About a week ago, I replaced my melted passenger side headlight socket. I used part #84790 from Autozone. Since I don't have a wiring schematic for the stock headlight. I matched them up as best as I could (my test light was dead).

Of course, I turn the low beams on and they both come on. So I'm excited thinking I got it fixed. I didn't bother to test the high beam since I figured it should be all good if the low beam worked just fine. Later that night, my wife came back and said the high beam indicator light stays on when the low beams are on. I verify the stick wasn't pushed forward. If the parking lights are on, the low beam indicator does not come on. When I did push the switch forward to hit the high beam, the drivers side light got bright and the passenger dimmed. I made a quick youtube vid of it. The main thing I'm thinking is I got a wire mixed up. Obviously, the aftermarket socket didn't come with a legend. This is how it's currently wired. Aftermarket socket on the left and stock wiring on the right.

Black <-------------------------> Blue wire w/black stripe
Green <-------------------------> Brown wire w/black stripe
Red wire <-------------------------> Light green wire w/black stripe

Here is the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2TknmSXSuA

If someone can tell me how they should be wired, I would appreciate it

 

I still need some help guys. Apparently, my test light was working. With the low beams on, I put the test light on the red wire terminal (stock green w/black), it's really dim. When I put the test light on the black wire terminal (stock blue w/black), it lights normally. I'm assuming the stock blue wire w/black stripe is the low beam ground?

I tested the driver's side, the green/yellow wire lights up when the low beams are on. The other terminals don't light up the test light. Looking at post http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-how-here.html, the green/yellow wire is the low beam ground.

What is causing the red wire to be dim when the low beams are on? Seems like the only wire that should cause the test light to come on is the black wire when the low beams are on.

 

I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I suspect that the the wires are not connected correctly, you have something crossed.

You will have to try and compare the right side with the left side to figure this out. However, the 2 sides use totally different color wires, so it is a little more difficult.

Pin 1 is the hi beam, pin 2 is low beam and pin 3 is common to both beams.

Right side
pin 1 - light green/black stripe
pin 2 - blue/black stripe
pin 3 - orange/black stripe.

Left side
pin 1 - blue/white stripe
pin 2 - green/yellow stripe
pin 3 - pink/black stripe

The way the lights work is that pin 3 (common) has 12 volts from the fuse on it. Then the light switch puts ground on pins 1 or 2

 

On my passenger side, I don't have an orange/black wire. I have a brown/black wire. I would like to think those are the same.

 

I went back and looked at the service manual to see if I had a brain fart or something, but the manual for the 2001 Max has orange/black stripe in it. I looked at the 2000 manual, same color. Looked at the 2002 manual, but the headlights are different creatures and I shouldn't have bothered.

Since the other 2 colors are the same, then that has to be the pin 3 wire that is the common 12 volt supply to the low and high beams.

It could be that Nissan changed the color, they have done that. But they would not have used a solid black wire as that means a direct connection to ground. But brown is a possibility, although if it is so dark that you might mistake it for black, Nissan does not use that dark of a brown.

The color difference is possibly due to discoloration from the heat of the meltdown. If this is true, the metal wire may have crystallized. This would be bad as crystallized wire doesn't conduct electricity as good as it did originally. You would need to cut the crystallized part out. Crystallized wire is more stiff and brittle to the touch and the wire will not be copper colored, it will look a dull gray. Similarly, the plastic insulation may also be stiff and brittle, cracking and falling off the wire when it flexes.



edit -
This is from the 2001 FSM, EL section, page 39. You can download a manual from here:

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan -or- http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/maxima/

The file named fwd.pdf is the "cover page" file, the starting point.
The file named idx.pdf is the alphabetical index file.

 

The crystallized part of the wire was at the stock socket. I cut right behind it. I will take another pic of the wire colors when my wife comes home.