CJ Headlights - Passenger Bright, Drivers Dim?

Well that's how the passengers see it. Drivers, of course, are of the opposite opinion.

Step by step?

A) Swap the headlamp bulbs and see if the problem travels with the bulb. This would also be a good time to upgrade to a new set of Wagner Tru-View lamps, you will be amazed how much better they are than stock plus they don't overload the stock wiring and switch!

B) If "A" didn't do the trick, take a Digital Multimeter (voltmeter) and check the voltage at each headlight connector. Be sure to turn on the lights and don't forget to switch them from "DIM" to "BRIGHT" and check both circuits. Should be almost the same as checking between the battery posts, without the engine running around 12.3 to

12.6 volts. If they check good voltage, check the resistance of the Ground Circuit of the headllight connector using the "Ohm meter" feature of the Multimeter, it should be virtually "0.00". Sometimes each headlamp has it's own ground circuit, you may have loosened one during your mechanical adventure so trace the ground wires to see what you have.

Good luck, Bruce

Swap the bulbs first of course. Then dig out an ANALOG multimeter, much better at finding intermittant problems and diagnostic work.

The easy way is to turn > Step by step?

Assuming the lamp itself is good it appears that you have a circuit grounding problem.

You will need to get in there and manually clean (and coat with dielectric grease) the ground connectors and connections. Perhaps another Jeeper can give a specific locations to check, I'll just say take apart and clean every connection you can find.

FWIW.... I had a '68 Rambler American with the same problem which occurred at some very inopportune time so I temporarily added an additional ground to the circuit by tinning both ends of a section of 14g house wiring and using it as a jumper from the ground side of the dim headlight to a bolt on the grill. I drove that Rambler for a number of years before giving it to my baby sister who drove it until 1986...... with that temporary fix still doing its job! (Not that I recommend you do this bit of hillbilly re-engineering)

The ground tags for the headlights are on the back of the grill. I would be thinking one of these wires got damaged or is loose.

Or a loose plug on the back of the light...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail > OK - 1983 CJ7, essentailly stock as least in terms of the electrical & > wiring.

Check for a bad ground on the dim headlight.

CJ headlights are individually grounded via a pair of #10 screws and nuts, one on each side of the back panel of the grill, 1" below the center screw hole for the cold air induction flange (on the left, and the same space on the right). You have to pull the headlight bucket to see the actual connection. They just serve the headlights, the parking/signal lights use the sheet metal for the ground path and have no seperate ground wire.

-- "We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey, that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated." Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.

Just a note: Users should be careful about metering problems like this without the proper load attached. A crappy ground connection can let you read full voltage at no load (leading you to think that it is OK), but the voltage evaporates when you plug the lamp back in.

-- "We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey, that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated." Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.

Almost CERTAINLY a bad connection (it could be ground, ... or it could be power source i.e. corroded plug contacts etc.).

There's no bulbs to swap ... per se .... except the sealed units themselves ....... but sealed units are (generally speaking) either working, ... or not working ..... i.e. with proper connections, the light is either on or off. A dim light indicates bad current flow .......

My guess would be bad plug connection

exactly ................ the issue here is almost certainly interrupted current flow under load

Turned out to be a not just loose or bad - but completley missing - ground wire. Broken off flush with the 3 prong socket tht the bulb plugs into and thus was hard to see. Replaced the plug and now all is well.

Thanks for every> Sounds like a bad ground on one side unless the ground wire inside the

Thanks for the update!

Mike

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

Ditto. that. Clean all your plug contacts and grounds. make sure to use dielectric grease so it doesn't happen again.