Trainman-2

I need some help please!

I have a Tiger Shark front fascia but I have learned that if I remove the trim around the headlight and the piece that keeps the front corner of the hood from vibrating, I can wiggle my arm down in under the head light and get to the turn signal bulb socket and change the bulb by feel since I can't see what I am doing.

Yesterday afternoon I was changing the left bulb which was broken and while removing the old bulb I got some sparks from shorting the wires inside the bulb. I figured, no big deal, I will replace the fuse when I am finished.

When I was done, both turn signals worked!

But, the head lights won't go back down when I turn the switch off.

And the instrument lights in the dash board are not working.

I am guessing that somehow I blew a fuse or two but I can't figure out which one.

Can anyone tell me what fuses to check?

SuperSpeed

i would start by pulling the cover off the fuse box under the floor on the pass side. then look at the litter chart and see what ones say...light or signal...might even be a turn signal fuse but i would just check them all under there.

Trainman-2

I tried that yesterday but ran out of time.

I can't make sense out of the appreviations.

I am hoping someone here might save me the time of pulling and inspecting every fuse, one by one, later this morning when I warms up a bit.

Junkman2008

You probably are going to need to pull the entire headlight assembly out and find out why you're sparking in there (if it is the driver's side that you are talking about, it takes about 10 minutes). That is not normal and as many times as I have been inside my headlight cavity, there is no way possible for something to arc unless you have an exposed wire of sorts. This could also be why you're blowing bulbs although I suspect the usual; there's a hole in the top of your marker light that needs to be covered or the marker replaced.

Trainman-2

The arcing I encountered yesterday was within the bulb itself.

It has been so cold here lately that all of my hoses are frozen solid so I went to a touch-less drive through car wash and I suspect the high pressure spray got to the hot (still on) light bulb and shattered it.

When I removed the bulb holder, it was wet and when I grabbed to bulb to pull it out of the holder it arced.

I turn on the headlights to raise the pop-ups and then turn the switch to "parking lights" to turn off the head lights but leave the pop up up. The parking lights still have power to them but this has never caused me a problem changing bulbs before.

Oldvetter

On my 1998 it could be fuses under passenger floor # 6, 15, 38, or 40. Check in your owner's manual under fuses.

Be sure the bulb you are putting in is a #3157, it has two contacts on bottom of bulb. I have seen people put in the wrong bulb (single contact) and melt wiring.

If you have a leak in your light housing (usually above bulb due to heat), you can usually fix it by removing the housing and putting some clear windshield sealant in it and moving housing to have it flow and set on crack. If you don't do this the next time it rains or you wash the car, the lightbulb could break again.

NEVER change bulbs with the lights on. You can manually open that light using the manual overide **** above the headlight, just turn the plastic ****. Lower it the same way when done.

Good luck.

Junkman2008

Actually, this is kind of dangerous as a few folks have found out. I THINK (think being the key word) that if the long time out occurs were the lights go off to save the battery, you're lights could go down while your hand is still in the cavity. That is ultra painful. I would disconnect the power to that headlight when working in there.

I too need to change one of mine for the first time in a long time as I bought new lenses. Since I also have the TS fascia, I can't do it the way I use to. I tried to do it like you are doing it but I've decided that I'm going to have to go under the car to get to mine. What a headache.

BlackZ06

You should disconnect the power to the headlight door motors after they are open, or open them manually. You DO NOT want to have your hand/arm in there should the BCM decide to close the doors.

On the fuses .... look in your Owner's Manual, it could be one of several that MIGHT have blown. You have a 2004 so .....

https://www.mygmlink.com/pdf/go2cont...04corvette.pdf

The headlamp fuses are in the Underhood fuse block, but there is also a relay in the I/P fuse block that controls the headlamps too.

Trainman-2

I couldn't get to mine from under the car!

Trainman-2

I Found The Problem!

It was Fuse Number 6 in the passenger foot well, "Parking Lamps, Tail Lamps"

When I put in the new fuse, the headlights immediately went down. A careful check showed that the Instrument Lights and everything else is working.

The fuse is supposed to be 10 amp but all I had was a 7.5 amp so it is off to the parts store for more fuses.

I am constantly amazed at the Vette's electrical system where so many things seem to be tied together!



I thought I read somewhere about how to open the head light Pop ups and then shut them off electrically.

I guess in the future I will use the manual **** to open them. Better safe than sorry!

Junkman2008

Well, it's off to the garage to find out!

moserbe

The owner's manual sucks at explaining what circuits are on each fuse as I found out when I blew the underhood lite. Tied in with that lite was also the sunvisor mirror lites and glovebox lite. The manual said that fuse #? was "acc". What the hell does that mean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With help from my brother CF members I was steered in the right direction and the repair was made. What a PITA for something so simple.

Trainman-2

Let us know if you can get to it from below.


I bought a pack of "Smart Glow Fuses" at the auto store a little while ago. They have a small LED in them that lights up when they blow if your ignition is on.

$28 for an assortment of 36 fuses.

This is a great idea!

Junkman2008

Yes sir, those are sweet! I bought some too.

Okay, here's the deal with getting to the running lights. From the bottom is more hassle than its worth if you have a TS. Forget that idea. Here's what I ended up doing. I was able to come down through the headlight cavity as the OP did but the socket wouldn't reach out far enough for me to get both hands on the socket and the bulb in order to pull them apart. So I finagled the socket through my fog light opening in the TS fascia, but I couldn't seat the bulb snuggly enough. What a PITA!

So here's what I decided to do. That socket was all nasty from when water use to leak in it. I'm off to the parts store right now to buy a new socket, and then I'm going to add enough wire to pull that puppy all the way out of the car through the headlight opening. This will now be a 10 minute bulb change from start to finish when I'm done. I'll let you know what happens.

Trainman-2

The whole process is a PITA because you can only get one hand in there at a time.

What I do is get the socket out of its hole with one hand then move the socket up to where I can grab the base with a pair of channel lock pliers. Then I hold the handle of the channel locks against the head light and use my hand (in the hole) to remove the bulb.

I always wear a cloth glove to grab the bulb ever since I cut up my hand breaking a bulb while removing it.

If I have a helper, the helper takes the old bulb and hands me a new one. If no helper I pull my hand out of the hole, set down the old bulb, pick up the new one and shove my hand down into the whole again to insert the bulb into the socket which I am still holding with the channel lock pliers.

DANG! Owning the finest sports car ever built in America can be a real PITA sometimes.

Junkman2008

Finally!

With the help of my assistant, that bulb will not be a bother to change again. As you can see, we have length! I can bring that puppy out of every crevice in the front of the car and the wheel well.



Now I just have to get up the patience to do the other side...

BlackZ06

That's one VERY nicely dressed assistant .....

Junkman2008

She said thanks Stephen!