eg civic headlight removal/problems

[arverson]

as thread title suggests.

my bulbs have died on me, or something electrical has.. the brightest my headlights will go now is about 'parker lights' brightness -even if that- but it doesnt matter anyway cus at night they dont give off any light at all..

so imagine driving your car at night without your headlights turned on, in the complete dark where anything can happen on the road in front of you.. yer, its hella dangerous. high-beam seems to work fine but i can only rely on those when im completely alone on the road, otherwise i have to turn em off cus of oncoming traffic and be driving blind..

so i attempted to replace the bulbs with HID ones that a friend gave me. ive changed the drivers side bulb.. but when testing it they seem to only get to parker brightness as well. high-beam is fine again and theres a definate whiter color.. not sure if their details (bulb size, type, kelvin rating, whatever) are needed but ill post em up if it makes any differrences and/or if theyre even suitable..

anyway it got me thinkin maybe its not the bulbs, maybe its the headlight casing thats dirty, or blew a fuse, or something with the wiring.. i dunno. someone throw me ideas.

like ive said, ive replaced the drivers side bulb but since its day time i cant really tell if its fixed. gonna wait til nighttime to see if theres been any positive difference.

i guess the second main question is, how do i get access to the passenger side bulb? any removal of the bumper, mud flaps needed? theres a ??fuel pump?? right behind the headlights making it hard for any easy access to get the bulb out..

was sure something like this wouldve been covered but ive been searching & looking for a few hours and couldnt find anything

sorry for the essay but someone pleasssse help

[altong0840]

Have u check how far the light can shoot? Maybe u need a adjustment on the headlight, there is a screw at the back of the headlight that u can adjust~

[arverson]

thanks for the idea. popped the hood again but its too sunny out to see any changes ive made to the adjustments. im gonna have to wait til later to see if they make any differences.

in the mean time, anyone know how i can get better/easier access to the passenger side bulb? or instead safely remove that pump or whatever it is thats directly behind that side headlight.

[quangsuke]

easiest way is to remove your front bumper. u need to get to the bolts.

[MM89]

the power steering fluid reservoir and the wiper washer bottle are both located behind the passenger headlight. in order to get to the headlight, you can remove the front bumper, loosen the bolts on the headlight and slide it forward.

[burner42]

easiest way to check your beam is to park close to a wall, turn on your headlights, should be able to check where it's pointing, if all fails, use a multimeter to check the current and voltage going to the bulb.

[NightKids]

So how do you remove the front bumper?

[tiksie]

What voltage are you getting from your battery & Alternator ?

It's possible to remove the headlight without having to take the bumper off, it's just a bitch and there is too many angles involved lol, I have done it a few times in my previous EG's.

Check your voltage and tell me what you get. Car switched on and also car switched off.

[arverson]

thanks for all the replies

yer tiksie know what you mean, wasnt hard to remove the headlight out. ive replaced both bulbs now and theres light at least.. but it still seems really faint.

ill check the current & voltage tomorrow and get back to you's

another question, with the horizontal adjustment gear thingy.. which way adjusts left or right? ive adjusted to both sides but i cant seem to notice any difference. with a philips screwdriver, can someone tell me if clockwise/anti-clock. adjusts left/right. cheers

[arverson]

scratch that.. dw about the adjust gear direction info. its alot easier when to figure out when your parked right up to a wall.. duh!

still dunno my current&voltages cus i cant find my multimeter (moving house recently n half our stuff still in boxes ftl)

forgot to mention this earlier, but since we're on the topic of light problems ive got a few more issues from long ago..

1) whenever i brake my headlights turn on, as well as the dash cluster lights. obviously this aint normal
2) with the headlights on, my rear brakelights are on constantly. so at night the cars behind will never know when i actually brake.

what could be causing these? im assuming this is wiring related.

[EDracer]

my guess is that it is wire related and i would be checking all the grounding points on the car. that is what it sounds like to me. power will take the path of least resistance, and for your bulbs to be ok and no light, means there is a better (more efficient) way for the power to return to the battery.

[SuiJin]

bring it to an ozhomo member with an idea and they'll help ya. how far east are u if u bring it west ill give u a hand. sounds more like water.

[quangsuke]

check your fuses and wiring for the break light

[Fo55il]

i had a similar problem. check ur earth's.

my headlights werent earthed properly and the headlights were very dim.

[arverson]

i just got back from a road trip, but this thread feels incomplete..

so ill check my fuses, grounds, look for my multimeter and get my voltages, check battery, alt, etc etc tomorrow and if i dont come back with more questions then you'll know it was one of them - which means for future readers that itll be an easy fix.

cheers for everyones help

[sickvtec]

damm it my driver side is acting the same way too, dimmer then the left passenger site, im driving rhd eg5....
worst.. when ever i switch on the main light the right signal lights up as well,...???
Then when i turn on my right signal..it blinks super fast!!. .why this is happening?? is this a grounding problem or what? and forgot the mention that my horn is dead too...wtf? .. all this happening when i turn on the main light......

[ace_az1]

no need to take out the front bumper...for the passenger side bulb...grab some pliers and loosen the clip on the hose going to the p/s bottle and pull out the hose from the bottle....move the bottle to the side and leave it in a position where the fluid wont fall (be sure to do this quick as the fluid will start to leak)....should give you enough room to change the bulb.....put hose back on.....put clip back on...top up the p/s fluid if showing a bit low....and bob's ya uncle.