Electrical issues with my cars headlights... not GS related - Ford Focus

[TheGoodGuy]

I moved it here from O&E because of more technical traffic on how to find this f%$king problem!
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I posted this elsewhere, but I am not getting any response..

Maybe you guys can give me a hand at this... since we're all gear heads here.

http://focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157343

-----------------posted on focus fanatics ---------------------

In an earlier post I had mentioned that my AC fan stopped working. That is now fixed, it was the fan switch (not the fan resistor). Anyway around the same time my drivers side headlight started to burn at 30-50% brightness. I looked at the connector looked like it was melting.

HISTORY:

So back in December 2007 I got a ticket from LAPD for a non working headlight (fix it ticket), evidently my headlight burned out while I was driving around. Anyway I attempted to take off the bulb and replace it and the connector was melted on the pins (sylvania H4/9003 LL). So I bought some new H4/9003 connector tips and tried installing them in the car. I spliced it and using a crimp connector connected it. Immediately I noticed that the brightness was a bit weak. Now I may have grounded the metal part of the bulb to the chassis (damn brother didnt notice where he put the bulb on the car). Anyway I wasnt happy with teh connector one of the connections came off so I ended up taking it to an auto shop which did electrical work too.

Note: This was the 2nd connector that was put in, the first one was done by myself using crimp connectors around 100000 miles ago. The original connector on the passengers side melted first. I did not have any problems with the low beam/high beams before december 2007.

He reconnected it by splicing and soldering the connectors. After he did that I noticed my "high beam light" on the inside was dimly on. It was no biggie. Well Intially i did not realise that he miss wired the thing a bit. One side (passenger) was on high beam and the drivers side was on Low Beam. When you switched to High Beam, the beams reversed. Anyway it didnt bother me I drove around like that.

CURRENTLY:

So right after my AC thinge stopped working, i noticed the drivers side headlight was burning dim. So i took it to another auto repair/electrical place. He corrected the wiring issues by resplicing it and making a new connector. Now both headlights are on LOW beam when its on low beam and high beam when its on high beam.

PROBLEM:

So since yesterday that took it to the shop to get it corrected, the HIGH BEAM indicator light inside is constantly on. The LOW Beam light on both headlights are burning at 50% brightness or lesser. I told him at the time i picked the car that the headlight is not bright enough, but he was telling me it was my oxidized lens cover (i will polish that today) and plus it was day time and it would be fine at night. Anyway I also showed him the high beam light being constantly on before I left.

Last night I took it out for a drive, and sure enough its not bright enough. I cannot see anything, i went down this particularly dark stretch of road (no street lights) and i couldnt see anything. Heck on the freeway its down right dangerous since you cant see the reflectors all that well. In high beam all is well and its nice and bright.

So my plan is to measure the voltage across the low beam and high beam leads. I want someone to post their voltages on the low beam and high beam (when car is running and not running). I also plan to measure the voltage between the battery running and not running. If the bulb in low beam is using significantly lesser than whats battery is putting out in voltage then I got to figure out whats wrong.

Any idea what may be wrong?

CLIFFS:

Connectors respliced by mechanic due to low brightness on low beam.
Now Headlight working at 50% and the high beam indicator is ON all the time.
what may be wrong?

[ohgood]

i'll post my voltages, but here are a couple of things to consider that may / may not help you:

our honda is typical dual assembly, single filament bulbs, one HIGH, one LOW for each left and right side.
our toyota is typical single assembly, dual filament bulb.
our other toyota is a weird DRL, HIGH/LOW assembly, don't remember if it's single filament or not.

if any of those matters more, let me know- i'll give it a check tomorrow.

your high beam indicator weirdness seems like a voltage bleed over from a bad wire/connection somewhere. i was going to crack a joke about found on road dim, but it just doesn't seem funny anymore - since gas is so freaking expensive they all suck

[TheGoodGuy]

Here are the voltages I got today:

Engine Off:

Battery: 17.00
Headlight Low ~16.85 + 6.74 (on the highbeam connector)
Headlight High ~ 16.85 + 16.85 (on both connectors)

Engine On:

Battery 19.8v
Headlight Low ~17.85 + 8v on highbeam connector
Headlight High ~18.2 + 18.2

In lowbeam.. the top filament comes on and then very dimly the bottom highbeam filament. In Highbeam ONLY the lower filament comes on.

Edit:

an search of focus fanatics forum shows could be a ground issue. Someone had it in 2005. Got to check.