Hello, I don't know a whole lot about this kind of stuff so I was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction.

I was involved in a minor fender bender...I put a new bumper on and the truck looks okay again.

However, the other day the driver side headlight started smoking! After removing the headlight to look at it the bulb had burned all the plastic around it,...and had then exploded.

The fuse/relay that blew is #16 (30A Radiator Fan).

I'm guessing there is a short somewhere, but the wiring looks fine from the headlight to the wire harness box thing (?)

Is it maybe the wiring for the radiator fan or something?

Could really use some help! Thanks in advance!

 

You mention an accident - is it possible the socket for the bulb popped through & the bulb was touching the housing somehow? Those bulbs get scary hot & if they are touching somthing they will explode.

Other than that Its a long process to trace a short -

Start with replacing the bulb & if its damaged the socket itself. Then see if the issue happens again -

 

Thanks for the reply.

I've replaced the bulb and left the headlight assembly off. When I turn it on now(only for a few seconds), the bulb itself starts to smoke,...(so I quickly turn it back off).

So I'm guessing I'm going to have to go through that long process of tracking the short down...

Do you think maybe it's the wiring to the radiator fan? Or maybe something else?...Just not really sure where to go from here...

 

Just an update...I don't think it's a short after all. After talking to my neighbor, (who happens to be a mechanic) I think it's been doing this because I had touched the bulb (and it's the kind you're not supposed to get greasy finger prints on) and this was causing it to get extremely hot/explode.

 

Touching a halogen bulb with your bare fingers will cause it to smoke & explode. Any dirt or impurity on the surface will cause the extream heat to transfer differently through the glass bulb in the dirty area than the other areas causing the glass to crack/explode.

Lets hope this is the issue!