Odd (to me) Headlight Problem

After I start my engine, I can go out and wiggle the wiring right next to my headlight lamp, and it will come on. It will stay on as long as the engine runs.

However the next time I start the car it will be off again.

(I've removed the lamp from its socket and there's some corrosion inside one of the connectors.)

Is there some kind of computer sensing a poor connection causing this behavior? Is it just heat from the bulb maintaining the connection after it's on? Thanks for any ideas....

Roger

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Reply to
Roger
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No. Yes.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

Reply to
gregz

It is just a bad connection due to the corrosion, Roger. A lot of time you can clear up the problem just by packing some dielectric (nonconductive) grease in the socket. If you were able to clean up the socket connections first, it would be better, but this is not always possible.

(Yes, I said nonconductive grease. It serves as a corrosion preventative, not intended to complete the circuit.)

Reply to
hls

snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---

yup. I'd spray it with some Deoxit and pack with dielectric grease; if that doesn't fix it, time to cut it off and splice in a new one. (the heat of a poor connection may have caused the contacts to lose some of their "spring," so even removing the corrosion may not restore it to perfect function.) I personally would probably solder and heat shrink the wires, but good arguments have been put forward that butt splices are a more appropriate method of splicing wires under the hood of a vehicle. (I've never had one of my soldered connections fail though, touch wood.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---

Or just buy some of the proper terminals and replace the old ones in the socket. Not hard and you get less chance of problems.

Reply to
Steve W.

Love the concise info! Thanks to everyone for the great help here.

Rog

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Reply to
Roger

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