OK - 1983 CJ7, essentailly stock as least in terms of the electrical &
wiring.

I took the grill and radiator out recently while replacing on the PS
gearbox which meant disconnecting headlights, turn signals and etc and
pulling the front harness.

All of the lights (headlights, turn signal and etc) were working
correctly before working on it.

But when I re-installed everything, the drivers headlight is very dim
(VERY dim) and the passenger headlight is pretty normal brightness.
Turn signals work as well as before --- that is to sday , they work
good.

The harness was left connected to the bulkhead connector while I was
working on the Jeep - which still starts and runs like it should

I'm thinking a bad or loose ground, but can't see any loose wires
or ??

Any suggestions on where to start? Diagnostics? Haven't tried
swapping bulbs side-to-side yet - but will when I get back into the
shop.

Thanks

Lynn in Vancouver WA

On Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:48:26 -0800, lynnhowlyn (AT) aol (DOT) com wrote:


Well that's how the passengers see it. Drivers, of course, are of the
opposite opinion.
















<sorry!>

Step by step?

A) Swap the headlamp bulbs and see if the problem travels with the
bulb. This would also be a good time to upgrade to a new set of
Wagner Tru-View lamps, you will be amazed how much better they are
than stock plus they don't overload the stock wiring and switch!

B) If "A" didn't do the trick, take a Digital Multimeter (voltmeter)
and check the voltage at each headlight connector. Be sure to turn
on the lights and don't forget to switch them from "DIM" to "BRIGHT"
and check both circuits. Should be almost the same as checking
between the battery posts, without the engine running around 12.3 to
12.6 volts. If they check good voltage, check the resistance of the
Ground Circuit of the headllight connector using the "Ohm meter"
feature of the Multimeter, it should be virtually "0.00". Sometimes
each headlamp has it's own ground circuit, you may have loosened one
during your mechanical adventure so trace the ground wires to see what
you have.

Good luck, Bruce

Swap the bulbs first of course. Then dig out an ANALOG multimeter, much
better at finding intermittant problems and diagnostic work.

The easy way is to turn on the headlights, see the dim bulb. Check the
voltage to a good ground (battery terminal if possible) on BOTH sides of
the bulb with the lights on. A good system will read 12 volts or a bit
less on one side, 0 volts or a bit more on the ground side, 10 to 11
volts across the terminals. If you get less than 10 volts on the high
side, start looking for a bad terminal block or frayed wire. If you get
several votlts on the low side, bad ground. The bad ground can either be
on the wire from the socket to the body or the ground strap from the
body (on the firewall) to the back of the engine

Highcountry wrote:

Assuming the lamp itself is good it appears that you have a circuit
grounding problem.

You will need to get in there and manually clean (and coat with dielectric
grease) the ground connectors and connections. Perhaps another Jeeper can
give a specific locations to check, I'll just say take apart and clean every
connection you can find.

FWIW.... I had a '68 Rambler American with the same problem which occurred
at some very inopportune time so I temporarily added an additional ground to
the circuit by tinning both ends of a section of 14g house wiring and using
it as a jumper from the ground side of the dim headlight to a bolt on the
grill. I drove that Rambler for a number of years before giving it to my
baby sister who drove it until 1986...... with that temporary fix still
doing its job! (Not that I recommend you do this bit of hillbilly
re-engineering)

<lynnhowlyn (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

The ground tags for the headlights are on the back of the grill. I
would be thinking one of these wires got damaged or is loose.

Or a loose plug on the back of the light...

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

lynnhowlyn (AT) aol (DOT) com wrote:

<lynnhowlyn (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

Check for a bad ground on the dim headlight.

CJ headlights are individually grounded via a pair of #10 screws and nuts,
one on each side of the back panel of the grill, 1" below the center screw
hole for the cold air induction flange (on the left, and the same space on
the right). You have to pull the headlight bucket to see the actual
connection. They just serve the headlights, the parking/signal lights use
the sheet metal for the ground path and have no seperate ground wire.


On Wed, 7 Feb 2007, billy ray wrote:

--
"We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey,
that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated."
Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.

Just a note: Users should be careful about metering problems like this
without the proper load attached. A crappy ground connection can let you
read full voltage at no load (leading you to think that it is OK), but the
voltage evaporates when you plug the lamp back in.


On Wed, 7 Feb 2007, Highcountry wrote:

--
"We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey,
that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated."
Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.

Almost CERTAINLY a bad connection (it could be ground, ... or it could be
power source i.e. corroded plug contacts etc.).

There's no bulbs to swap ... per se .... except the sealed units themselves
........ but sealed units are (generally speaking) either working, ... or not
working ..... i.e. with proper connections, the light is either on or off. A
dim light indicates bad current flow .......

My guess would be bad plug connection


<lynnhowlyn (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote