by far, im on my third week of owning my new (to me) x-type... im lovin the drive but im dreaded with issues... fortunately the only dime I spent is the gas from my place to the mechanic and the $8 IMT seal.

Anyhow, my head light (driver side) sometimes turns ON and sometimes OFF. since its difficult to maneuver on that side due to the battery, I will work on checking the connections this saturday, although i dont think its the connection since they just replaced the bulb.

secondly, my seatbelt light indicator in dash sometimes work and sometimes not. (i checked by removing the seatbelt then locking it)

third, the dash illumination adjustment knob has to stay on maximum (turning it clockwise) since if i turn in midway or away from maximum, the entire dash flickers like dancing lights, the green light does it, i dont see the warning lights participate in this event (lol).

Any idea what's causing these? I currently have a motor stuck-up on the vertical seat adjustment but i find it mechanical not electrical since it works when i help lift the seats, i just had to mention this since it might be a factor.

Please help.. I need your input on these...

thanks

eddy

 

Eddy, as for the dash lights, it is looking like at some point someone smacked the headlight switch (most likely with their knee) and has damaged the control knob for the dimmer circuit. Essentially, the dimmer circuit works by flashing the bulbs on and off really fast (too fast for your eyes to notice) and the flash rate is based on the resistance of the dial you adjust. Because the dial is damaged, the flashing circuit thinks you are wanting the lights dialed all the way down.

Fortunately, the replacement is pretty easy as the flashing circuit is built into the headlight switch, so, replacement is nothing more than pulling out the old headlight switch, undoing a plug, plugging in the new headlight switch and reinstalling into the dash.

As for the headlight problem, it is sounding like a bad connector for the plug. The friction clips inside the connector can get damaged if you don't install the connector straight on to the plug. Because it is in a hard to get to spot, most likely it has not been treated kindly. You can verify it is the plug by connecting a multimeter into the back of the plug, wiggling the connector, and watching as the light flickers, but the multimeter stays at 1 voltage. If it isn't the plug, then I would be looking next at a fuse in the fuse box for the headlight (fuse F4 in the fuse box under the hood). IT is possible the fuse is either loose or is starting to go bad on you and making intermittent contact. If it isn't one of those two, then you have a wiring issue, write me and I will tell you how to troubleshoot that.

Now, for the seat belt reminder. The piece inside the connector for the seat belt is essentially a switch. So, if you can install the seat belt into the piece bolted to the car and move it, causing the light on the dash, then it sounds like the switching inside the retaining portion is bad. If moving the seat belt (without moving the retaining portion) will not cause the light to flicker, then I would be looking under the seat at the plug for the retaining portion. Possible the connector is coming loose or you have a bad wire down in that area and it is not allowing the signal to flow properly.

HOpe this helps.

 

thanks thermo...

The dimmer, I will leave it to one setting for now since I dont dim my dash lights anyhow, i like them bright..

The seatbelt reminder, I still couldnt find the fault, Ive worked on my car regarding several issues today and I gave up looking for whats wront with the seatbelt light.

The headlamp: I managed to tighten the attachment, youre right.. they're loose but what caused it go loose is that the entire headlamp including the high beam lamp is loose!!! fact is, I dont know how to put it in place. Putting the covers back is such a chore with the battery still in place... can anyone tell me how to sit the lamps in place? I didnt even know that the two lamps (high beam and head lamp) are held by one assembly inside the housing...

 

As for the seat belt minder, as long as the plugs leading up to the buckle look good, then odds are, it is the buckle itself that is bad. You can prove the buckle is bad by following the buckle down and finding the 2 wires that lead out of the buckle. Follow these back to the first plug. Now, using a small piece of wire, stick it in the end of the plug where these two wires enter. Does the seat belt minder go off? If yes, then you have proved that the wiring leading up to the plug is working fine, and therefore only leaves the buckle as your problem. If this doesn't fix the problem, then that pretty much leaves you with a bad wire between the restraint control computer and the buckle (barring your restraint control computer being bad, but I would expect your air bag light to be on and some other indications).

Now, for the headlights. The clips are nothing more than thin pieces of metal that are bent to form the clip. If you don't stick the prongs of the headlight bulb in straight, you end up prying on these clips. As you can imagine, you pry on them, they will bend. In this case, you are bending them open. Hence why they are getting loose. You can try unplugging the headlights, pulling the wires/connectors out of the plugs (only do 1 wire at a time to make sure you don't mix up wires), and then recrimping the metal connectors some so they make a tighter fit. You won't need to crimp the connector much. You can take a post on an old headlight bulb and test fit the connector to see how it fits. Keep in mind that the connector normally has some sort of retaining device that needs to be released before it will slide out of the plastic plug. A small jewelers screw driver is all it takes normally to release the retaining mechanism. If you look in the end of the plug where the bulb normally plugs in, you can look along the sides of the connector and you will see a small piece of metal sticking up off of the connector. You will need to take the screw driver, insert it in to push that piece down. From there, you can slide the wire out. Before putting the connector back in, make sure to bend the retaining clip up just a little bit so it re-engages the plug again.

If you need more help, just hollar.