Headlights Gremlins...

[SJC]

I got weird situation on my GQ...

Problem 1: left side brights does not work.....(driving light is fine) .
Problem 2: right side driving light does not work.... (bright is fine).

So I was about to buy new globes but decided to swap the two around and see what happens. Same result..

Tested the voltages, came up with following results:

Problem 1 : voltage only 6v. did not investigate further, but how will I be able to detect why there is a voltage drop? Trace the cable all the way to the dashboard?

Problem 2 : voltage 11.6v - globe should be able to run on 11.6? When car is idling voltage goes up to 13v, still does not work.
So this really doesn't make sense to me. When I run a cable directly to the driving light from the battery, it works.
Thought maybe it is the earth, so run earth cable directly to battery negative terminal, still not working.
Checked the fuses: its fine. (when you remove the fuse the driving light and brights does not work.
Did also sprayed contact cleaner on the plug/ globe terminals.

So what can be the cause of this?

[Peter Connan]

Headlights run through a solenoid. I think it is under that little panel between the battery and the fender. I believe the fact that you are getting some voltage indicates that the problem is either the solenoid or the plug on the solenoid.

Problem 2 sounds like the plug on the light bulb is not making good contact.

One can buy those plugs with a short piece of wire from spares shops.

[SJC]

Headlights run through a solenoid. I think it is under that little panel between the battery and the fender. I believe the fact that you are getting some voltage indicates that the problem is either the solenoid or the plug on the solenoid.

Problem 2 sounds like the plug on the light bulb is not making good contact.

One can buy those plugs with a short piece of wire from spares shops.

I wanted to actually remove the plug and test the voltage on the wire, Its just a difficult place to work wrt space limitations... will probably have to remove the wipers water reservoir to get access to the plug. Or maybe it will be easier to remove the light?

[SJC]

Headlights run through a solenoid. I think it is under that little panel between the battery and the fender.

[Peter Connan]

I think it's a lot easier to remove the wiper bottle than thd light. Jut be careful not to disturb the pump seals lest they start leaking.

Some of those solenoids are marked as being for systems I don't think your car has. But I could be wrong about the location, it could be in the fuse box inside the car. But I am certain they are running through solenoids.

[johanp]

Many years ago I had a similar problem on my Safari and it was one of the globes.
Test the globes with your multimeter or connect the globe directly to the car battery.
Test between earth and light connectors and earth and brights connectors on the globe.

[SJC]

Many years ago I had a similar problem on my Safari and it was one of the globes.
Test the globes with your multimeter or connect the globe directly to the car battery.
Test between earth and light connectors and earth and brights connectors on the globe.

globe does work when connected directly to car battery.