I have a 2002 X-type and yesterday afternoon i noticed my right hand low beam head light was out ! So i wanted to replace asap as i do alot of night driving ! I rode over to the local Auto Zone and the guy thier sold me a sit of two Sylvania H1 headlights.... Well I rushed down to a foreign car guy to put them in because i knew the space was so tight and sure enough he had closed one hour early so i went home.... I then decided to do it myself ! hahah so about one hour and fourty minutes later i replaced my two headlights ! I then Checked them they worked and looked good and then put the covers back on and closed the garage door and went in for the night ! Well today was a fun filled Saturday I ran errands around town all day and came home and pulled into the garage i have auto lights and they usally come on so i pulled in my dash lights came on but sure enough no head lights ! so i have been working on that for two hours now ! I checked all the fusses thier fine ! Thier was some kind of liquid in the passanger side head light cover ! So what i have is no low beam headlights at all ! Could the liquid be from where the bulbs burst or wat ? So i then pulled the headlights out they looked ok but i honestly dont know how to tell if thier anygood or not ? I pulled them both out and tried to hook up the one that was ok last night into one socket i did that and i got nothing but i was pretty rough with it last night after i changed them ! Soi would like to know what you guys think ? Do you think i was to rough and the bulbs blew ? The bulbs were no good ? I was to rough in the tight space and really screwd up my headlight assembly and i might have to replace it ! As of now i have no low beam headlights behind the composite but i do every where else ! I am currently driving my Mercedes but want my Jag back ! So please give me your opions ! Should i just take it to my local guy and see what he says Monday ! Or do you all think i really messed things up ! I hope not ... But i am afraid i did ! How can you check the bulbs to see if thier anygood ? I hope i dont have to replace the headlight assembly though because the bulbs either burst or i was rough or somthing i had done !

 

Look at the connector you are taking off the bulb. Does it look a little melted or corroded?

You said only one of your headlamps were out before. You replaced both anyway. Where is the other bulb that originally worked? Can you plug that in and see if it works? Both fuses are ok, so it is at the light somewhere. I also believe the headlamp relay is in the fusebox by left knee from drivers seat. It is the very top left relay in the box. Swap it with a similar relay. See if lamps come on.

I personally would suspect the harness first though. I have never replaced the headlamp relay on an X.

 

The Connector does look bad ! It doesnt look great at all ! Umm.... I think this could be the problem ! But now niether of the headlights are working ! and they did work for a short while last night.... Could the bulbs have burst and damaged the assembly or the connector ? Can the connector be replaced and is it easy to do so ? I will check the relay... And the Harness is the connector part of which you plug the headlight into correct ? I have no idea the diffrince between the two! And the thing is that would the relay have anything to do with it since all my other lights are working including the high beams .......

 

i think the relay is for the low beams only so it could be bad. the water in the housing would be from not putting the boot back on the light housing correctly. the harness (the plastic thing that plugs into the bulb) is known for melting. can you post any pics of the harness? as for the water- take the boot back off and hold a hair dryer there for about 10 minutes.

 

Well guys.... I just had the wife tell me that she went thru an automatic car wash with it today ! So the passanger side light cover is the one that had water on it meaning the wire's run from the passanger side so maybe water got in the connector and shorted out both low beam lights ? Could that be a possiability ? The relay is not bad i just checked ! So could this be a possiability ? The turn signals work in both still though ? So what could this mean ? Doyou think this is really going to mean a great expense for me ? Is it a big problem or am i getting to excited over it since all the others are working ? Also the Connectors are corroded looking inside to me ! not melted but corroded its copper orange looking inside and on the bottom where the plastic isnt covering it ! So i think the connectors could use being replaced !

 

naybe take a wire brush and clean the conectors? i think almost every light is on it's own relay or fuse. my drivers side light was out but everything else worked. i thought it was a bulb but found out that they are on seperate fuses. are you sure the fuses are good?

 

yeah... i mean they were last night after the replacment! do you think the new bulbs could have blown them ? ummm.... i caint clean the connectors ! I guess i am just going to have to have them replaced

 

why can't you clean them?

 

Wish i could actually help you more here mbl with details, but in my experience with the electrical system on these cars, it doesn't sound like a big problem, and should only cost you some time in troubleshooting, and most likely, cleaning corroded contacts and double checking those headlight fuses. Based on the evidence - carwash, recent headlight swap, working bulbs the night before...sounds like a short somewhere. Definately dry out those headlamps by opening up the housing again (facilitates a quicker drying), check fuses, and fire that baby up tomorrow night. Looking forward to hearing back. Jvegas....keep assisting.

Be patient, and you will find the answer soon enough.

 

You need to cut harness and solder new pins in. One solders to headlamp housing as a ground and other to bulb. Not directly, the pins get soldered then plug onto bulb and housing. I have the pins if you need them.

 

I agree with jvegas here on those boots/covers behind theheadlamps.We've all struggled with them at one point or another and it's very easy to not get them installed rightwhich allows water to get in there and ruin the bulbs. Also were you careful not to touch the glass on the bulbs when you installed them? If you touched the glass on the bulbs, the oil on your fingers reflects and causes the bulbs to blow out.

I know this is really basic stuff but keep in mind thatyou always need to look at the easy stuff aswell.