Problems with headlamps

[99SEDude]

A few weeks ago my SVS light started to come on. I noticed that during the day, my DLRs would not work and the SVS light would be on. At night my driver's side headlamp would be dimmed and the SVS light would be on. This happened on and off until I checked the connector on the driver's side headlamp. It was charred! I replaced the connector and it worked fine. After a week it charred the connector again. I tried swapping the bulbs to see if it was a bad bulb but now it's doing it again. It seems to happen only to the driver's side lamp. I haven't had time to check the connector again. I'm about to take it to the dealer but I'd rather find a home made solution. See if any of you guys can come up with something. Otherwise it's dealer land.

[XtremeGrandAm]

Sounds like a problem in the wirring to me. Best bet when dealing with something like this is let the dealership handle it

[99SEDude]

I just got back from the dealer. It cost me $78 to find out that there is a DLR failure. DUH!!! They recommended that I replace the aftermarket bulbs with some stock ones. HECK NO!!! I like the way the aftermarket ones look. So next they decided that the whole wiring harness needs replaced and it's gonna cost about $150. I'm wondering if anyone out there has replaced it or if anyone knows how much work it is. They couldn't even tell me how far into the fender the harness goes. Anyways, so much for "Good" wrench.

[Aaron]

Hey, if it's not too late here's my 2 cents.

Check the DRL relay, it's in that fuse panel under the hood, and it's black in the top left corner if you're standing on the drivers side of the vehicle. There is a diagram of the fuses on the cover of the panel and in the owners manual.

I got aftermarket xenons and pulled my drl relay and had the same problem, I was so confused for a while, I pulled out the headlamp, put in a stock one, checked all the wiring, just to find it was because I pulled the relay. So I'd check the relay before anything because I had the same issue.

With the relay pulled, my right (passenger side) lamp worked fine at night, but the left one (drivers side) lamp was in what seemed to be DRL mode. So yeah, check the relay and maybe replace it? Hope that helps.

[99SEDude]

I checked the relay box and found the two relays that control the DRL and the Auto lamps. They look ok so I'm gonna try replacing them to see if it helps. The driver's side lamp connector is already burned out again so I'm gonna replace that too. At least I know it's not the aftermarket bulbs, otherwise it would be burning the other connector too.

[Aaron]

It's most likely the DRL relay, because my best guess (I'm not an auto mechanic though), would be that the light is getting enough power to run at full power, but is only getting the signal to burn at the DRL power, so the left over power is getting trapped somewhere in the middle.

[99SEDude]

Well, finally both headlamps went out and the brights indicator came on, so I had to drive back home at night with parking lights only. No SVS light this time. Checked both connectors and they both were fried so I replaced them again. I also put the old bulbs in after a friend suggested that maybe the aftermarket bulbs have a higher wattage than the OEMs. So far no problems. I looked around on the net and found out that regular 9007 bulbs are 55 watts for low beams and 65 for high. The aftermarket ones I had were rated at 80/100w. He says that the aftermarket bulbs are the problem. They use too much juice and end up burning the connectors, which may not be rated for that wattage. I guess my friend's Electrical Engineering degree was not a waste after all. So, I found a few lower wattage aftermarket bulbs and I'm gonna give them a try to see if it happens again. They may not be as bright, but as long as they're blue :D .

[Shydogg5]

I am also experienced in the field of electronics. If the headlights are rated at a higher power then they would fry your wiring. Your wiring sysem was designed for that certain rating and if you exceed that then you tend to run into wire failure, sometimes fuse failure or even your DRL relay can go. It is just like an amplifier. If you were to hook up some 1000 watt 2 ohm speakers to a 200 watt amp and just turned that amp up half way that amp is gonna get so hot cause the speakers are gonna out do that amp, which would cause it to get extremely hot.

So when you force more volts through what...... a 20gauge wire then you are gonna get into insulation problems. It makes alot of sense when you think about it.

[killerga1999]

that same exact thing happened to me yesterday and I did check me drl relay and it seemed fine..my friend has a grand am also so I put his in there and nothing happened so I think it is the aftermarket bulbs for me also ....but where to can you get the bulb connector at