usable.

This car has 160000 miles and frankly at this stage, a electrical issue that works, but not as good.. its doable. I'll see what he says about a new harness on that. But if not its working.

I know that in low beam its kinda dim, but after buffing it out, it is not that bad. It could be brighter. High beam is SO much more brighter, its just amazingly bright. However whatever the lowbeam is doing after buffing the lenses clean, it should hold up until i buy a new car. Turns out this car is not worth much to trade in anycase ~$500-750 max according to carmax. So not really worth trading in, its running good. Might as well drive it until it dies.

It still bugs me where I am seeing the power loss, I tried to see what was going on today again with the multimeter. I am afraid I think the problem might be someplace I am not thinking of. ANyway lets see what the mechanic comes up with for the high beam light being on all the time when you turn on the headlights.

 

[RayH]

If those voltages are accurate, they seem to be on the high side. 14.5V is usually the highest you should see in most cars.