huckapatooey

I tried posting in the mantenance/repairs section with little help. has anyone seen or experienced this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

While driving down the highway at night, my headlights went dim. Looking at them, when the headlights are on low beam, passenger side is normal brightness, and the other 3 are dim. When switched to high beam, the driver side shuts off while both passenger lights are on at normal brightness. I just replaced the lights and I'm not sure what to do from here. Wiring looks good with no visible damage or abnormal wear.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

check your grounds, or maybe the headlight relays.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Many times. It's common with bad connections for the headlight. Since you just changed the bulbs, the first connectors to check are the bulb connectors. You may have corrosion in them or they may just be loose. If you bend the bulb tabs inward towards each other slightly, they will grip the bulb prongs more tightly.

If that doesn't work, the next connector to check is the headlight motor connector. (The headlight wires pass through this one, also.) This connector is prone to corrosion and is usually fine if its left alone. Have you ever unplugged it? (Sometimes the corrosion gets in the way when its plugged back together.)

WhiteBird00

iTrader: (4)

Daniel has a point worth noting - although there are no relays in the headlight system, the grounds may be a prime candidate judging by your symptoms. The giveaway is that you say "the other 3 are dim" when on low beam. When the low beams are on, only one lamp on each side should be lit. When the other lamps are also dimly lit, it indicates that there may be a ground problem that is causing the headlight power to back feed through the other lamps to reach ground. The one to check is the left (driver's side) ground which is on the top left side of the radiator support. If the ground itself is okay, check the black wire in the headlamp connectors for continuity to ground as wssix99 suggested.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Hmm. I just re-read the post and don't understand if the lights were changed before or after the problem arose. My comments assumed the former.

huckapatooey

Headlights were changed after problem arose. Just checked voltages and resistance. Voltage and resistance are as follows:

Driver High Beam= DHB
Driver Low Beam= DLB
and same goes for passenger.

While on low beam voltages are:
DHB- 0V
DLB- -12V
PHB- 0V
PLB- -12V

High Beam on:
DHB- 12V
DLB- -12V
PHB- 12V
PLB- -12V

huckapatooey

Now here are the resistances between each wire and ground.

DHB- Grn=9ohm, Blu=0.29Kohm
DLB- Bla=0.29Kohm, Brn=70Kohm
PHB- Yel=10ohm, Bla=0ohm
PLB- Brn=69Kohm, Bla=0ohm

So this tells me that it is not a wire grounded, but the lack thereof on the driver side correct? No another question. Are the headlights in any way tied to the front running/turn indicators other than sharing a harness? Those have not worked right since I bought the car. Hazards don't flash up front, neither blinker works and only the passenger side comes on when i have running lights on. The only reason I ask this is because it's the same side as the fault I have found that is not working at all.

huckapatooey

I found the ground. It was right where the ground wire runs into the large harness. I didn't want to tear apart the entire harness to re-run the one wire, so I just cut right after the two lamps merge and ran a new ground along the harness to the same place it was grounded to.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Did that work for you?

1BadAzzWS6

iTrader: (11)

I'm having this same exact problem. The first time around it seemed like a bad connection/corrosion on one of the headlamp prongs. I replaced the bulb and all was fine for a few weeks and now the same problem has returned. All the prongs and connections seem fine with no signs or additional corrosion.

Let me know if you find a solution.

huckapatooey

For me it ended up being the lack of a ground on the driver side headlights. I checked resistance from all wires to ground (see results in above post). The fault was somewhere in the main harness. I didn't want to dig through the entire harness, so I just cut the wire after they splice together (before the plug) and ran a new ground wire along the harness and to the same place. I kept the original ground there also because there were two wires going onto the connector and didn't want to mess anything else up.

Checking the resistance will tell you if it a ground, and which side is the issue causing it. For me, the faulty side was the side that both lights were dim on.

Streetlegal?

iTrader: (25)

Mine did the same thing. Take the large connector that plugs into each headlight (has a bunch of wires) and wiggle or slightly pull it out. The lights should pop back to normal. Then you know it is the connector. Mine did the exact same thing yours are.

Walsh11

Ok, I'm having the same issue on my 99.. But mine is doing something bizarre! WHen I turn my headlights on, the windshield wipers will not come on. If I turn the lights off, the wipers work but very slowly. If not for "Rain X" that I was able to buy at publix, I would have had to wait for the rain to stop

Walsh11

Please let me know if anyone has seen this problem with the wipers not working when the headlights are on.

NEVERMIND FOUND IT! Thanks for this thread. Went looking for loose grounds and found one right behind the drivers side head lights, fixed the lights and the Ws wipers.