DS headlight out

[Mark]

My son has been using my 08 for a while now, and last week when he came by I notice the driver side headlight was out, so I replaced the bulb and it was working fine again. I finally got it back and changed the oil today, and noticed that it was out again. Tried a new bulb and no luck. Voltages on the harness seem good and match the readings on the other side. Both the RH and LH fuses are good. I'm kind of at a loss here. Low and DRL are not working, but high beams work.

[andrewclaus]

There's a remote possibility you got a bad bulb from the store, that had an early failure. I'd just try another one. I assume you verified the bulb failed--discolored glass or broken filament.

[joatmon]

I thought that too, would be the better than some wiring or socket issue. Hope that's all it is quick test would be to see if the "bad" bulbs work in the passenger side headlight.

[Mark]

They do, and these are brand new Osram bulbs. I think it's corrosion in the plug but I have to see if I can cut some sheathing or a tie or something so I can pull it out enough to see it and clean it up. The passenger side is long enough to work on but the driver's is really short. So of course that's the one that's going to go bad. I had this happen on my 04 many years ago and it sucked trying to get to. I'll try some spray cleaner first I guess, then try to find a replacement plug if that fails.

[Mark]

Well, my can of electrical cleaner has lost all of the propellant over the years but I was able to dribble enough out into the contacts to get it working. Hopefully that's all it was, and I'll pick up another can of cleaner and see if I can do a better job on it.

[joatmon]

Cool

It is a lot easier to work on the passenger side. I have in the past had a lot of trouble finding the spot where the battery hold down rod hooks to.

[tpollauf]

Wasn't there a known problem with some of the sockets getting hot and melting the wire(s). That happened to my 04 and the prior owner replaced the socket. It was ONLY on the drivers side!

[Mark]

I usually don't remove the battery, I just remove the front hold down bolt and shove the battery as far to the left as I can. That gives me room to get the headlight bulb out. The problem is that the harness on the driver side is really short, so you can't pull it out far enough to make it easy to work on.

[Mark]

Wasn't there a known problem with some of the sockets getting hot and melting the wire(s). That happened to my 04 and the prior owner replaced the socket. It was ONLY on the drivers side!

That's what happened on my 04 as well. I cut the old one off and replaced the socket. I cut the old socket off then stripped the wires and soldered them to the new socket wires, then wrapped each in electrical tape. Not the best way to do it I'm sure, and if I had some extra slack in the harness I could have done a better job. But it lasted 8 or so years, so good enough. Was a real pain getting in there.

[zbyers]

I've had to replace the pigtail on several of the ones we have owned throughout the years. AutoZone sells one that is supposedly made with a ceramic connector to help with the heat that causes issues.