Headlight Harness Upgrade Problems

[ceejay]

I have some weird stuff going on with my headlights ever since I installed and made my relay harness. Here’s what happens:

Both headlights turn on fine

Front left running light lights up fine, right one dim, but when you turn on the right turn signal, it blinks at its normal brightness.

Turn off headlights, running lights shut off fine, passenger headlamp shuts off, drivers side stays dim.

The only way I get the headlamps to turn completely off is to turn the ignition on and off and they shut off.

Any help? Thanks.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Sounds lik oheadlamp switch is having issues. the headlamp switch is letting juice out residually and the closest thing to represent power in that circuit would be driver side. ignition switch cuts the power temporarily or changes load or SOMETHING to allow it to finally cut that circuit. its still odd to me that fixes it

 

[Dave M]

Check the earth connections.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Check the earth connections.

sadly insulated by 4 tiress





-Joking, I had to!-

 

[ceejay]

Any more suggestions? Do you think the front turn signals and headlights could be separate issues? I Hooked them up at the same time

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[Craig 85]

I had an issue with mine, but I switched to Hella H4/H1 lights. What bulbs are you using OEM style or aftermarket?

Mine turned out to to be a wiring issue. There was an adapter from Hella that was screwing me up. I deleted that then re-pinned my harness at the low beam. Also make sure the grounds are good and you are using star washers.

 

[ceejay]

I had an issue with mine, but I switched to Hella H4/H1 lights. What bulbs are you using OEM style or aftermarket?

Mine turned out to to be a wiring issue. The was an adapter from Hella that was screwing me up. I deleted that then re-pinned my harness at the low beam. Also make sure the grounds are good and you are using star washers.

Yes, I upgraded to Cibie H4 headlamps. I changed the pinout on my plugs, but still no avail. I might try to go out in a little bit and re clean up the grounds.

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[Doppleganger]

I agree with checking the grounds and connectors....maybe trying another bulb? I've had older bulbs with corrosion that acted off too.

 

[wanderinthru]

Everything said so far. Plus with the other problem you have had, leads me to believe, it's a switch problem, or there are some worn, scabbed together, etc.. wires probably under the dash touching, or in the connector block on the fire wall. Something is allowing the electrons to make a circuit, how be it a slow one???

 

[ceejay]

Hey guys, a little update. I fixed it! So the first thing I thought it was is the passenger side ground was completely unhooked, just dangling there. I was totally convinced that was the problem. To my amazement, hooking that up didn't do anything! I was baffled. But oh well, I'm sure that would of caused some kind of electrical problem in the future. So I went back to looking at the relays and when I wired them I used 5 prong relays with pigtail connectors. This includes the 87a slot that was not being used, but had a wire coming off of it, unhooked to anything. So I pulled the 87a wire off both of the relays and walaa. Problem solved! I guess I thought there would be no current being drawn without it hooked to anything, but I was wrong. Oh well, I'm not going to claim I'm some electrical guru. After me fixing the headlight issue, passenger side parking lamp was still dim. At least now I knew the problem was separated from the headlights, I just didn't know at the time because I wired in the headlights and parking lamps at the same time. So I removed the connector on the passenger side and twisted the bulb some more and it's at full brightness! Problem fixed. The only thing is, the bulb doesn't feel that tight. I got both the bulb connectors from LMC, so I might see if anything else happens with the connector and if so I might see if they can replace it. So anyways, thanks for the help everybody!

 

[ceejay]

Ahhh. Still having issues with these headlamps. I haven't been driving the truck, so when I fixed the last issue, I kind of left it. I was messing with it last night though, and some weird stuff is still going on. I tried my dimmer switch and my high beams came on, but when I press the dimmer switch again, the right one went back to low beam, but the left one would not turn off of high beam. Same solution again, turn on the truck, turn it off, they are off. Also, they were so much brighter than the low beams. Now don't make fun of me, because I know that's why they call them high beams.... But I knew they shouldn't be that much brighter, and I had the feeling that after the H4 upgrade and relay upgrade the low beams should be brighter. So I got a volt meter out there and tested them and I got 6.5v to low beams when they were on and 12v to high beams when they were on? Faulty dimmer switch? Faulty headlight switch?

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[Snoots]

It's a different element in the bulb for high/low beam. BOTH use 12v. The dimmer switch changes which element is on. It does not 'sink' voltage somewhere for the 'dim' selection.
If your headlight switch worked before, there is no reason that it should not work now.

Are you working off of a schematic?

 

[ceejay]

It's a different element in the bulb for high/low beam. BOTH use 12v. The dimmer switch changes which element is on. It does not 'sink' voltage somewhere for the 'dim' selection.
If your headlight switch worked before, there is no reason that it should not work now.

Are you working off of a schematic?

Yes. I primarily ran off of this schematic.

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/exterior/headlight_relay.htm

The thing is, I don't know if the headlamps were fully functional before or if they had any problems. It was basically a roller when I got it and I've slowly been installing stuff back on.

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[Snoots]

Cool.
If you are looking at the back of the headlamp, the right pin is for high beam, the left is ground and, the center is for low beam.

Ground is important. I'd say that 99% of all electrical problems are caused by missing, broken or corroded ground connections.

Check for zero ohms at ground then, check for your voltages between ground and high/low beam connections.

You got this!

 

[ceejay]

Cool.
If you are looking at the back of the headlamp, the right pin is for high beam, the left is ground and, the center is for low beam.

Ground is important. I'd say that 99% of all electrical problems are caused by missing, broken or corroded ground connections.

Check for zero ohms at ground then, check for your voltages between ground and high/low beam connections.

You got this!

I made sure my pinout was correct for the H4 bulbs and it is. Like I said, I had a voltmeter up to it while they were on and the high beam has about 12v when on but the low beam has only 6.5v. What do you mean about zero ohms at ground? You don't think it could be dimmer or headlight switch?

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