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Post by tonythetiger on Sept 23, 2010 8:18:10 GMT -8
Hello, everyone my name is Tony and I'm a Senior at Reynolds and have a problem with my truck, was hoping if anyone could help . The truck is a 93 Nissan d21. The problem is in my headlights. When I turn my headlights on only my right light turns on and not my left one (but both lights work). Then when I put on my high beam on my left headlight works and not my right one! Moose and myself checked and both lights have 12 volts. If anyone has an idea please let me know. Thanks in advance
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Post by racincowboy on Sept 23, 2010 10:59:03 GMT -8
I think it said you have tested both lights for both high and low beam correct? Check the simple stuff first. It might be worth a try to go buy another head light or two that you can swap them both.
Have you checked both plugs on the backs of the lights for current. If you want help to diagnose it I can try and help you figure it out as well. Sometimes another set of eyes helps as well.
Car club is today isnt it?
If I get out of my interview in time I will try and stop by and we can monkey with it if you have time.
Give me a call Moose has my number.
Lance
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Post by fivendime on Sept 24, 2010 6:56:48 GMT -8
lol, sounds like a datsun. I should know I own a few of them and have had this similar issue. Datsun in there infinite wisdom decided to split the lighting system into there own parts which include a separate set of wires for each side for the lows and a separate set of wires for each side for the highs, but If memory serves they use the same ground wire (at least they did this till the late 70's for sure). I will assume there sealed high/low beam lamps? This is what I would try. go through this list one at a time starting with the first one.
1. Fuses, sounds simple but check them out
2. Test the switch to see if its sending power out to the lights
3. (if switch works) then pull the plugs at the lights (ONE at a time) and test those for power (test low beams only)
4. Repeat step 3 with high beams
5. If there is voltage in the correct spots at the plug then its bad headlamps. If the lamps are very dim in brightness then you have a bad ground or dirty ground. If there isn't correct voltage in the correct spots then you must backtrack to find the issue. This could be a relay problem, a cut in the wire or maybe a loose or corroded connection. Swapping headlamps around is also a good idea, and buying a new one just for testing is also a good one. I myself would buy at least two to test with, because you know there good then, but that's only after I have ruled it down to a headlamp issue.
Also when you get them working do like I did in my 70 Datsun 510. If you dont have all 4 headlamps working at the same time on either low or high beams you can with some fancy crossover wiring. Hoped this helped a little. I wish I was able to be there to look at it in person.
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Post by quaddaddy on Sept 24, 2010 7:16:32 GMT -8
You say they both have 12v. You have a bad ground. they sorta work on low beam because they are feeding back thru the high side of the bulb and lighting up then when you switch to high you loose that feed back and one light turns off/ goes dim. generally that is caused by a bad ground or negative wire. It could also be caused but a dirty wire connection somewhere. You can read 12v but when you put a load on it you loose the connection. My bet is the ground. simple to check figure out which wire it is and see if you have voltage between it and the frame if you do that is your problem. With the lights turned on of coarse and try both high and low beam. The light bulb also has to be plugged in when doing this test and the closer you are to the bulb the better the test.
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Post by tonythetiger on Sept 24, 2010 15:32:36 GMT -8
ok thanks a lot guys i really appreciate your help, will do test after cleaning up the burn
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Post by tonythetiger on Apr 3, 2011 21:12:01 GMT -8
First of thanks everyone that gave me advice. After doing some actual work on the Nissan i fixed my light problem. We check grounds, headlight wires anything we could think of then one day Moose told me to check the headlight relays however Nissan i guess didn't want to put relays on there headlights! We decided to get a new switch and that was it! it was the switch that was making my lights not work properly. Now everything works great. Thanks again everyone
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