I have been working on a set of projector retrofit headlights for my car a lot lately and the harness that clips on the bulb(stock harness) has withstood a lot of pulling and movement in the process. Earlier I was working with the new set of lights on my car and the passenger low beam, high beam, corner light and bumper light were all on at the same time. Also the low beam was much dimmer as if they were all drawing from the low beam’s power. When I switched to high beams the high beam was the brightest thing, but the low beam, corner, and bumper were still lit up. The set of headlights I’m retrofitting changes the single bulb for high and low into two seperate bulbs so I thought the problem could have been caused by that. However, when I put the original light back on the car the problem persisted. When I physically move the harness, the lights get brighter and more dim. For example, I move the wires and the low beam will get dimmer but the bumper light will get brighter, vice versa, etc. Do you think it is just the harness to blame? I would feel pretty confidient that was the problem, if the bumper light was lighting up. That confuses me, since the harness only has the three wires, the high beam, the low beam, and the combined ground. The bumper light shouldn’t be lighting up at all… Anyone have any insight to share? Sorry for the book but thanks for your help.
What the the problem is can be hard to say, normally when one circuit is effected by another circuit, [head lights/bumper lights] it is a grounding issue, not so sure in this case.
You are correct, the bumper lights, [front signal lights] should not be comming on at all, [unless signal/hazard lights used.
The front side markers will come on with park/head lights and work as signal/hazard lights, [blinking on when park/head lights are not on and blinking off when park/head lights are on, the front side markers are controled by the ICU.
The first thing I would do is confirm you have a good ground for the head lights, you obviously have a connection problem of some sort if “moving” the wiring has an effect.
Questions…
Do the signal/hazard lights work properly when the head lights are not on?
Do the signal/hazard lights work properly when park lights are on? 94
FCM thank you for your reply! I went out and checked the way the blinkers were functioningn so I could answer your questions.
Do the signal/hazard lights work properly when the head lights are not on?
No. The drivers side (the side I haven’t been messing with) bumper light flashes, but the corner light doesn’t. The passenger side bumper light doesn’t light up with the turn signal, but the corner blinks fast as if a bulb is burned out. Today the headlight on the passenger side is not working at all either.
Do the signal/hazard lights work properly when park lights are on?
No. The driver side corner stays lit and does not blink but the bumper blinks regularly. The passenger corner blinks fast, and the bumper light doesn’t blink at all.
I will be going out there to work on it again today and see if I can get it all figured out. I’ll start by checking all the bulbs and wiring for physical signs that I have a problem. Then if I have to I’ll go out and buy a tester and check the wiring, one wire at a time. I’m so frustrated by this. Electrical is far from my strong point but I NEED my car functioning properly. Thanks, I appreciate the help.
Let me know what you find.
Definitely check the pass. front signal light, [bumper light] if it is burnt out or no power or ground to it the front side marker, right signal light indicator and pass.rear signal signal light will flash fast.
The drivers front side marker bulb may be bad also, it would not effect the blinking speed of the front/rear signal light or indicator as it is controlled by the ICU.
You may also have a problem with the ICU, very common on G2s.
Questions…
Do your intermittent wipers work?
Does your rear window defog work?
Do your warning chimes work, [key still in ign., lights still on, seat belts]?
Does drivers door turn on dome light?
All the above are controlled by the ICU, along with the front side markers, so if any of the above are not working then it is a good bet that the ICU is bad and replacing, [or fixing] it will solve your front side marker problems, [if it is not just burnt out bulbs. 94
The drivers side corner light bulb turns on with the parking lights but it doesn’t flash with the turn signal. It just stays lit. I don’t think its the ICU though because I recently replaced it to remove that as a culprit for my seatbelt not returning to the back position and my intermittent wipers not working(which ended up being a loose harness to the combination switch).
Do your intermittent wipers work?
Yes
Does your rear window defog work?
No, because the orange lines were all scraped off by the previous owner to remove the old tint.
Do your warning chimes work, [key still in ign., lights still on, seat belts]?
No… but I was under the assunmption that the previous owner disconnected something because they never have.
Does drivers door turn on dome light?
No, never has…
As you can see this car is a nightmare for someone like me who understands very little about electrical circuits. Oh well my girlfriend just left for work so I’m going to head out there now and see what I can see. Thanks FCM