Problem with headlight

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SleepyDawg

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2021
Messages
51
Hi. I needed to replace a headlight levelling motor and when I took the headlight apart I notice the insulation of the wires inside the unit is completely "rotten" (a simple touch with one finger and it peels off). This means the wires were touching one another in different places. I tried to fix the whole thing with "miles" of electrical tape. When I reassembled the unit and tried it, the only things working were the indicator and the full beam bulbs. The levelling motor didn't work (it was working when I got it), and the other one, on the good side, stopped working too until I removed the headlight. Yet again, I disassembled the headlight and I noticed I had skipped a spot where all the wires are held together with a zip tie. All the wires were touching and the dipped beam light burned out.

Question 1: Did the fact that the wires were all touching also burnt the motor? I had to order this motor from Ebay and it took weeks to get here (these motors are impossible to find where I live). Is there a way to test the motor without connecting to the car?

Question 2: I noticed that the side light is powered by a wire which comes from the dipped beam connector. Can these 2 wires touch given that they originate in the same "hole" in then connector? The insulation peeled off inside the connector (about 5 mm) and I can't reach inside with the electrical tape.

Question 3: Why does the good levelling motor only work when the knackered headlight is not plugged in?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
 
I don't understand why you don't have fuses blowing, with the bare wires touching.

Question 2: You can get "Liquid" insulation if you can get it to the bare wire. Example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TriLance-Insulation-Electrical-Waterproof-Perfect/dp/B093G9YLSK/ref=psdc_1938390031_t3_B00NNSZS08?th=1

Question 3: The side lights (left and right), dipped beams (left and right) and main beams (left and right) are all individually fused. However, it appears that there is only one relay operating both dipped beams and one for both main beams. Not being an electrician, I can only guess that the good motor doesn't work because the plugged-in faulty headlight is providing some sort of short via the relay (I may be wrong!).
 
Hey YOG. Many thanks for the suggestion on liquid insulation. I didn't even know such thing existed. I think your diagnosis on why the good motor doesn't always work is correct too. I've been trying to study the diagrams, but I'm rubbish at it. Don't suppose you have an idea if the motor on the bad headlight met its maker because of all the wires touching?
 
Update

Ok, so I managed to make some progress: the motor works, but it only works if nothing else in the headlight is connected. When I connect all the lights the motors on both headlights stop working!! and the parking light on the "bad" headlight doesn't work either. All the other bulbs work normally. YOG was right about the fuses: there was one which was blown (number 27) and that was the reason why the low beams didn't work. I thought replacing the fuse would make the parking light work too, since they share the same connector, but the bloody thing won't work, not even with a new bulb. Strangely, the parking light socket seems to be getting power (4,5v if I remember correctly).

Again, if any of you has an idea about of a test or something I could do to see if I can sort this out I'd really appreciated because I really don't know what else to do apart from throwing it against a wall.
 
There's something strange here. As the LH and RH dipped beams are individually fused, why would both start to work when you only replaced fuse 27, which is for the left low beam? Surely the right dipped beam should have been working, as it is covered by fuse 29?
Also, you say "I noticed that the side light is powered by a wire which comes from the dipped beam connector." I don't understand that, as the LH and RH side lights are individually protected by fuses 6 and 7 respectively and would have their own wiring.
 
The right headlight, motor included, always worked properly if the left one is not plugged in. When the left headlight is assembled and connected, the only thing that doesn't work is the motor. If I remove the "projectors" from the left (bad) headlight and just leave the motor in, both motors work perfectly well. As soon as I reassemble the "projectors", both motors quit.

Regarding the side light/parking light: the low beam connector which plugs into the HB3 bulb has 2 holes. The high beam has the same configuration, except in the low beam there's a 3rd wire which emerges from a shared hole which goes to the parking light. I'm rubbish at explaining this, so I attached a pic.

https://ibb.co/km4TZSd

You'll also be able to admire the tons of electric tape I had to use...be prepared, it's an atrocious sight.

P.S. I checked both 6 and 7 fuses. They are in good nick.
 
Forgot to ask: does anyone know how to de-pin the connector I showed in the pic? I could do a better job of insulating it if I knew how to de-pin it...
 
Update 2

Finally figured out what was the problem with the motor. The connector was not in good nick. Fortunately the geezer who sold me the new motor threw in a new connector and I was able to solder the wires. Seems to be working flawlessly, and it stopped interfering with the other motor. The only problem now in the side/parking light. Made a direct connection the battery to the connector wires and it lit up. I might have to make new wires for it but I could really need a hint on how to de-pin that the low-beam connector.
 
Update 3

Right, so I figured out what the problem is. It's the centre pin in the main connector (the round, green one) which is knackered. I did a continuity test and got nothing. In order to make the side/parking light work, I had to connect a wire from the low beam connector to the side light connector. Temporary fix until I figure out how to de-pin that green connector and see exactly what happened to that pin. Again, if someone knows how to do it, please let me know.
 
yippeekiay said:
Slowly getting there, keep at it :lol:
I fix it. I decided to cut off the wire which goes from the main connector to the side light, soldered a new wire and the darned thing started working.
The only thing I'm not sure is normal is when I turn on the side light and/or the low beam with the car turned off I hear a 1 second buzz from the levelling motors.
 

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