Headlight issues.

Well, I notices my driver side headlight was out... no biggie, eh?

But then I ALSO noticed, that it works just fine in hi-beam.

Now even the yellow marker light below it kinda blinks in and out... (And if this is the one for turn signals, i didnt check if it blinks, with the signals on, too tired now too check, but I will in the morning.)

Sounds like a wiring problem?

Where should I start looking?

One place to start looking would be the harness connector for the front wiring, which is located more or less below the air cleaner box, just aft of the bulkhead behind the left headlight. Corrosion can get at this pretty easily. I've also had problems with corrosion of the headlight sockets themselves. A good dose of contact cleaner and some dielectric grease or vaseline might help there. while you're at it, check if any ground wires are bad on that side.

But don't discount the possibility that the whole thing is coincidental, and the headlight bulb is just on its way out.

You should start looking at the obvious. Sealed beam headlights use two separate filaments, one for high beam and one for low beam. They commonly have one filament burn out before the other. It is almost unheard of for both filaments to fail at once.

I was unaware of that Eagle, a friend has an extra headlight in the box, i think ill just pop it in, see if it fixes it.

First hit a tool store and find a file or burnishing tool the same size or a bit smaller than the contacts on the headlight. Remove the headlight and clean the socket/connector out with the file. The finer the file the better. Then put a dab of dielectric or tune up grease on the contact on the new headlight. This will keep them from corroding again.
I always replace halogen bulbs in pairs, if one goes the other is generally not too far behind so might as well do it before the temps drop....

RichP said:

I always replace halogen bulbs in pairs, if one goes the other is generally not too far behind so might as well do it before the temps drop....

Click to expand...

I must have a one-sided XJ. I've replaced the driver's side headlight probably four times since 1988, but the passenger side is still the original.

This is the same XJ that has had ONE front hub replaced twice, and the other side is still the original at 245,500 miles. (Cross fingers, knock on wood.)

Happens I guess, I had a 77 Olds starfire, 4 housing setup, two lows and two highs. Had BOTH low beams go at the exact same time, spent two hours trying to find the electrical problem as I could not believe BOTH lights would go at the same time. I was just ready to back out of a parking slot after picking up pizzas, saw them BOTH wink out in in the pizza stores windows. Finally replaced both low beam sealded beams and it was fine... freaky....