Headlight issues - continuing electrical issues....

[The_good_guy]

In an earlier post I had mentioned that my AC fan stopped working. That is now fixed, it was the fan switch (not the fan resistor). Anyway around the same time my drivers side headlight started to burn at 30-50% brightness. I looked at the connector looked like it was melting.

HISTORY:

So back in December 2007 I got a ticket from LAPD for a non working headlight (fix it ticket), evidently my headlight burned out while I was driving around. Anyway I attempted to take off the bulb and replace it and the connector was melted on the pins (sylvania H4/9003 LL). So I bought some new H4/9003 connector tips and tried installing them in the car. I spliced it and using a crimp connector connected it. Immediately I noticed that the brightness was a bit weak. Now I may have grounded the metal part of the bulb to the chassis (damn brother didnt notice where he put the bulb on the car). Anyway I wasnt happy with teh connector one of the connections came off so I ended up taking it to an auto shop which did electrical work too.

Note: This was the 2nd connector that was put in, the first one was done by myself using crimp connectors around 100000 miles ago. The original connector on the passengers side melted first. I did not have any problems with the low beam/high beams before december 2007.

He reconnected it by splicing and soldering the connectors. After he did that I noticed my "high beam light" on the inside was dimly on. It was no biggie. Well Intially i did not realise that he miss wired the thing a bit. One side (passenger) was on high beam and the drivers side was on Low Beam. When you switched to High Beam, the beams reversed. Anyway it didnt bother me I drove around like that.

CURRENTLY:

So right after my AC thinge stopped working, i noticed the drivers side headlight was burning dim. So i took it to another auto repair/electrical place. He corrected the wiring issues by resplicing it and making a new connector. Now both headlights are on LOW beam when its on low beam and high beam when its on high beam.

PROBLEM:

So since yesterday that took it to the shop to get it corrected, the HIGH BEAM indicator light inside is constantly on. The LOW Beam light on both headlights are burning at 50% brightness or lesser. I told him at the time i picked the car that the headlight is not bright enough, but he was telling me it was my oxidized lens cover (i will polish that today) and plus it was day time and it would be fine at night. Anyway I also showed him the high beam light being constantly on before I left.

Last night I took it out for a drive, and sure enough its not bright enough. I cannot see anything, i went down this particularly dark stretch of road (no street lights) and i couldnt see anything. Heck on the freeway its down right dangerous since you cant see the reflectors all that well. In high beam all is well and its nice and bright.

So my plan is to measure the voltage across the low beam and high beam leads. I want someone to post their voltages on the low beam and high beam (when car is running and not running). I also plan to measure the voltage between the battery running and not running. If the bulb in low beam is using significantly lesser than whats battery is putting out in voltage then I got to figure out whats wrong.

Any idea what may be wrong????

CLIFFor Sale:

Connectors respliced by mechanic due to low brightness on low beam.
Now Headlight working at 50% and the high beam indicator is ON all the time.
what may be wrong?

[Sponsor]

[The_good_guy]

Previous issue - probably not related to teh AC thing.. but still
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156439

[The_good_guy]

Here are the voltages I got today:

Engine Off:

Battery: 17.00
Headlight Low ~16.85 + 6.74 (on the highbeam connector)
Headlight High ~ 16.85 + 16.85 (on both connectors)

Engine On:

Battery 19.8v
Headlight Low ~17.85 + 8v on highbeam connector
Headlight High ~18.2 + 18.2

In lowbeam.. the top filament comes on and then very dimly the bottom highbeam filament. In Highbeam ONLY the lower filament comes on.





Edit:

Someone had a similar issue in 2005:

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56710

I am going to check the ground connections tomorrow.

[jacjm]

hello all,,,new here. i picked up a 2005 zx4 se on friday, so i imagine i will be back frquently. (this seems to be the "premier" site for the focus) i, too was having one "dim" light (passenger side) and, yes, it was a ground. after cleaning all the grounds i could find, i finally took the whole unit out., lo and behold the ground pin was bent in one of the connectors on the back of the assembly. not making contact at all. whoever plugged it in last, just slammed it together, costing me a good bit of work.
hope this helps someone!!

[jacjm]

one other thing i forgot,,,,why would my underhood relay/fuse box not have a ckt 26 ? (left hi-beam)-- the space is there, just no circuit/contacts underneath,,,,