Headlight won't light up, but the bulb is good?
 

I've had this pesky problem for a while now. at first i thought it was a bad relay (just the front piece that hooks into the light bulb), so i went and bought a new relay. installed the new relay and still not lights on. :confused:

i live in canada, so i have daytime running lights. the high beams and drl work just fine but when i turn the lights on the bulb doesn't light up (only on the driver's side). i didn't wanna take it to the dealership and get a$$ raped, so i thought may be one of you gurus here might be able to help. as i said, the bulb is fine, because i can swap it over to the other side and it lights up just fine. its just the driver's side thats giving me problems.

plzzzz help!!!

Have you searched for this yet? (and be truthful, or Matt's gonna know and he's nowhere near as nice as I am...)

you have a burned 9004 headlight harness. look at the headlight socket holder on the side thats giving you problems. It probaly melted or burned.

ok, i did a search now and found something. to TickingVTC's reply, no the harness is not burnt out, coz i jus replaced it and the bulb is new as well. so i'm thinking it is the set of three wires that are attached to the harness wires which god knows where they go. that is what i'm afraid of. i'm hoping its not the internal wiring that's gone bad, because i wouldn't know where they go. may be someone can shed some light on that. in the meantime i will check the voltage on the wires (gotta go and buy a voltmeter) and make sure i'm getting 12V in the two wires.

thx

hey whats up. If u cant figure out whats going down you can always split the switch wire(s)(from the working side) and hook up a constant alt power lead. Or On my Gf 89 gxe i actually split all three lines and ran both headlights off one side. (yah i know thats ghetto! but hey you do what you gotta do when your in college and the wife has no cash!) The brightness of the lights will decrease slightly (not much) and it was like that for 2 years till her tranny died with no other elec problems. hope this helps

hey, that sounds like a great idea. is the decrease in brightness quite a bit? as it is, the brightness in maxima's is not the greatest and i don't wanna make it even dimmer.

no not a bad decrease. a tee bit Noticeable though . yet Much better than one headlight! If you have an Se you have stock foglights that will pickup the difference. You can use a higher wattage xenon bulb also. Yes i have run this with the split and it was fine for over a year, I had to replace the 9004 socket holder for the split side and then it was fine again. My advice.... GO FOR IT! its a cheap inexpensive way to solve the problem. Good Luck!!!!

I have a similar problem right now. My passenger's headlight works but it's at highbeam height on lowbeam power. The driver's side is on, but very dim. Also the fogs stop functioning too. Flicking the light switch on/off a few times sometimes pops the lights on until it gets really bad.

The problem is the light/signal combination switch in the steering column. In the past I've fixed this by taking this whole thing apart, cleaning the contacts, and reassembling. It works for a while, but the contacts are so worn that I think they just keep arcing and I have to start over again after several months. They're acting up again now and I'm sick of disassmbling everything so many times to fix it. I think I might shell out the $78 (Cdn) for a new switch assembly. :rolleyes:

Check this thread out: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ontacts+switch

When you take apart the steering column cover just be careful not to lose the second screw on the underside that's almost inside the dash - it's tricky to get in and out. Also, the shroud doesn't just come apart I found. It's "locked" together and you have to slide one half to separate them. Hope this helps, and good luck!

ive had to replace my switch 2 times now hopefuly for the last time my highbeams always got fucd up

hmmm, even though i read thru the other thread about the same problem, i'm still confused as to why just the driver's side wouldn't work and the passenger side would work fine. after all, the "combo switch" doesn't have individual (L and R) contacts or does it? oh well, i'm just gonna have to give this a shot and see what happens. would you recommend cleaning the "combo switch" or getting a new one. i really don't wanna spend too much money on fixing this stupid light problem.

Re: Headlight won't light up, but the bulb is good?
 

Check your electrical system ground points in addition to the switch referred to in the other answers to your posts. Our Max's are getting old enough to have this sort of problem. Ground cables get corroded whene they bolt onto the chassis. I had this happen with a 1970 car that I kept to advanced age. I Just cleaned chassis ground nearest the headling wiring,the headlight ground connectiion, bolted it back on, and everything was fine. You can also use a $7 voltmeter to check 12V on the headlinght plug with the ground lead on the engine somewhere with the headlight switch 'on'. It you see 12V, it's the chassis ground for the headlights.

only one high beam would work on mine and i tryed taking apart the switch and cleaning it but it didnt fix it i think these just get worn out

Re: Re: Headlight won't light up, but the bulb is good?
 

and where exactly are these dreaded ground points for the headlight harness(es)?

It is the headlight switch. Mine had the SAME EXACT problem. New headlight switch, and poof, it worked!