Dim Drivers side Headlights

[Offbeat Octane]

Did a search and no luck,
As posted my driverside headlight is significantlly dimmer then the passengers side. Replace the bulbs and it still the same. Anyone know? a bad ground? need to run new wires?

My car is put away for the winter but just trying to figure out how much it's gonna run my wallet to totally restore my headlight.

Thanks,
Chad

 

[bill81vette]

my guess would be either a bad ground or a loose connection and check to be sure the wires in the plug itself are tight as well.....good luck

 

[zgator]

I agree.More that likely bad ground.Could be mostiue got in there and rusted.It won't brake your wallet.

 

[Offbeat Octane]

Awesome, thanks everyone. First fix outta storage.

 

[srs244]

i would also consider a can of contract cleaner spray from radio shack and clean the wire plug that attaches to the bulb terminals. as previously noted moisture can get into the wire plug and you may just not be getting a good connection to the back of the bulb. it's easy enough to check with a hot and ground set of jumper wires. run both from a good clean contact point to the rear of the bulb and see what results you get. if the bulb is at full operating power, i would then re-connect the bulb plug and run the ground wire into the back of the wire plug to see if you get a strong light. if you do, you have a bad ground in the circuit. if not, reverse the test and try the "hot" lead into the back of the plug. it's also possible that the wire terminal (plug) is worn or corroded beyond use.

of course you can do all of this (after the "hot wiring" test to the bulb directly) with a meter, but it's not half as much fun looking at a meter reading compare to seeing the results throught the bulb power, lol.

 

[Mr. Chuck]

Those of us that like the meter approach, three measurements should tell you the nature of the problem. 1st measure / record battery voltage across the battery terminals or alternator voltage if engine is running (heavy wire on alternator). 2nd with head lights on, measure voltage from lamp connector hot contact to ground (record), reading should be the same as battery / alternator voltage, if not than another resistance (bad connection) exists in the circuit. 3rd measure voltage at ground side of lamp (s/b zero if connection to ground is good). If a voltage reading other than zero is seen then you have a defect in the ground side of the circuit. Good electrical circuit will deliver full battery / alternator voltage to the lamp (load) and the full voltage s/b dissipated accros the lamp. A bad / poor connection any where in the light circuit caused a voltage drop accros the bad connection, i.e., less voltage to light the lamp. The sum of all voltage readings should equal the battery / alternator voltage read in step 1. My shop manual shows a common ground point for both head lights, but two ground points from there, one being the generator ground & other ground at the center of front fender support. Double check the head lamp connector for rusty or otherwise bad contact condition.