Anyone have issues w/ aftermarket pass side headlamp wiring?

[wickedfrisone]

Both of our 04+ GP's have aftermarket headlamps on and we noticed both of them have the same issue (and not same brand/style headlamp assembly either). Passenger side low beam will often not light up due to some wiring issue. Sometimes bumping the head lamp a couple of times will get it to come back on. We've checked to make sure wires aren't getting pinched anywhere and find nothing obviously restricting the wires in any way. It's only passenger side, too. I know everyone says retrofits are the best options...and we do still have both our original pairs of headlamps laying around somewhere but can't really afford paying someone to do all that work - and don't know if those old headlamps can even be restored enough to look as new. Both pairs have been buffed and cleaned up but still look like poop lol.

 

[Bronco Boy]

.....both of them have the same issue.....It's only passenger side, too.

Clarification please. Both lights? Or only the right side? What kind of aftermarket headlamps? Halo crap one? Stock replacements?

Put power to the bulbs to confirm that they are working properly.

 

[wickedfrisone]

Clarification please. Both lights? Or only the right side? What kind of aftermarket headlamps? Halo crap one? Stock replacements?

Put power to the bulbs to confirm that they are working properly.

Sorry - both cars have same issue. As in, both cars have the passenger low beam not wanting to come on unless you give it a good knock. I have stock replacements and my dad's car has the Spyder set. The bulbs do work though, and I even recall swapping my low beams from the original head lamps to the new ones to save the new cheaper ones that came with the headlamps, which those bulbs have always worked fine before swapping the housing assembly

 

[Bronco Boy]

Sorry - both cars have same issue. As in, both cars have the passenger low beam not wanting to come on unless you give it a good knock. I have stock replacements and my dad's car has the Spyder set. The bulbs do work though, and I even recall swapping my low beams from the original head lamps to the new ones to save the new cheaper ones that came with the headlamps, which those bulbs have always worked fine before swapping the housing assembly

My bad. I missed the "both cars" part.

Housing won't affect the bulb working. You say that if you knock the housing the bulb comes on, which means either a bad bulb or bad connection. I'd say get a multi-meter and test the headlight connector; wiggle and jiggle it to see if the power comes and goes.

I'm a 97-03 guy, so not to familiar with the 04+ cars, but I do have a good sense of electrical stuff. If the multi-meter test doesn't tell you anything, I think on these cars the BCM plays a roll in the lighting?

 

[wickedfrisone]

Okay, will try that with both of the cars maybe this weekend. Well I think being good w/ electrical would help a lot regardless of model year so hopefully we can pinpoint the problem. It's just odd it's the same side for both cars. I know the OEM assemblies had a metal clip that holds the main plug in one spot so it does not move around, but mine were rusted and broke when trying to transfer to new headlights (new ones didn't come with it) and the Spyder ones on the other car I believe don't even have the same molding to clip that onto anyway.

 

[wickedfrisone]

Ok. So we tested all the connections for the problematic headlamp on both cars and everything seems fine, everything shows continuity so we are not sure where to look next. My father's car has burnt out that same low beam bulb in the past, and we found that one was burnt out again and he just replaced it but it's still not lighting up at all. Mine has never had issues with burning out and shouldn't be imo because it still works occasionally if you bump it in the right spot (sometimes it takes more whacks than others). We also grabbed a wire harness from one of the two spare sets of headlamps we have and swapped it on mine, and still nothing.
My dad is going to see a friend who owns a shop/specializes in electrical tomorrow after he gets out of work, and see if they can figure it out. And I guess we will be bringing my car into them later in the week too.

 

[wickedfrisone]

Well jeez. I checked the wrong fuse last time I checked without realizing it haha. Turns out I had a blown fuse and then the bulb decided to die too so replaced fuse and new bulb later, all is good now