jc91

I was driving home the other day and my drivers side headlight randomly quit working. I got home and used a voltmeter to find out that (on the headlight plug) the green/yellow wire was getting ~10 volts at first and quickly dropped while the low beams were on, and the red/black wire was getting 0.6 volts when the high beams were on. On the passengers headlight, both of these wires were getting 12 volts.

I know that these two wire go back to the light switch so I followed them back and tapped into the back of the plug but the readings were still the same. At this point I am stuck and do not know what to do. I know little about wiring (the most complicated thing I have ever done was wire up a s13 sr/s13 chassis swap) and could use some help on what to check next.

I have swapped out the light switch with a known working one, swapped out all 4 of the relays, checked the fuses, and of course tried a new bulb. The last bit of information is that the drivers side fender harness has been chewed through a couple times, but I have replaced all of the damaged wires and they still look to be in good condition.

ANY help would be MUCH appreciated

Mishkin_707

Quit working as is headlamp bulb out? Or won't pop up?

jc91

Bulb wont come on. Sorry for the confusion.

Mishkin_707

You sure the bulb didn't go bad? It's a sealed beam so one bulb for both low and high beam, if the coil for low beam goes out the high beam will still light up, this happened to me, have you checked your grounds lately? It could be a loose ground

jc91

Neither the high or the low will come on for that side. And I have tried a new bulb but it still wouldn't come on. I have checked my grounds but I might have missed one. Do you know which ground location the headlights use?

jc91

bump. Could really use some advice on this. Does this mean that the short is occurring BEFORE the light switch? This is considering I am getting the same voltage readings at the headlight plug as I am at the switch..

Mishkin_707

I can't remember off the top of my head for the grounds, I did a Silvia front end, did you check the bigger fuses under the hood? Should be LH beam and RH beam printed on the fuse cover on the battery side.

Mishkin_707

Sorry can't edit on my iPhone, it could be your headlight/turn signal stalk mine every once in a blue moon the "knob" on the turn signal stalk to turn the headlights on I have to push it in to get my head lights on cause just like yours only the passenger side lights will come on

Mishkin_707

Oh shit, what part of Chicago are you in, I can probably come help you out

jc91

Yea I checked every fuse and relay associated with the headlights, and I actually already swapped out that stalk for a known working one off of my parts car and its still doing the same thing. I have tried every single basic thing and so far I can only come up with it being a short before the lighting stalk based on the tests...but idk how to trace that.

And I actually just moved away from Chicago otherwise I could def use the help haha.

Mishkin_707

Too bad ya moved....lol ummm woulda been a crap load easier, as a matter of fact I'm having the same problem with my car horn, can't figure it out for crap I thought it was be wise I swapped out to some Lincoln horns but I did a straight 12v to the actual horn and they worked fine

energy0uth

EDIT: I had the same problem about 10 minutes ago. I swapped out my H/L fuse and it worked. Sorry I was hoping to give you more info :/