Headlight Problem

Hello,

I recently purchased a 96 Honda Civic LX with 116K, and after purchasing it (oops), I was driving it around at night and noticed that the left headlight is on, but significantly dimmer than the right (about 1/3 of the right's brightness). In addition, when I turn on the high beams, only the right shines, and the left does not turn on at all. When I "release" the high beams back to regular lights, the same pattern occurs, left light dim, right lift full.

I had thought it might be burnt out bulb, but then would'nt the bulb just be totally burnt out and not function at all. Any ideas?

 

You have a power or ground problem.Do you have a voltmeter(preferred)or a test light to start a diagnosis?A wiring shematic would help alot also for tracing wires as needed.

 

Thank - I will need to get a volt meter today, and will post my reply later on. Also, how would I obtain a wiring schematic?

 

Look in a Haynes or Chiltons manual for your car.

 

For the wiring schematic, you can try your local library. My library has a very good automotive section with a good selection of repair manuals. Cant check them out of the library, but they let you photocopy them.

 

Also, make sure the contacts inside the bulb socket are clean. Try swapping the bulbs. Its possible that the high beam fillament is causing a short.

 

Check the fuses, Jap cars like to put seperate fuses for headlites. Some have a left & right high and low fuses. On your car they should be under the hood.

When a fuse for one side is out the other side back feeds and can give the condition you have.

 

about 2 cents, I would start by replacing the bulb since the high beams don't work. This would also probably be the least expensive and easist place to start. Or maybe just swap the left and right bulbs, if the problems moves to the other side, it's definetly the bulb.

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you all for your varied and helpful replies. I think the first thing I'll do is just change lightbulbs and see if that fixes the problem. On the net, I've discovered that in order to change the headlight bulbs on this car, I need to remove the front bumper, so I'll have to wait until the weekend when I have more time.

 

Update:

I didn't actually need to remove the bumper - I just needed to move the power steering reservoir a bit on the L to squeeze my hand in to get the light.

In short, I switched lightbulbs, and both of them worked great!! It must have been the connection between the lightbulb and the connector, maybe it was loose or something. Now, the left light shines a little higher than the right, and I just have to figure out how to adjust them - the Haynes manual says I should have it done by a dealer or a authorized shop - does anyone know why I can't just use the adjusting screws on the headlight assembly?