Hi nkx.............welcome to the forum bud.
I think that Buck,X dave, maybe ken or Jag genius may be able to help........Any others please chime in and help a guy out if ya can!

Keep us posted NKX

Jim

 

Sorry cant help on this but I would be wondering why the socket is melting in the first place.Is the fuse the correct rating?

 

I'd check the fuse...is it the same side that is melting every time? Did you put in aftermarket bulbs in there or are they stock sylvania halogens? We've experienced many problems with aftermarket bulbs but I've never had a melted harness...sorry I couldn't help for this...

 

Welcome !
I presumed only ice stuffs would melt down [:-]

 

Hmmmm........aftermarket 80/100 w in mine and no melted harness?
Not yet anyways[&:]

Jim

 

Hey Jim did those ever blow?

 

The fuse is designed to be the weak link in the circuit...so it should blow to be safe.If its too high a rating thensomething elsewould fail/melt before the fuse so it would be a good starting point to check the rating on the fuse first.

 

Aquill........I think as I stated at the time I had one blow after 5-6 weeks. I complained to the supplier who immediately replaced it F.O.C and have no problem this last 11 months maybe?
So I am a happy bunny that can see in the dark....lol
Bucks right about the fuse being the weak point that is designed to blow before anything more important goes bang obviously. May be a good place to start checking.
It was a worry of mine when I replaced the bulbs but my sparky checked the fuses and assured me that they would blow first if there were any problems

Jim

 

If you are melting harness's, you are pulling too many amps. The stock bulb is not capable of doing this, so the problem is elsewhere. Past the harness is the load.... in this case the bulb. The only other factor to the load is whether or not JUST the bulb is the load. This is obviously not the case since you are drawing past the bulb current rating, you have a second load. The second load is usually a short to ground so check the harness as far as you can trace it. Also, make sure the bulb is not being shorted by the clip that holds it into place. This is most likely the issue, but since the harness is melted there may be a new issue now.

 

Man that sucks...anyone know where else he could get a new harness? I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation though nk....I'd check at a local import spot and see what they could do for you if they'd be any cheaper than a dealer...I haven't heard that that particular problem was model wide about melting harnesses...the aftermarket bulbs not working or rather blowing days after putting them in I've heard of though!

Jim I can't believe yours have lasted that long...Didn't you pay a decent amount for those jim? Considering I paid like $78 for hids...although they are hids in the mail not with me still...[:@]

 

Swear to god Aquill!!
If I remember rightly they were about £15 for 2 bulbs
It was around a year ago now though!

Jim

 

you have to cut both wires off and re wire2 new pinsand put one to the bulb and a new one to the housing tap directly beside the bulb.. and a new bulb of course ... this is a usual for x types over time i think it's the quality and the guage of the wiring .. and they just melt.. dont pull on it or you will damage the inside housing..

 

Hey nkx1 I have the cure for you. This will be much cheaper than the harness, the lights will look better and be brighter/safer for her and lastly its not much harder than cutting that harness and adding a new one to it. Get a set of hids like I got and nineball and spartan got from this guy on ebay. Unfortunately it took me almost 2 and a1/2 weeks to get but once they realized they didn't ship them out yet and they shipped them on the 19th and I just got them today in the am...so once they ship them it only takes about 5 days to get to you straight from china. The lights cost me 78.99 total including shipping. Look here for what they look like on my car...
Link...

 

Hello -

I have the same issue - my left headlight bulb needs to be changed but I was told by the mechanic that the socket had melted...

The dealer said that it will be about $30 for the socket, $15 for the light and about $50 for the labor. The last time I was there for the annual check-up about a month ago, a different mechanic told me that the labor and the lamp would be about $50 combined, and I was told the socket would only cost a few dollars. I was going to go with that but they didn't have the socket in place and hence here I am, a month later, still without the light....

Can someone please give me a sense of how much it should be for the socket and for the lamp? Is there a generic socket and the lamp you can recommend I buy online like from ebay? That way, I can hold down on the cost of materials and just pay for the labor... I just don't want to be paying for it all the time if this is a recurring issue... Plus, I really don't know much about cars, and I think it's quite obvious when I go to dealers... don't want to be completely ripped off...

Any help would be great. Thank you!!!

 

Jagx-welcome!

To keep from having this happen replace your bulbs with a complete hid kit. Some nearby places have kits now for under $100 or you can go to ebay (well under $100.)

The harness/socket/plug will be cut off when you put hids on anyways. You wont have any problems with the melting socket with the hids and it fixes recurring blown headlights.

If you want one off ebay pick from any of them as they are all pretty similar just read into each sellers ratings.

(this is a link to the exact kit I bought, only $62 shipped, but it is selling under a different ebay account. My guess is that it's the same company as they both have manyadeal on both pages.)

If you want to buy local try looking on craigslist.org and you can probably find a kit on sale in your area and can get it today instead of waiting. Install is easy and can be done for free by yourself.

 

DAMN IT TOOK HOW MANY POSTS (12)BEFORE JAG GENIUS GAVE THE CORRECT FIX, IM ASHAMED OF YA'LL....YOURE SLIPPING. YES CONNECTOR AT AUTO PARTS STORE FEMALE SPADE WITH PLASTIC SHIELD. $5 A BOX. AND YES BE CAREFULL OR YOULL BREAK THE PLASTIC POSTS INSIDE THEN YOULL HAVE TO BAKE THE HEADLIGHTS N THE OVEN TO TAKE THEM APART AND USE STRUCTURAL ADHESIVE TO REPAIR, THEN SEAL BACK TOGETHER. OPEN THE TWISTOFF COVER BEHIND THE HI BEAM, AND WITH YOUR FINGERS TRY TO MOVE THE INNER ASSEMBLY, IF IT FLOPS AROUND ITS BROKE AND YOU NEED TO REMOVE AND REPAIR, IF OK THEN DO JAG GENIUS REPAIR AND BE DONE

 

BRUTAL is absolutely right. I should have picked up on the electronics store terminal fix before. I should know better. I still have a box of barrel pins in my bench to fix XJ40 wiper modules, cost me $3.95 for a box of 50.

 

Replacing the connector doesn't fix the problem???

We've had more than a handful of people in the last year that have posted about the same thing and being charged at the dealer. IMO it's a bandaid, not a fix.

You fix it with the connector and these people will still have problems keeping bulbs from blowing. [&:]

HIDs are the only thing I've found to actually "fix" the problem! (however legal/illegal they are????)