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One dim headlight issue

klennop

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Appleton, WI
I recently did the switch to get rid of the sealed beam headlights. Previous to that my passenger side headlight was always dim compared to the drivers side but I thought that the passenger sealed beam was older which would mae it dimmer. Well after I did the swop, it is still dim. I think both headlights use one ground correct? So that makes me think the ground is fine?? Any ideas on how to fix this or trouble shoot it? It is an 01 Limited.

Thanks
 
What about when they are on high beam? Still a difference? Check the voltage at each beam. You could also run a separate ground.
 
corroded contacts in the 3 wire plugs?
 
Well I never thought about it being different on high beams but I just checked and it isn't as noticeable on the high beams just the low. How can that be??

As for corrosion. The male parts of the plugs are brand new but the female part is still factory however I cant see any noticable corrosion. Is there a way to get into the female part of the plugs to clean them, like a spray or something.

Also how can I check the voltage on the plugs? What hole is ground, power, etc on the plugs?

Thanks for the help.
 
Well, one wire is high beam, one is low beam and one is ground....sooooo....I could just be the low beam contact or perhaps the wire got frayed somewhere?
 
The simple and most definitive test would be to swap the two headlights. If the symptom follows the bulb, then the bulbs are different. If it stays the same, you have a wiring issue and can start down that path.
 
If he just did the conversion I would assume that the bulbs were the same, especially if it was a problem with the previous sealed beams, but checking on that is not a bad idea at all. I do believe that the back of that plug will come off, its been a while though, at the worst you could try a small screwdriver to scrape any gunk off, just don't ben the contact. It maybe be my aftermarket harness that has the removeable plug back...
 
Yeah I just did the conversion and the previous sealed beams were the same way in the fact that the passenger side was dimmer so I don't think it is the bulbs.

Maybe there is corrosion in the connector so I am wondering what is the best way to try and clean it out. Because there isn't much room to fit anything into that female connector. That is why I was wondering if there was some type of spray or something.

If one wire is frayed somewhere then I guess I will have to try and follow the wires to check for that.

Both headlights use the same ground correct??
 
Well if you went and did the wiring harness upgrade to run the headlights right off the battery you would only need one working socket....unfortunately though its the passenger side one that you need (that could be worked around however). Anyway, I don't think that they would have a terminal ground separate from the rest of the harness unless you modified their power source somehow, but one of the ground wires in the harness could have frayed. I had some corrosion in mine when I did the entire swap, I used contact cleaner and an eyeglass sized flathead screw driver to clean them out a little, though I do seem to recall taking the back of that connector off to trace the high beam wire when I installed my alternating headlight mod. If there is a gap around the back of the plug then there is a way to open it up and it might be easier to clean from behind...
 
I was thinking about doing the new wiring but I was waiting for someone to do a good write-up for it so I don't fry something.

I think I will try the brake cleaner in there.

As for the emery board, I am not big on filing my nails!:rof: However I am sure my GF has some laying around.

Thanks again for all the help guys!
 
klennop said:
I was thinking about doing the new wiring but I was waiting for someone to do a good write-up for it so I don't fry something.

I think I will try the brake cleaner in there.

As for the emery board, I am not big on filing my nails!:rof: However I am sure my GF has some laying around.

Thanks again for all the help guys!

i would try some spray electrical parts cleaner instead of brake cleanner. i seem to remember reading something about not getting it on plastic or rubber. i would hate to see that desolve away.

anyways you can suck up some pride and visit the health and beauty section of your local store and try to find a thin emery board or nail file. it shouldnt be more than a couple of bucks and you could hang on to it for other similar job. also you could get a set of some small diamiter files from a hardware store and those may work.

hth
stewie
 
Anytime you work on the wiring, CLEAN EVERYTHING. (IMO) It may have fix the problem up front. IF it is the socket I would replace it not just clean it. They tend to go bad after a few years and with your upgrade you needs the best contact it can get.
Brake cleaner may be OK on light sockets but watch using it around sensors relays radios etc. That kind of stuff can get real picky about what you get into them.
 
het guys..mornin..i cleaned my injector connector with good old baken soda and water and that cleaned all that greeen stuff up..my 2 cents..aloha stan
 
badron said:
Anytime you work on the wiring, CLEAN EVERYTHING. (IMO) It may have fix the problem up front. IF it is the socket I would replace it not just clean it. They tend to go bad after a few years and with your upgrade you needs the best contact it can get.
Brake cleaner may be OK on light sockets but watch using it around sensors relays radios etc. That kind of stuff can get real picky about what you get into them.

If you do the wiring upgrade right you don't really need anything but enough current through one of the old sockets to trip the relay, its used for control only, it does not directly power the lights, the point of the kit being to power the headlights with higher gauge wire directly from the battery. It should work as long as there is just enough current. I bought the harness, it made dealing with the connectors easy, its plug n' play and it works. 1/2 hour install, most of the time just routing the wires.
 
No there are separate grounds for each side. The right side grounds should be on the upper radiator mount right there by the corner of the battery.
 
OK so I went to clean the terminals out and there was a lot of what looked to be some type of grease in them but not really corrosion. So I cheaned them with the baking soda and water. Then I blew them out really well with my air compressor.

I then pulled my drivers side and noticed that the terminal is totally different. Is that normal? See what I wanted to do is compare voltage between the 2 lights before I put everything back in.

When comparing the voltage it seemed that the "dim" passenger side actually had a little more than .1 volts higher than the bright side. Both sides without the jeep running had over 12V. So I thought I had the problem fixed.

NOPE it is still dimmer, only on the low beams. The high beams seem to be the same between both sides and it doesn't matter if the jeep is running or not.

I am going to try new bulbs but I don't think that will fix it since my old sealed beams acted the same way. I also don't think the ground is bad because the high beams between the two are the same so if I had a bad ground wouldn't the high beams be dimmer also? Right???

Can someone snap a picture or something to show me what terminal is supposed to have power for just the low beams because if I remember correctly one terminal was the ground and the other 2 had power. Also all the wires going into the terminal were black.

I am just totally confused here!!!:dunno:
 
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