headlight issue, electrical geniuses welcome
09-03-2004, 10:30 PM
#1
headlight issue, electrical geniuses welcome
so i drop my car off to get some PIAA 2100xt fog lights installed at a trusted shop, pick up the car and the first thing i do is obviously tun my lights on, i notice my passenger headlight out right away, so i'm pissec because its labor day weekend and acura is closed until tuesday... but then i become skepitcal, a bit odd a headlight would go out while i'm getting some minor electrical work done
...soo i'm out there with a friend and a multitester ehcking voltage and continuity (spell check?), well, i basically want to know if possibly the wiring got messed up or it is just coincidence that it went out, i checked all their wiring... they clipped 2 wires off of each road lamp and deaded them with connectors, the fog lights are grounded directly to frame and have a hot directly to battery, inside under dash they spliced into a white wire (which appears to lead to my alarm i think), that white wire is spliced into a red/black wire leading upwards, this is all visible from just popping that side panel thing, both relays and fuses are fine, upon testing that wire right above the passenger light which clips right above the high beam (it is easily unclipped) i tested it for voltage and got nada which i found a bit odd, i pulled the fuse from the driver's light and the light stayed on but flickered, i found that odd (possible the relay was still powering it...i dont know)
this is probably worthless without pictures
..but i DID search and read a lot, reason's why maybe its my bulbs? (is that possible?) car is an 01 and the bulbs are noticeably purplish tint to me, but i highly doubt that anything on that car was modified because it was in complete stock condition, not even a tint or better wipers, i heard the bulbs start going purple when they are going to die, it is a few years old with 48K miles on it, i'm bringing it back to my shop tomorrow to ask them about the wiring and what was spliced just to make sure
grah, such a long post on a stupid headlight, basically, do you think its my bulbs? do you think its the wiring? i can't figure it out, i'm stumped
...soo i'm out there with a friend and a multitester ehcking voltage and continuity (spell check?), well, i basically want to know if possibly the wiring got messed up or it is just coincidence that it went out, i checked all their wiring... they clipped 2 wires off of each road lamp and deaded them with connectors, the fog lights are grounded directly to frame and have a hot directly to battery, inside under dash they spliced into a white wire (which appears to lead to my alarm i think), that white wire is spliced into a red/black wire leading upwards, this is all visible from just popping that side panel thing, both relays and fuses are fine, upon testing that wire right above the passenger light which clips right above the high beam (it is easily unclipped) i tested it for voltage and got nada which i found a bit odd, i pulled the fuse from the driver's light and the light stayed on but flickered, i found that odd (possible the relay was still powering it...i dont know)
this is probably worthless without pictures
..but i DID search and read a lot, reason's why maybe its my bulbs? (is that possible?) car is an 01 and the bulbs are noticeably purplish tint to me, but i highly doubt that anything on that car was modified because it was in complete stock condition, not even a tint or better wipers, i heard the bulbs start going purple when they are going to die, it is a few years old with 48K miles on it, i'm bringing it back to my shop tomorrow to ask them about the wiring and what was spliced just to make sure
grah, such a long post on a stupid headlight, basically, do you think its my bulbs? do you think its the wiring? i can't figure it out, i'm stumped
09-04-2004, 12:35 PM
#5
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Originally Posted by CleanCL
so i drop my car off to get some PIAA 2100xt fog lights installed at a trusted shop, pick up the car and the first thing i do is obviously tun my lights on, i notice my passenger headlight out right away, so i'm pissec because its labor day weekend and acura is closed until tuesday... but then i become skepitcal, a bit odd a headlight would go out while i'm getting some minor electrical work done
...soo i'm out there with a friend and a multitester ehcking voltage and continuity (spell check?), well, i basically want to know if possibly the wiring got messed up or it is just coincidence that it went out, i checked all their wiring... they clipped 2 wires off of each road lamp and deaded them with connectors, the fog lights are grounded directly to frame and have a hot directly to battery, inside under dash they spliced into a white wire (which appears to lead to my alarm i think), that white wire is spliced into a red/black wire leading upwards, this is all visible from just popping that side panel thing, both relays and fuses are fine, upon testing that wire right above the passenger light which clips right above the high beam (it is easily unclipped) i tested it for voltage and got nada which i found a bit odd, i pulled the fuse from the driver's light and the light stayed on but flickered, i found that odd (possible the relay was still powering it...i dont know)
this is probably worthless without pictures
..but i DID search and read a lot, reason's why maybe its my bulbs? (is that possible?) car is an 01 and the bulbs are noticeably purplish tint to me, but i highly doubt that anything on that car was modified because it was in complete stock condition, not even a tint or better wipers, i heard the bulbs start going purple when they are going to die, it is a few years old with 48K miles on it, i'm bringing it back to my shop tomorrow to ask them about the wiring and what was spliced just to make sure
grah, such a long post on a stupid headlight, basically, do you think its my bulbs? do you think its the wiring? i can't figure it out, i'm stumped
...soo i'm out there with a friend and a multitester ehcking voltage and continuity (spell check?), well, i basically want to know if possibly the wiring got messed up or it is just coincidence that it went out, i checked all their wiring... they clipped 2 wires off of each road lamp and deaded them with connectors, the fog lights are grounded directly to frame and have a hot directly to battery, inside under dash they spliced into a white wire (which appears to lead to my alarm i think), that white wire is spliced into a red/black wire leading upwards, this is all visible from just popping that side panel thing, both relays and fuses are fine, upon testing that wire right above the passenger light which clips right above the high beam (it is easily unclipped) i tested it for voltage and got nada which i found a bit odd, i pulled the fuse from the driver's light and the light stayed on but flickered, i found that odd (possible the relay was still powering it...i dont know)
this is probably worthless without pictures
..but i DID search and read a lot, reason's why maybe its my bulbs? (is that possible?) car is an 01 and the bulbs are noticeably purplish tint to me, but i highly doubt that anything on that car was modified because it was in complete stock condition, not even a tint or better wipers, i heard the bulbs start going purple when they are going to die, it is a few years old with 48K miles on it, i'm bringing it back to my shop tomorrow to ask them about the wiring and what was spliced just to make sure
grah, such a long post on a stupid headlight, basically, do you think its my bulbs? do you think its the wiring? i can't figure it out, i'm stumped
Don't know if this is related but when I initally installed my Hella Fogs with TL switch, I originally tapped into the passenger low beam of the HID for the "latch" pin of the relay (so that the fogs would only work when the low beams were on) and when I turned on the lows and fogs the pass low beam was flickering like crazy. So I just hooked it up directly to the battery for now and the flickerying stopped. Makes sense that the HID and fog relay didn't like sharing those 12 volts since both lights are powerful circuits.
Anway, I agree with allmotor, prolly your ballast but check those connections and fuses again.
09-04-2004, 03:02 PM
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you do know that most state laws require that FOG lights MUST go out when you flip your highbeams on...and to do that, they need to tap into your highbeam switch wiring... so something could of went wrong there.
09-04-2004, 05:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Smitty
you do know that most state laws require that FOG lights MUST go out when you flip your highbeams on...and to do that, they need to tap into your highbeam switch wiring... so something could of went wrong there.
Yes I am aware of this but its not like I go driving around with highs and fogs on so its cool. Thanks for your concern Smit.
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09-05-2004, 11:49 AM
#8
just an update, i now also notice my passenger side window doesn't work, i think the fuse is shot.. but the car is going back to the shop because now i'm almost convinced something is wrong, 2 things stop working after coming out of the shop... so frustrating for just a fog light install
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