This is pretty urgent, I've got be somewhere later this afternoon and sure enough, this HID kit install is not going as planned.

I have aftermarket headlights that use 9006 bulbs. The headlight itself uses H4 connectors to plug into my stock 2001 wiring harness.

What I did:
1. Spliced blue wire from H4 HID kit harness to the high beam wire of the headlight.
2. Spliced black wire from H4 HID kit harness to black ground of the high beam (got nothing)...
3.Cussed aloud
4. Then tried splicing black wire from H4 HID kit harness to frame bolt. (got nothing)
5. Scratched head, cussed.
6. Tried a different ballast/igniter (got nothing)
7. Cussed aloud
8. Stared at the lights for awhile
9. More cussing

Please take a look at this pic and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

 

First off did you test the HID kit?

 

As in test directly hooked up to battery....no

Going to do that right now, be back...

 

Good plan, I'll hang around for a bit to help

 

Hooked up directly to battery and it works....so that just confirms user error, question now is what went wrong

 

based on your photo, ground is going to be black wires. so make sure the adapter from the car plugs into that H4 adapter correctly.

Then, make sure that the connector from the headlight connects in the correct polarity to your HID ballasts. If polarity is reversed, nothing will light up.

 

^ Pretty much what I was going to say, make sure voltage in is carried along the same wire, and the ground is along the same wire as well....

Double check it from power in to ballast then power out to light....most likely something is switched.

 

Well there is only one way to connect the H4 plugs together...even that is idiot proof for me

And I attached the ballast according to the marking on your kit (+ to +) (- to -).

Not sure if its clear, but the H4 connector labelled in the pic is actually taped off and won't be used. Also, where does the loose black wire need to be spliced to?

 

Any idea where I can find which is the positive lead coming out of my factory H4 harness? Is that what you are referring to as possibly not matching to the kit?

 

Can you take some better pics please.The H4 that is taped off MAY be an issue...If I was there it would be easier...SO take some better pics lol. Are you sure that the wire match up? When you tested it on the battery, did you notice which wires are what?

Edit...Take it all apart, then take a good pic of the harness for the HIDS, then take a pic of the headlights as they are...Along with any other pics you think may help.

 

Alright, lets start from the initial wiring setup before they were attached to the headlight...



H4 adapter - plugs into factory H4 harness
1 - splice to high beam
2 - splice to high beam ground or ground to frame
5, 6, and 7 - not sure what these were included for, seem like they aren't needed, and if they are I havent got a clue as to where they are supposed to go

I tested the kit by disconnecting the H4 adapter wiring from the ballast, plugging in #7 to the ballast, then connecting the red to positive battery and black to negative battery

 

What wires (numbers) did you test on the battery? 1234 im assuming correct?

 

see edit above

And here is the back of the headlight...

 

That makes more sense..as 1 and 2 are not connected to anything but the plug..ok so that worked...

 

Use plug 7 in the ballast and connect it to the known hot and ground for the headlights

edit 5 being the hot 6 being ground

 

will do...be back in a minute

 

LOL hurry up I got a dyno appt in 45 min

edit gotta leave in 15 min lol

 

H4 headlights in the '01 are ground switched... that means that the shared headlight wire is positive, and the separate ones are grounds.

I think you may have it wired so that the ballast positive is into the low beam ground, and the ballast negative is into the shared positive.

Test the H4 connectors with the car on using a multimeter, and figure out if that is the problem.

 

from HIDPlanet

 

Exactly how you find a known hot and known ground!

 

Gotta go dont wanna be late for my dyno apt! Lemme know if ya need any more help

 

Stick this sucka......of course when it's finalized.

 

Yeah, I looked at the pictures.

Reverse the polarity. See the 2 black wires that come out of the one side of your H4 connector? Those are actually the positives. Red is low beam ground, and blue is high beam ground. Connect the ballast red to the connector black, and the ballast black to the connector red, and it should work.

 

got absolutely nothing...switched around the wires into different sockets of the factory H4 harness and nothing.

Check fuses and they are fine. WTF

 

So basically plug in the ballast backwards so that the (+) marking on the ballast connector match up with the BLACK wire coming from the H4 adapter?

Edit: and where is this loose black wire from the H4 adapter supposed to go? Can I just splice it to the black high beam wire on the headlight?

 

Ha, I had this same issue when I installed HID's in my fogs. For some reason some manufactures have this backwards when it is received in the package. Just had to switch the pins in the harness and was good to go.

 

Yup.

In MOST cars, that pin is the ground, and each filament has its own positive.

For some reason, though, in the 5th gen, that pin is the positive, and each filament has its own ground.

So on that connector, black is positive, and red/blue are grounds.

 

and where is this loose black wire from the H4 adapter supposed to go? Can I just splice it to the black high beam wire coming out of the headlight?

 

The extra black wire and the blue wire go to that 9005 high beam bulb in the headlight.

 

thought so....heading out to try this...be back in a few

 

sooooooooooo???

 

Wow...can't believe I spent almost 3 hours trying to figure this out and the problem was that I was actually wiring things "CORRECTLY". Who would have ever thought to plug in the ballast BACKWARDS......


Umnitza

Seriously though, you should be including a quick note in these H4 kits about this lol

Thanks to everybody who helped out, very much appreciated.

 

Glad we could help