Headlamp

Thread Starter

Jaguarjoe

Joined Apr 7, 2010
767
About 6 months ago, the right hadlamp on my F150 became dim. I plugged in another lamp and life was good again, or so I thought. About a month latter, the same lamp grew dim again. This time I made a new relay harness with heavier duty wiring and sockets. Life was good again, or so I thought. Maybe 2 months later, same thing again. Now I bought conductive grease and liberally gooked up the new socket. This lasted about 2 months, and then the same lamp went dim.
New lamp, new socket, what's left to replace or fix? When it does go dim, just slightly touching the socket brings it back to normal. Once its at normal brilliance, nothing I do can make it go dim again.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
The only thing I can come up with is oxydation. So then you move the lamp. The oxydation somehow cracks up. And you get better contact. I would not have put any conductive grease at all on the socket. Headlapms become very hot and any grease inside the headlamp armature will evaporate and condense on the reflector or the front glass. And affect the light output. I hope you find out of it. But if you are into jaguars you should be used to electrical problems:p:D
 

someonesdad

Joined Jul 7, 2009
1,583
It does sound like oxidation or corrosion. Is this connector near the battery? Why doesn't the other lamp exhibit the same problem? So, in the spirit of KT analytical troubleshooting, look for the differences between the two systems...
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Don't know where you are, Joe - but when I lived up north (Michigan) the salt on the roads would raise the dickens with grounding lugs. Might be that when you move the harness at the lamp, it moves the rest of the harness just enough to make contact somewhere else.

If anyone used crimp-on connectors anywhere in your harness, snip them out and repair the section using solder and the kind of heat-shrink tubing that has glue on the inside; that will protect the wiring from exposure to road salt.

You probably already know about the muriatic acid connector treatment from Jag-lovers.org; that was handy to fix some of our XJ-S relay socket problems.

The use of the grease is really a must. I think it has a silicone base, so it's pretty stable. Without the grease, the connectors will corrode pretty quickly up north - or in the humid south.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Don't forget that the ground circuit is just as important as the supply circuit...not that I have any idea how yours is wired.
 

iONic

Joined Nov 16, 2007
1,662
Not the best answer, but by now I would have soldered the bulb in. But I'd have to agree with "someonesaid." There's not too much that could go wrong. Do the wiring harnesses not only plug into the bulb, do they plug in on the other end? If so are the plugs next to each other? Perhaps switching them would fix the right lamp! As for the left lamp........
 

Thread Starter

Jaguarjoe

Joined Apr 7, 2010
767
It's definitely something at the bulb/socket interface. Just touch the socket- no wire movement at all- and the lamp is back to normal. After that, you can wiggle and tug all you want, it stays lit, not even a flicker.
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Did you use an aftermarket pigtail to replace the Ford pigtail for the headlamp? If so, the aftermarket socket may be junk; scrimping on copper/brass to save a couple of pennies. Try replacing it with a Fomoco pigtail.
 

Thread Starter

Jaguarjoe

Joined Apr 7, 2010
767
Did you use an aftermarket pigtail to replace the Ford pigtail for the headlamp? If so, the aftermarket socket may be junk; scrimping on copper/brass to save a couple of pennies. Try replacing it with a Fomoco pigtail.
I think your 100% correct here.

Thank you!
 
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