Ok, for the last month or so, the driver-side headlight plug doesn't seem to contact the bulb properly, causing the bulb to not work. What's more, it appears to be only one contact (of the 3 inside the plug) which causes the relay to think that I've engaged high beams (my high beam indicator light comes on and my Hella 500s wired to the high beam wire come on). If I wiggle the plug up (or sometimes down), the contact is made and all is well. But I think the cold outside causes the metal to retract and loose contact again. Once contact is made, the metal heats up and stays connected until the next time I let it sit in the cold a while.

I've disconnected the Hellas to isolate the chance of them causing the problem with no change. I'm afraid that the dealer is automatically going to blame the Hellas (or the wire being tapped into) to be the cause instead of admitting it is the plug on the bulb. I haven't cut the wire. I used the special plastic piece that came with the Hellas to tap into the high beam wire (splices both wires together with the same metal inside the plastic housing).

Anyway, to make a long story short, has anyone seen the plug and/or know of a way for me to make the plug contact the metal on the bulb better so I don't have to pull up the hood and wiggle the plug to get the bulb to work every time I wish to drive? I'm considering just buying another plug and replacing the defective one, but don't know where to get one (does Nissan sell just the plug)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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known as 2xterras on Edmunds Bulletin Board

sometimes the 3M connectors can cut the wire you are tapping in to not just the insulation. you need to use a meter or a test light to see if you have voltage at the 9004 plug

If you are talking about those wire tap connections then be very careful with those. I have had many problems with those connectors. Cutting the insulation allows water infiltration up the wire causing corrosion and eventual wiring failure. This will usually take a winter or two for it to occur. If you can cut and solder the wires together it is much better. After you solder it then apply a liberal coating of liquid neoprene. Even if you don’t solder it then cover it with neoprene. It is sometimes called liquid electrical tape.

Thanks for the advise on the liquid neoprene. Will definitely look into applying some of that stuff. As for the wire being cut, I thought about it and concluded that it couldn't be the cause. The Hella lights are connected to the high beam wire and when the driver side bulb goes out, the hellas come on (because the relay believes that I've engaged the highbeam switch, providing power to the high beam wire that the Hellas are connected to). The only way I can get the connection to the headlight bulb to return (thereby returning the system to low beam) is by wiggling the actual plug on the bulb up or down until it makes contact with the bulb. I've actually tried wiggling the wire alone first (at first I thought the problem was with the wiring), but that never fixed the problem. However, I've gotten it down to a science of yanking on the plug to get the contact with the bulb to light it up. I've even tried slowly moving the plug up without disturbing the wire and it still brought power back. I was never successful at not moving the plug and just wiggling the wire to get power to return to the bulb.

Ok, I've ranted for too long. I'm going to spend this Saturday doing nothing but figuring this stupid problem out. I'm going to disassemble the bulb/plug setup and see exactly what's causing the problem. I'll let you all know what I find.

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known as 2xterras on Edmunds Bulletin Board

I believe that the ground connection to the headlight is the culprit here. If the headlight ground fails, the current that would normally pass through the low beam filament to ground instead passes through the low beam and high beam filament and then through the Hella relay coil to ground. The current is enough to energize the relay but not enough to light the headlight filaments. The ground could be broken at the bulb connection or the chassis connection with the same result.

Many times automotive electrical oddities turn out to be broken ground connections.

I hope this helps...

What you say sounds reasonable and may very well be the cause. So what you're telling me is that if the ground connection fails, then the current going from the low beam wire will travel through both the low beam and high beam filaments and finally run through the high beam wire, thereby activating my high beam indicator light? Assuming I have this information correctly, the only question I would have would be why do the Hella lights come on with this current and not the headlight filaments?

Either way, I'm certain the connection problem is located at the socket the bulb is connected to and I will be spending my entire Saturday (come hell or high water) and I WILL figure this thing out. I may just end up replacing the plug (if I can find a replacement -- any ideas?) Is it possible to use a generic plug to replace the Nissan one? The parts guy at the Nissan dealership was a little dumb-founded when I asked him for a plug to replace the headlight plug. He didn't know where to get one either.

This problem is driving me crazy! It's entirely way tooo cold to have to pop up my hood every time I want to drive in the dark.

Thanks for all your help.

Never mind about my question of lighting the Hellas. I must have been asleep. Of course the current is not lighting the Hellas directly, it is only triggering the Hella relay to send current to the Hellas, thereby turning the Hellas on. What was I thinking...

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known as 2xterras on Edmunds Bulletin Board

[This message has been edited by killerx (edited January 05, 2001).]

FWIW, I've always liked the clean look of heat shrink tubing. You can get a bag of mixed sizes at Radio Shack.

The only hard part is that you have to slip it onto the wire before soldering.

A little dielectric grease in the connectors should keep water out and the corrosion down.

That's the part I usually forget. Along with putting the back half of a connector on a wire before soldering on the front half.

Me too, Ken... ;>

killerx,

I had the same problem you are talking about. It happened to me about a week ago. I've attributed the problem to the bulb connector. The connection on my passenger side bulb always goes out and I have to wiggle the connector to get the light to work. If you find a solution, let me know.

lil_pino (and all reading),

I would highly recommend you check the high wattage xenon bulb and the plug it is plugged into ASAP! I removed my bulb to find that one side of the plastic surrounding one of the connectors inside of the plug had completely melted off! This caused the connector to wiggle and come loose. All I gotta say is that I'm running stock bulbs again (and quite happily). I had to bend the connector inwards a bit to keep it from shifting though. I think you'll notice that the stock bulbs are really not that much weaker (maybe even brighter) than the xenons. They're definitely more yellow, but not any dimmer.

Let me know if you have the same problem. I'll be selling the xenon bulbs on E-bay soon. Anybody want a pair of 9004 Hiper xenon bulbs? (I hope not after what I said above)

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known as 2xterras on Edmunds Bulletin Board

I found the same thing when I took out the Xenon bulbs. The middle hole (out of the 3) was melted and I could not see the metal connector inside. I really like the looks of my Xenon bulbs but it's not worth the hassle of poping your hoop open when you turn on the lights. Besides, two regular looking headlights look a lot better than one Xenon.

At this point I must say I'm very glad I went with the PIAA Superwhites! Still xenon, but stock wattage...no problems whatsoever. Worth looking into for those of you who want brighter headlight bulbs but without the problems.

Piaa might be the way to go.. but have you checked your contacts like the above guys ?
Something might be melting and you just don't know it yet... I was about to move to Piaa's myself.

I will admit I haven't checked them in the past week or so, but I did take a close look at them about a month after I got the PIAA's (I swapped back in the stockers just to ensure to myself there was some difference.) So far so good, but you're right it's something to look out for, since xenon does burn hotter than halogen (I think?), even at the same wattage.

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gothamist -- MAXC member
http://www.beatdriven.com/xterra.html

I've got my own concerns .. Canadian version = Daylight Running Lights.. so my lights will be running constantly.. although at a lower power level.. but this makes me wonder now.

How are those PIAA superwhites holding up ...
It's been a while now ... any more forest fires?

I had those xenon lights on the X, and after a year of use, startd to have those problems, needing to manually manipulate the connector(always on the driver's side, hmmm...) to turn on again. Luckily, there was no melting on the connectors and switched to the PIAA Super Whites, 65/45. So far, so good, and it has been a month since I did the switch...
hope this helps