Headlight issues

88_AHB · Nov 29, 2019

Hey everyone,
Have a issue with my headlights. I don't know how they were before I got this car but, until recently I've only driven the car in the day and didn't worry about these yet.Pictures explain my issue.I'm guessing a bad ground or something else?

I did have two bad headlights so I went and replaced all 4. All connections are on tight,I cleaned all terminals and greased them.I also installed a good used headlight switch same results.No blown fuses etc.
Sort of hard to see in the low beam pic but, the driver side headlight is noticeably dim and more so on high.

Low beam

High beam

Rustyroger · Nov 29, 2019

First thing to check is the grounds. A bad ground will typically give the symptoms you have.

Roger.

volare 77 · Nov 29, 2019

My first thought also was a bad ground.

88_AHB · Nov 29, 2019

Which grounds to check? I see the ones immediately near the headlights to the inner fender. are there more?

Aspen500 · Nov 29, 2019

Those are the ones for the headlights, near the front of the inner fender panels. It looks like a ground problem to me also, the way its feeding back through the high beam bulbs.
Check the ground circuit from the headlamps to the ground points and make sure the ground points are clean and tight.

88_AHB · Nov 29, 2019

So I went and checked out the two grounds. The passenger side was a little crusty and the driver side was not fully bolted to the body. Cleaned up, tightened both bolts and cleaned mounting surfaces. Now the headlights are functioning as they should. Thanks so much everyone.

Aspen500 · Nov 30, 2019

Good deal! I see you're parking lights are all working now and, are brighter also.

It's weird how electricity will try to find a path to ground by any means possible. A guy I work with always says electricity is not an inanimate object, it's a living breathing being and can be a real a**hole when it wants to be. He is so right.

BudW · Dec 6, 2019

Aspen500 said:
electricity is not an inanimate object, it's a living breathing being and can be a real a**hole when it wants to be.

That is worthy to be quoted!

Aspen500 · Dec 7, 2019

BudW said:
That is worthy to be quoted!

After being an auto tech for 35 years (so far) I can say with 100% certainty that electricity IS a living entity, especially now when the cars are nothing more than rolling computer networks. There's no other explanation for the things electricity is capable of doing, even though the things it can do defy all logic and breaks all the laws of physics.

kkritsilas · Dec 8, 2019

Electricity is not a living breathing anything. If you think that, you don't understand electricity properly. It always, always works exactly the way it is supposed to. What is missing, is that people overlook things, or don't fully understand what is going on. Even with computers.

XfbodyX · Dec 11, 2019

I think its just semantics on what ele. is or isnt. In the broader picture its a force of nature. Part of mother nature. Looking past our petty use and understanding of how we use it and looking at how the earth and electricity and even the universe functions with it. Does it breath, no but here again, simple semantics.

Headlight issues

88_AHB

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Rustyroger

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volare 77

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88_AHB

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Aspen500

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88_AHB

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Aspen500

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BudW

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Aspen500

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kkritsilas

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XfbodyX

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