charles Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Hey everyone, Hoping I could get a few people's two cents before I start to diagnose the headlight issues I have. I replaced both the bulb sockets, as the old ones were melted. One of them is faulty, and so the light craps out, but tapping on the light or frigging with the wires sorts it out... The other however, just does what it wants, and hitting it doesn't help... So left side, both high and low beams will crap out, the highbeam indicator light then turns on in the dash and stays on regardless of whether the switch is on high or low. It craps out for maybe 5 minute intervals. Any gut thoughts? I'm hoping that because it's just one side, there are fewer places along the system where the problem could be? I've read the switches are common points of failure... Mine has been out and cleaned, looks alright I guess... are the left and right wires separate in the switch though? I can't remember now! Thanks, Charles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 switch. I went thru similar problems with my sentra, tried multiple junkyard switches, took them out cleaned the contacts still had the same problem, one headlight would not work the other wouldn't, smacked the switch and it would come on, flipped to high beams both would work, back to low beams one would be out. Finally bought a new switch thru Rob on here from Nissan. The OEM switch was a few dollars more than an aftermarket one, and I figured it was worth the few dollars as the original one lasted so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terranovation Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Mine is doing something similar, you put on high beam and the right side works, left side goes out completely, back to low beam and both headlights are fine. Il have to do the contact clean one day. Luckily I don't need high beam all that often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 @ahardb0dy: Great, thanks for the reply. Good to know that either left or right can be affected by the switch. I grabbed an older switch off a circa 1990, but also one off a 2nd generation... I got the harnesses too, hoping I can switch all the wires and keep the 'newer' look of my '94 intact. And... foglight switch! Another quick question, for anyone I suppose... when your headlights malfunction, do your highbeam indicators stay on, regardless of being on high or low beam? When the shoddy bulb holder was malfunctioning, this would not happen, but on my other malfunction on the left, when it copped out the blue high beam light came on until it fixed itself, then it turned off. Anyone else have this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpecialWarr Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 No, but I was thinking it might have something to do with the daytime running light box in the front passenger fender next to the battery, that spot is just begging for trouble from an electrical connection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 Indeed, I've seen that thing come up more than once. But it is removable, with a bit of work, I believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 Ha. Just looked at wiring diagrams for DRL versus non-DRL... no way in Sam hell am I going to make one into the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJian Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Check the relays, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 I've never had the high beam light come on without the high beams. However, if the low and high beam leads are shorting to each other, that would explain the issue. Melted plugs might explain this. I'm not sure what would've made the plugs melt, though. Usually headlights on these go weird because the switch gets corroded (and they don't come with headlight relays for some reason). All I can figure is that someone put in way too hot of bulbs, or the plugs somehow shorted out and fried the plugs. Then again, I don't know what is in the DRL module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Maybe one of you guys can point me in the right direction on this one. For the last few weeks I had noticed that the drivers low beam took a couple seconds longer to come on than the right when I first turned them on. Last night I noticed it did not come on at all so I checked it out this morning. I pulled the bulb and it looked OK, the left side fuse was good and I also had 12V at the socket for the low and high beams. I figured it had to be the bulb so I went and bought a set of Silverstars but the same problem exists. Highs work fine, just the drivers low beam will not work. Got 12 volts, maybe not enough amp draw due to a crappy ground or something? Throw me some ideas, I hate just pecking around at electrical problems...... Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 most likely the switch, the little fingers get bent over time from turning on and off plus add in heat on the copper material and I'm sure the fingers can be "reshaped" most likely the cam that actually moves the fingers to make contact with the pads inside the switch is getting worn and that is why the one headlight has a delay, it's weird that Nissan designed the headlight contacts inside the switch to have seprate left and right when they could have used one contact and than split the left and right headlight wires after the switch. I mean the headlights always come on in the L&R pair no real need to have a left and right contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) Thanks! I think I will be talking to Rob..... But wouldn't I have a lack of voltage at the socket? You are probably right but I think I am gonna run some jumpers from ground, possibly 12V from battery to confirm other connections first. Thanks for the input, I was leaning that way but was hoping to avoid buying a new switch, I bet they are not cheap! Edited August 16, 2014 by SkiBumBrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 That's probably the best thing, you could clean the switch adjust the little fingers, but after a while it will do it again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 It will be a good learning experience taking the switch apart anyway... The silver lining to the cloud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Not too bad, with cruise the switch is about $50 , without cruise about $50 , prices from an online dealer I use to check prices, Rob's prices may be more or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I cleaned mine a couple years ago IIRC and it's been good since. It was doing the same thing, one would come on before the other, or both would come on and then one would crap out. I just cleaned out the contacts (fine sandpaper), re-bent them a little (test it with a multimeter before putting it in and you'll save yourself some hassle), and it's worked just fine since. I did end up relaying the lights, so that's likely part of it. I've had circuits look fine to the meter but crap out when asked to pass amps. It could be a bad ground, but I'll bet it's just the switch. It's not that the contacts don't touch, they just get crap built up on them that doesn't conduct so well. Kind of nice it's got the two sets, really. I'd rather lose one headlight than both. I ended up using one set of high/low contacts to throw the headlight relays, and the other set to power the fog and driving light relays. That way my driving lights go off with the high beams and it's harder to accidentally blind someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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