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No headlights!

4x4JeePmaNthINg

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Colorado
So I went to test my passenger light that was out. I removed it and plugged it into the driver location and threw the switch, No light. I thought I had it so I plug the driver light back in and throw the switch, no light on both now. Fuses 4 and 5 have power. I'm going to try testing the plugs for power.
I do have a harness I also unplugged this and ran it through the stock wiring, threw the switch and no lights. The driving lights do come on.

What's my next step please?
 
Hi beam and low beam have 12v on both the driver side plug and the passenger side plug of the STOCK wiring harness. Passenger ground .000 drivers ground .002 so that's fairly good right...

I'm beside myself on where to look next and I drove it home with the lightbar on, not ideal.

What should I do next?

thank you for any help, I have dark drives to-from work and im just waiting to get pulled over with the bar on.
 
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Test the lights first to make sure they work, then test for resistance from the switch to the bulb. also check voltage, found mine were only receeiving around 11.6 volts with the stock wiring.
 
can i test the lights safely with spare wire to the the ground and one lead to the positive?
-I believe I have tested resistance from the switch to the bulb ( unless your suggesting something else), I tested the resistance on the Stock plugs and used the battery as ground: passenger .000, driver side .002
-Voltage was 12v for hi/low beam on both plugs
 
Check all with a test light. Install a test light to power to test the ground. If the circuit is ok it's the bulbs. And yes you can hook the headlight to a battery. Keep one in my toolbox for loading circuits at work.

Do the high beams work?
 
Definitely test the lights. A multimeter for continuity or a couple of test leads to the battery.

FWIW I lost both low beams at SoCalFest last spring. And it was snowing coming down the mountain.

I thought for certain I had an electrical problem. High beams worked, but no low beams. I tried swapping relays to no avail. When I got home and got to working through the problem I found that both headlights had lost the low beam. At least it was a simple fix.
 
Check all with a test light. Install a test light to power to test the ground. If the circuit is ok it's the bulbs. And yes you can hook the headlight to a battery. Keep one in my toolbox for loading circuits at work.

Do the high beams work?

I have power to hi beam but I didn't try them alone, I'll try this tonight. Did my readings for continuity not look right?

To be clear on using the test light, I'm simply probing the hi/low plug areas yes? If they light up it's got power and ground right?
 
What year XJ?

I had a similar problem with my 1994. If you hold the dimmer switch stalk back, high beams would work. It turned out there was a bad wire up under the column that was messed up to the headlight switch.
 
Check for high and low beam voltage at the headlight wire plug, check continuity to ground at the headlight wire plug. If both of these are good, test the lights with a separate 12 volt source. Having headlights fail within a few days of each other is common.
 
Fyi mine's a 99

Test 2
I tested both high/ low beam on both the stock and aftermarket harness, driver side and passenger.
The test light moved illuminated for all variances of high/ low, driverside/ passenger, stock harness/afternarket.
I then proceeded to the multimeter: again everything was good 12.06 up to 12.10, the harness gave a little more being direct to the battery.
I plugged both lights into the stock harness and no low, go up it to high and Both lights are on???? Huh?

I need some help understanding what the heck is going on now ?
 
Test the lights with a separate 12 volt source. Having headlights fail within a few days of each other is common.
 
Sounds like both lows are burned out. Probably just messing around with the other light broke the filament.

Im not well versed on headlight switches, but is there anyway a 99 can have and issue with the switch itself that would only allow high beams?

ill be testing the lamps hi/low each by themselves off the battery
 
Test the lights with a separate 12 volt source. Having headlights fail within a few days of each other is common.

Sounds like both lows are burned out. Probably just messing around with the other light broke the filament.


two new headlights are functioning perfectly. this is my 4th pair of silverstars and the 3rd was the first headlights ive ever had burn out. this was after having a harness upgrade for maybe a year. idk if this pushed them any harder than normal, i plugged the harness back in for noticeably improved light output.

thanks for the help everyone, I thought I may have had a wiring issue after the second bulb went from switching them around.
:cheers:
 
two new headlights are functioning perfectly. this is my 4th pair of silverstars and the 3rd was the first headlights ive ever had burn out. this was after having a harness upgrade for maybe a year. idk if this pushed them any harder than normal, i plugged the harness back in for noticeably improved light output.

thanks for the help everyone, I thought I may have had a wiring issue after the second bulb went from switching them around.
:cheers:
do yourself a favor and do the headlight relay upgrade.
its worth the $10 investment.
will provide a true power scource to headlights.
as well as make them brighter.
will probly stop any future issues.
 
"this was after having a harness upgrade for maybe a year"

i believe this is what your referring to,no? putco or my octane harness....
if so, yes they are a good upgrade and they do make a nice difference.
 
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"this was after having a harness upgrade for maybe a year"

i believe this is what your referring to,no? putco or my octane harness....

if you have already done the harness upgrade then you are way ahead of me.
many people have said the oem wires for the headlights are too small awg for the power.
figured maybe that had caused issues over time.
 
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