Headlights

[dgramenz]

Ok, I've got a problem. Lately, my headlights have been acting up. They got part of the way out, just glowing. It started with just the left one. If I wiggled the connector on the back of the bulb, it came back on for a while. Then the left one quit doing that and the right one started. The other night, they both did it. I've tried a new bulb and it did the same thing. Tonight I finally took the battery and everything out to get to it and saw that the inside of the plug on the left side is deformed (from heat the way it looks). the guy at Napa said he could sell me the plug alone but not the harness. I looked at a heavy duty harness from dFuser.com, but the way I read it, it just plugs into that same plug that's giving me problems. I have 9007 bulbs in a 2000 F250. I was thinking of just upgrading to their heavy duty 9007 harness if it'll solve the problems. Any help would be great. Thanks!!

[mschn99]

heat is created with resistance....so you probably have a bad ground....power wire....or the socket was bad......

there is the possibility of an exxess amp draw also...that is going to be a really tough thing to diag for sure on here.....did you put aftermarket "blue or high output" bulbs in??

[dgramenz]

No, as far as I can tell, these are just plain light bulbs...they're nothing special. When I pulled the harness off the bulb, though, I was surprised to see some corrosion inside. I know that shouldn't be there. Could it be part of the problem? And what do you think of a heavy duty harness?

[mschn99]

Originally Posted by dgramenz

No, as far as I can tell, these are just plain light bulbs...they're nothing special. When I pulled the harness off the bulb, though, I was surprised to see some corrosion inside. I know that shouldn't be there. Could it be part of the problem? And what do you think of a heavy duty harness?

the heavy harnesses are good........but you need to figure out your problem before you do that....and yes....the corrosion could most definatley cause this. resistance is the opposition to electrical current flow. corrosion is just that....bad contacts make electricity not flow well. when the flow is partially blocked....heat is the result. i think that most definately could be the root cause.......Marc

[dgramenz]

Well, I got the plug from Napa and spliced it into the harness and it solved the problem. But when I turned the switch on, the other light still acted up, so I pulled it apart and the inside of that plug was fried too. Part of it fell out in my hand. So when I'm home next weekend, I'll have to go get another one and fix it. Thanks, Marc, for your help. Nice to have some helpful guys around.

[Maintain]

I hate splicing wires because then they become weak links, but you do what you gotta do. A headlight harness from an aftermarket shop would probably run around 50 bucks. I might be wrong though.

[fast_st]

Late late reply,
Terminal Town's Electrical Coonector Solder Seals
super tough and sealed splice, wires have to be super clean and
free of oxide but it seems to be the right way to splice.
-Jason