Headlight Faults - 02 Bug Eye
28 August 2007, 09:59 AM
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Headlight Faults - 02 Bug Eye
I Have a 2002 Bug eye impreza with the replacement headlights.
I have all kinds of strange happenings going on when i use the headlights.
some include-
- One of the dipped lights switching off when i put on the high beam.
- High Beam lights not working and the same dipped light switching off still.
- Front fog lights not working at all.
Has anyone got any ideas on this one??
I've checked for pwer to each and every bulb using a multi meter and power was present but i'm not sure how much is needed??
Confused!!
I have all kinds of strange happenings going on when i use the headlights.
some include-
- One of the dipped lights switching off when i put on the high beam.
- High Beam lights not working and the same dipped light switching off still.
- Front fog lights not working at all.
Has anyone got any ideas on this one??
I've checked for pwer to each and every bulb using a multi meter and power was present but i'm not sure how much is needed??
Confused!!
28 August 2007, 10:11 AM
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Sounds to me like you might have an earthing problem.
Have you installed the lights yourself and what type of replacements are they (cheap aftermarket angel eyes or genuine subaru/morette upgrades)?
Have they ever worked properly?
When you say you have checked power, I assume that you have checked the voltage. Have you checked that wiring is in tact and not cut or broken anywhere. Look for corroded terminals, especially at your earthing points.
Have you installed the lights yourself and what type of replacements are they (cheap aftermarket angel eyes or genuine subaru/morette upgrades)?
Have they ever worked properly?
When you say you have checked power, I assume that you have checked the voltage. Have you checked that wiring is in tact and not cut or broken anywhere. Look for corroded terminals, especially at your earthing points.
28 August 2007, 10:49 AM
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An Earthing problem is what was suggested to me.
I bought the car about three weeks back and they have never worked properly but have got worse since i got it.
The Lights are morette style ones so i'm guessing expensive but i'm not sure who fitted them to be honest.
I've just spoken to an engineer at work who's a dab hand at this sort of stuff after doing similar stuff on his FTO so i'll run by him the points you said when he looks at it this eve. .
Any other ideas on a solution are still welcome!!
I bought the car about three weeks back and they have never worked properly but have got worse since i got it.
The Lights are morette style ones so i'm guessing expensive but i'm not sure who fitted them to be honest.
I've just spoken to an engineer at work who's a dab hand at this sort of stuff after doing similar stuff on his FTO so i'll run by him the points you said when he looks at it this eve. .
Any other ideas on a solution are still welcome!!
28 August 2007, 12:33 PM
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Checking for power is no good on a scoobie. For some weird and wonderful reason (which probably makes perfect sense if you're a japanese sparkie) they have permanent live and switch the earth on the headlights.
So headlights on you'll see 12V on one side and earth the other but with the lights turned off (and the bulbs still connected) you'll see 12V on both terminals. Confusing as a well confusing thing.
So headlights on you'll see 12V on one side and earth the other but with the lights turned off (and the bulbs still connected) you'll see 12V on both terminals. Confusing as a well confusing thing.
28 August 2007, 02:59 PM
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That seems less than perfect but i guess they must have their reasons!??
Ok, i'll ditch the Muti Meter and stick with checking all the connections to earth.
By the sounds of it, the guy i'm having look at it knows his stuff and is very thorough. I think it'll be a case of disconnecting every connection, figuring out how the wires correspond to lighting requested in car and then re-connecting to what we are after.
One question i do have is what lights come on when. . . meaning, do the dipped lights stay on when the high beams kick in? Or do they switch off? at the moment one is staying off and one is staying on.
Ok, i'll ditch the Muti Meter and stick with checking all the connections to earth.
By the sounds of it, the guy i'm having look at it knows his stuff and is very thorough. I think it'll be a case of disconnecting every connection, figuring out how the wires correspond to lighting requested in car and then re-connecting to what we are after.
One question i do have is what lights come on when. . . meaning, do the dipped lights stay on when the high beams kick in? Or do they switch off? at the moment one is staying off and one is staying on.
28 August 2007, 07:45 PM
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I don't know if it will be of any help but I made my own wiring loom for some HID STi lights. My dipped beam stays on when the high beam comes on. Like the morettes the STi lights have seperate bulbs for high and dipped beams.
Also I identified the following wire colours for the headlights:
RH positive - blue with white stripe.
LH positive - red with blue stripe.
Dipped beam switch - yellow with blue stripe (both sides)
High beam switch - Red (both sides)
Can't remember whether it was left and right from the front or the from the rear, but the wires are all in the same loom. The indicators should be their own spur which I didn't need to re-wire.
If the car has been wired using an adaptor so as not to cut the original loom, as I did, then the fault finding should be easy. However, if the loom has been butchered you may find some dodgy crimps etc and it's likely that the only way to find these may be to take the lights out.
Also I identified the following wire colours for the headlights:
RH positive - blue with white stripe.
LH positive - red with blue stripe.
Dipped beam switch - yellow with blue stripe (both sides)
High beam switch - Red (both sides)
Can't remember whether it was left and right from the front or the from the rear, but the wires are all in the same loom. The indicators should be their own spur which I didn't need to re-wire.
If the car has been wired using an adaptor so as not to cut the original loom, as I did, then the fault finding should be easy. However, if the loom has been butchered you may find some dodgy crimps etc and it's likely that the only way to find these may be to take the lights out.
29 August 2007, 08:17 AM
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Lights have now been fixed!
My mate and i managed to remove both headlight units and we basically went through every wire with a fine tooth comb and figured out "what wire does what and when". The most obvious problem was a free wire that had pulled from the back of the relay connector in the light unit. this was all green and corroded so after doing a bit of salvage we managed to wire this back in to the circuit using our handy soldering skills.
Then we focused our attention to the offside headlight which was acting up. After about half hour of fault finding we figured it was down to a bad earth within the relay so after figuring out the wiring we bypassed the relay earth and tapped in to another constant earth source.
All that's needed now is a new bulb as one blew the other day and i'm done!!
Cheers for all the help, i can say as a "scooby Newbie" that your all great help on here.
Dean
My mate and i managed to remove both headlight units and we basically went through every wire with a fine tooth comb and figured out "what wire does what and when". The most obvious problem was a free wire that had pulled from the back of the relay connector in the light unit. this was all green and corroded so after doing a bit of salvage we managed to wire this back in to the circuit using our handy soldering skills.
Then we focused our attention to the offside headlight which was acting up. After about half hour of fault finding we figured it was down to a bad earth within the relay so after figuring out the wiring we bypassed the relay earth and tapped in to another constant earth source.
All that's needed now is a new bulb as one blew the other day and i'm done!!
Cheers for all the help, i can say as a "scooby Newbie" that your all great help on here.
Dean
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