Headlight -- wiring or bulb?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 286
Likes: 1
From: Fairfax VA
Headlight -- wiring or bulb?
Hey everyone, I did some searching but I couldn't find the right information so I'm going to post the problem.
I have a '95, nothing weird about it, pretty much stock. The front passenger headlight was out the day after Skyline this year. I don't know if it was out on my way home from skyline or not. The day after that, it worked fine. Then stopped working again for a day or two. It went on like that for about a week. The flipping mechanism still works fine, it's just the bulb doesn't make any light.
For the last 3 days, it's been out and it doesn't look like it's coming back. Since it went out intermittently, it's pretty indicative of wiring trouble, correct? What should I look at? Should I pull the light out and check the connection? Does anything on that corner usually get loose?
I looked a few days ago and the connection on the far right side of the car just in front of the wheel looks good, but from there, I was having trouble following the wires because it was dark.
Thanks for the help!
Mike
I have a '95, nothing weird about it, pretty much stock. The front passenger headlight was out the day after Skyline this year. I don't know if it was out on my way home from skyline or not. The day after that, it worked fine. Then stopped working again for a day or two. It went on like that for about a week. The flipping mechanism still works fine, it's just the bulb doesn't make any light.
For the last 3 days, it's been out and it doesn't look like it's coming back. Since it went out intermittently, it's pretty indicative of wiring trouble, correct? What should I look at? Should I pull the light out and check the connection? Does anything on that corner usually get loose?
I looked a few days ago and the connection on the far right side of the car just in front of the wheel looks good, but from there, I was having trouble following the wires because it was dark.
Thanks for the help!
Mike
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 7,342
Likes: 2,272
From: Central Maryland
Pull the connector off of the dark light just far enough to get to the contacts with a voltmeter. Touch the black voltmeter lead to chassis ground, and the red lead to each of the contacts on the headlight, one at a time. If you see 12v on the meter, at any of the contacts, it's a bad headlight.
If you see no voltage, pull the connector the rest of the way off, and repeat the previous voltage measurements, only this time at each of the terminals on the connector, instead of the headlight. If you see 12v, replace the headlight and it should be good to go. If you see no voltage, look for a wiring, grounding, or connector issue.
If you don't have a voltmeter handy, swap the positions of the two headlights (move left to right, and right to left), and see if the problem remains on the same side, or moves to the other side.
Be well,
SJW
If you see no voltage, pull the connector the rest of the way off, and repeat the previous voltage measurements, only this time at each of the terminals on the connector, instead of the headlight. If you see 12v, replace the headlight and it should be good to go. If you see no voltage, look for a wiring, grounding, or connector issue.
If you don't have a voltmeter handy, swap the positions of the two headlights (move left to right, and right to left), and see if the problem remains on the same side, or moves to the other side.
Be well,
SJW
