How to fix a headlight.. or perhaps not

240z, 260z, 280z
Post Reply
User avatar
Old_timer
Posts: 30
Location: Hamilton

How to fix a headlight.. or perhaps not

Post by Old_timer » Mon May 30, 2016 9:26 pm

Just thought for the sake of wider education I thought I'd share an experience. Some months ago, after a small wiring job, I blew a headlight. I might have shorted it out after forgetting to disconnect the battery at one point - but lets not dwell on that particular idiocy.

The headlight didn't work and I noticed that the other wouldn't shift from high to low beam. After a bit of googling I found some evidence which suggested the problem might be a burned out headlight relay so I ordered one on line from the states. In the mean time I also purchased a replacement sealed beam unit.

Once the relay arrived I replaced the headlight and the relay, only to discover that the only improvement was that the new headlight was very dim. An improvement, but not much of one.

More googling and I found that the issue might be a bad connector for the headlight switch. I took this out and found it had the hallmarks described (slighty brown connectors) but no matter what I did it didn't improve the situation.

So, back to Google. After some more searching I found a reference to a possibility that the fuse (for that headlight) might be blown, but only partially. I was a bit skeptical as in my experience they're either blown or not. I don't think I've ever had a half-arsed blown fuse.

Nevertheless, a quick inspection found that this was indeed the case. Off to Supercheap to buy a new fuse and what do you know, everything worked fine, even when I used the original headlight relay.

So I think I spent about $50 for what was probably only a $1 fix. Still, now I have a spare

Anyway, in case anyone has a similar situation I hope there are some learnings here.

Billy

User avatar
reliablejunkie
Z Club Member
Posts: 188
Location: Riccarton, Christchurch

Post by reliablejunkie » Mon May 30, 2016 10:17 pm

Google is your friend too? Nice job working it out. I often have similar troubles with my problem solving too :D
Someone had to make up for all the pollutants these hybrid cars are saving these days, so i cranked up the fuel pressure and let the engine roar.

1983 280ZX L20ET engine with an N42 head running on megasquirt ECU

User avatar
bernjean
Z Club Member
Posts: 1709

Post by bernjean » Tue May 31, 2016 12:27 pm

Congrats on solving your problem, you might have spent $50.00 but if you have taken it in to a sparky to get fixed you would have spent far more than that on labor.

I'm no great brain and think Google is great, but without google wouldn't you have checked the fuse first. Don't get me wrong I would have googled it as well. As it sounded like a complex problem. We still should check the obvious first, with the age of our cars I would go and replace all the fuses with new ones. Might save another problem in the future.
Bernie Kant
Club President

User avatar
Old_timer
Posts: 30
Location: Hamilton

Post by Old_timer » Tue May 31, 2016 6:55 pm

I agree, in retrospect it was the thing I should have done first but you know how it is, somehow you get fixated with the one view - the wrong one in this case. And yes, if I'd had taken it to an auto electrician it would have cost a lot more, and been very embarrassing to boot.

I will take your advice though and replace the rest of the fuses while I'm at it.

Cheers

User avatar
djz
Posts: 849
Location: Christchurch

Post by djz » Tue May 31, 2016 8:11 pm

How do you find the factory sealed beams at night? Mine were always terrible, I swapped them for semi sealed units and added extra relays which was a big improvement.
Nissan 280ZX 2 seater RB26 powered.

User avatar
Old_timer
Posts: 30
Location: Hamilton

Post by Old_timer » Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:05 pm

Just drove home in the dark so I'd have to say that they are about what you'd expect from a 35 year old car. They're OK, but hardly brilliant - if you'll excuse the awful pun.

Post Reply