[Bretski]

So most of the engine bay electrics back in now and all prettied up with new Headlights and up rated alternator.

When I got the Zook the drivers side head light cluster didn't work at all. It was rusty and rotten and I wasn't surprised.

I've hooked everything back up. New fitting new globes. Basically the works.

Passenger side works perfect. Parker, low & high beam and blinker.

Drivers side really dim all beams and blinker. Everything seems to test ok with multimeter but that's with no load.

First thought is bad earth. So I've tapped another earth lead closer to the light cluster but that's made no difference. Seems to be some bad resistance in the power feed or something.

I am pretty competent with electrical work and will eventually get it sorted through process of elimination but hopefully someone else may have encountered similar issue and can point me straight to the fault saving me a stack of time and no donations to the swearing jar.

The wiring diagram in the service manual is a waste of paper too grrrr. It also seems that the headlights are positively switched as well... Very annoying.

[atari4x4]

pretty sure the headlights are neg switching & have you checked the LHS & RHS headlight fuses in the engine bay fuse box.

[Bretski]

Yep checked all fuses. Done all the obvious checks. But it's good to double check. Sometimes we overlook the obvious stuff.

[Scrawny]

What voltage are you getting at the headlight? If it's less than battery voltage then look upstream (positive side) from there. If you're getting battery voltage at the light then start looking downstream (negative side)

[Bretski]

Scrawn wrote:

What voltage are you getting at the headlight? If it's less than battery voltage then look upstream (positive side) from there. If you're getting battery voltage at the light then start looking downstream (negative side)

Yeah same thinking I had. Seems to be on the +ve side. Wishful thinking that it was just a bad earth issue. So much easier to fix a bad earth. I guess I have some detective work to do.

[pezz]

when testing the voltages where did you have you multimeter earth lead placed?
it pays to do all your tests from both the battery and the earth of the item you testing(in this case, headlight)
and then compare the results
same thing applies for load/no load testing

i imagine you know this,
but maybe it will prompt you to something you have overlooked
hope this helps

[Bretski]

That's Pezz. I will double check. It seems that the earth cabling is good. No resistance of note at any point to the body or battery.

I'm pretty sure it's a supply issue. It's just strange it only effects the drivers side. Usually when it's a power issue it will effect a complete circuit ie both headlights not just one. So it displays as an earthing issue but acts like a power issue. Grrrrrrrr

[fordem]

There are separate supplies for each headlamp.

[Bretski]

fordem wrote:

There are separate supplies for each headlamp.

Yeah I thought there must be, the fault leans towards separate circuits and wiring diagram that I have is really average so hard to follow and doesn't have colour codes on it either.

Looks like I know what i'll be doing on Sunday

[fordem]

The feed is white with red on the right side and white with blue on the left, low beam is red with white (will be on both sides), high beam is red (will be on both sides), high beam & low beam go to the combo switch and through it to ground.

[rob45x]

Alot of times it can be a blown fuse but the fuse element hasn't completely blown
It might still make contact so not only check the fuse with ur test light but pull each headlight fuse out of its holder and have a look at it