Headlight is out!
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: San Pedro, California
Posts: 1,400
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if you can get to the connector with the bulb in it try the following.
Get a needle and a voltmeter. Pick either one of the wires to the connector and stick the needle into the back of the connector so that it makes contact. Turn the lights on and with the voltmeter see if you have voltage from the needle to a ground. If you have voltage and the light is off, you have a wire harness issue. Try this on both wires and see if you can isolate the problem wire.
Since the bulb basically conducts current from the positive side to ground, if you are not getting voltage on either pin, then you wiring harness problem is with the positive side. If the ground side is an open, the bulb will not come on but you will see voltage on the ground side when the voltmeter touches ground.
It's hard to explain, but this way you are troubleshooting the issue with the bulb connected. This is a trick I have used in my years testing electrical problems.
Get a needle and a voltmeter. Pick either one of the wires to the connector and stick the needle into the back of the connector so that it makes contact. Turn the lights on and with the voltmeter see if you have voltage from the needle to a ground. If you have voltage and the light is off, you have a wire harness issue. Try this on both wires and see if you can isolate the problem wire.
Since the bulb basically conducts current from the positive side to ground, if you are not getting voltage on either pin, then you wiring harness problem is with the positive side. If the ground side is an open, the bulb will not come on but you will see voltage on the ground side when the voltmeter touches ground.
It's hard to explain, but this way you are troubleshooting the issue with the bulb connected. This is a trick I have used in my years testing electrical problems.