Whitelegend

The passenger side headlight on my 93 SE is not working.
It's just the low beams not working, the high beams are fine. First I thought it was the bulb, but when I put in the new bulb, it still didn't work. I did some testing with the harness, its getting 12 V at the terminals when I turn on the low beams. So now I'm really confused, the reading drop down to 0V as soon as hook up a 9004 bulb to the harness. So I think the headlight relay might be bad, does anyone know where that relay is located on a 93 SE? Also anyone know exactly what could be wrong with it? Thanks in Advance!

Whitelegend

bump...
No one knows? Help I need lights, got pulled over once already

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

look in the black box behind the headlight.

SouthStar019

iTrader: (2)

i got the same problem but mine is moody it turns on if it wants to, i rarly drive at nite but when it rains i need dem on. i was thinkin it was the bulb but since it turns an at times prolly good.

Whitelegend

Mine was doing the same thing before, now it has stopped turning on completely.

internetautomar,
Is the black box you're referring to have 3 relays in it? One says corner, the other one says ignition and the last one say FIDC or something like that. Which one is it? Thanks!

Mitchythekid

It may be inside the steering column. Mine started out with the brights working only intermitintley. If you take the plastic covers on the column lose the turn signal is held inplace by three or four screws. You do not need to pull the steering wheel. The box holding all the contacts is conected to the end of the turn signal and will come out with it. You can pry the thin plastic cover off and glue it back on after you get it to working again. Work the switch back and forth looking for contact at the termanals. If I remember right you have one terminal for parking lights, one is low beam right, one is high beam right, one low beam left, one high beam right. Work the switch until you have an understanding of what it sould be doing. If you do not have contact when you should then bend very slightly so it works right. This should not be attempted by the unmechanicaly inclined person. Worst case price a new switch at the dealership.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

there are 2 one on each side of the car, don't remeber which has the relay in it though

kcidmil

Ok, as per chilton's guide

Problem - one or more lights don't work, but others do

Cause Solution

Defective bulb -Replace bulbs

Blown Fuse(s) -Replace fuse(s)

Dirty Fuse clips or light -Clean Connections
sockets

Poor ground circuit -Run ground wire from light socket housing
to car frame


Problem -lights "flare" some flare is normal on accel.

Cause Solution

High Voltage setting -replace voltage regulator

Geerhed

iTrader: (1)

Whenever you have a good voltage reading at the load (in this case, the headlight socket) which drops to zero volts when the load is applied (headlight) this indicates a short.
Electricity will always take the shortest path to ground. If there's no load, then you'll see 12V (or 13.8 if the car is on) at the plug, but when you plug in the headlight the electricity will then take the 'shorter' path to ground -- the short. Of course, the problem with my explanation is thus: if there IS a short, then you would probably be blowing fuses...
Still, I'm thinking that there is a wire shorted somewhere -- wires rubbing on a piece of metal, some metal shavings across a terminal somewhere. Sometimes a bad relay can be shorted.
Relays are easily tested by swapping in another one of the same type.
There was also some good information earlier in this thread about checking the terminal block on the steering column. Check other wires where they go through the firewall, near body parts, etc.

Recently I had some headlight problems (driver's headlight was intermittent on high AND low beam), but found that they were caused by my using some high wattage bulbs (100/80 watts instead of the OEM 65/45 watts recommended). The high wattage headlights really lit up the night, but they had actually melted part of the headlight connector (the plug that goes onto the headlight)(I guess part of the extra wattage went into heat production!). Oops. Replaced the connectors ($1.49 each at the local V.I.P.) and it's back to 65/45's for me.

Best of luck, and happy motoring!

kcidmil

I had the same thing happen to me on my 02 Frontier. Nissan noticed when I took it in for a oil change one day. I come to pick it up, and the guy at the coutner was asking if I wanted to have the connector changed out. Told him I don't care if it was still under warranty. Said it was voided to the fact of the 100/80 watt bulbs that had been put in. And the connector would cost $128 from Nissan. F that, went to checkers and got a new connector for $2 and some sylvania silver series.