[CHewitt]

Hello. I recently(two days ago) had to replace my headlight sockets due to them having melted over the course of 165000 miles of mostly nighttime driving. After replacing them, I have noticed the low beams are not turning off when the high beams are on like normal.

When I replaced the sockets I encountered an issue with the wire coloration - it did not correspond to the connections on the old sockets. Red on the new connected where green was on the old socket and vice versa(blsck lined up properly).

I connected based on where the corresponding wire connected on the old socket rather than by color. Could this be causing the problem?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[CHewitt]

Additional info: I just noticed that the signal switch on the steering column will not let me flash the high beams - and I don't mean that pulling it backwards does nothing, the stalk will not MOVE backwards to flash the lights at all. I can only push it forward to turn on the high-beams.

 

[Red Raspberry]

Sounds like the stalk switch is bad and needs replaced.

 

[grcauto]

Additional info: I just noticed that the signal switch on the steering column will not let me flash the high beams - and I don't mean that pulling it backwards does nothing, the stalk will not MOVE backwards to flash the lights at all. I can only push it forward to turn on the high-beams.

Looks like you found the problem.

 

[CHewitt]

Are you all SURE it's the stalk? NO possibility it could be how I wired the new sockets in? There was no problem with it until I replaced the headlight sockets - it worked fine the night before.

 

[Red Raspberry]

Well there is that possibility. You should either go by the position of the wire on the connector or get an ohm meter and ring them out to see what is what. Wire colors are not to be dependent on even in the factory diagrams with Hyundai from what I've seen.

 

[grcauto]

Are you all SURE it's the stalk? NO possibility it could be how I wired the new sockets in? There was no problem with it until I replaced the headlight sockets - it worked fine the night before.

You could mess up the wiring AT the headlights in the worst possible way and it will not cause your stalk to LOCK up.

 

[CHewitt]

Well, that puts this stuff beyond my knowledge and capability to fix, so I've scheduled to get it done by a professional on Wednesday. In the meantime, low beams only to avoid melting wires and sockets.

 

[CHewitt]

So we can't get the switch replaced quite yet, but no issue was found specifically with out wiring. However, some slight melting of the wire in the driver's side socket was spotted so an additional connector was installed that pulls the new sockets away from the housing so that it won't be exposed to the heat from both bulb filaments being on at once - the socket holding the bulb has higher-gauge wire and is supposedly more resistant to the heat from the lights.



However, I'm still a touch worried about that melted wire - it had only really melted the rubber insulation, not the wire itself, and just enough to slightly expose a small section of wire, so it's still being used with some electrical tape to protect it. My concern is whether or not the normal wires can handle the power from the low beams and high beams being on at the same time when that's not how it's supposed to work. The guys who did the work weren't worried about it, but I still want to get extra opinions on this. Should I be worried about this, or was it probably just the heat from the lights and I'm being overly panicky?

 

[Red Raspberry]

Unless there are two grounds then with both on it doubles the load going through the ground wire.

 

[CHewitt]

Unless there are two grounds then with both on it doubles the load going through the ground wire.

That's what I'm fearing. There are three wires on the sockets, red, green and black/brown(black on the new socket, brown on the original wire). The black wire was the one that has the melted insulation, but again ONLY on the left side.


Earlier it was said that the switch in the stalk was probably the cause of the issue, but I still have this nagging concern in the back of my head that we miswired the lights. If we spliced the ground wire correctly, but mixed up the other two, could this result? Not the lockout on the switch, but the low beams not turning off when the highs are on. I have to change the oil and transmission fluid this weekend, so if it would be worth rewiring them to check it would be a good time to do so. However I don't want to risk damaging something if wiring them up wrong would do so.



I know I'm revisiting a problem that I've been given a solution for, but I really want to cover all bases. Particularly since we're only trying to get one more season out of this car in the hopes of replacing it come spring, so if I don't need to spend $200 getting the column work done, that'd be preferable. I don't NEED to be able to flash the lights - I can live without that if the actual lights can be fixed without it, and the fact that the light issue began after installing the new sockets is keeping this issue nagging on me... I mean, the flasher switch may have locked out BEFORE we changed the sockets - I know it was working about a week before replacing the sockets, but I hadn't had to use it within four or five days of doing the work.


Sorry, I'm rambling. Like I said it's REALLY nagging at me.


TL;DR - Would re-splicing and switching the connections on the red/green wire(which presently connect red to green and green to red due to the points where they seem to connect to the sockets) have ANY chance of fixing the issue with the low beams, or more importantly is there any chance of doing so causing severe damage to anything when tested?

 

[Red Raspberry]

The headlight grounds are usually nearby at the body. Maybe another Hyundai bad ground problem.



Can't comment on your splicing without seeing what you did.

 

[CHewitt]

The headlight grounds are usually nearby at the body. Maybe another Hyundai bad ground problem.

Well, the melted wiring was right around where the wire connected to the socket - three small holes melted into the top of the insulation, and only on the driver's side.

Can't comment on your splicing without seeing what you did.

The quality of the splicing isn't what I'm worried about, it's whether or not something may have been different on the new sockets compared to the OEMs that led us to splice together the wrong wires. When connecting based on which of the original wires went to what point on the socket, the red and green wires don't match up. With the low beams starting to stay on full time right after this rewiring it makes me wonder if the connectors for the low beams vs high beams are switched around on the new sockets and we should have just matched the colors of the wires.



It's an easy thing to test - we left plenty of length of wire on both sides of the splicing to work with in case we screwed up splicing things together, so we can switch them around with ease. I'm just worried about if doing so could cause any damage if we have it correct right now.


I'm not an electrical expert, but knowing how big a risk an electrical fire can be makes VERY cautious.

 

[CHewitt]

Okay, I feel pretty sure I've got a voltage issue on the driver's side socket. The housing of the new socket is scorching - this was not occurring when I brought the car in. It's on the same connection as the wire that has some melted insulation on it, which I believe to be the wire to the ground.


I have attached photos for visual aid in figuring out the problem. I know these images aren't the best, but they're the best I can do with what I've got. The black connector is the extension piece that was meant to get the part connected to the wiring away from the headlight's heat.


How worried should I be about this? There's no discernible scorching on the passenger side.

 

[Red Raspberry]

It looks like a bad ground. Did you check where it grounds to the body? Do you have a volt ohm meter to check the resistance of the black wire to the engine block?

 

[Red Raspberry]

And if this is all from when the hi and lo on at the same time the connector might be bad now after over heating and causing the resistance.

 

[CHewitt]

It looks like a bad ground. Did you check where it grounds to the body? Do you have a volt ohm meter to check the resistance of the black wire to the engine block?

We don't have a meter to test with. The problem is that with the high and low beams being on I'm worried it might just be sending more power through there than it's supposed to.


Where does the ground for that light connect? We're doing the oil and standard maintenance on the car tomorrow and should be able to take a moment to check for any obvious issue.

 

[Red Raspberry]

Are they both still coming on at once? The headlight grounds are usually right below and to the body. May be under the bumper cover. Meters are cheap and indispensable some times.

 

[CHewitt]

Both lights are still coming on - driver's and passenger's both have the low beams staying on when high beams are turned on. High beams are NOT staying on when turned off.


EDIT: What kind of voltage should be be looking for when testing?

 

[Red Raspberry]

Well that is why the wire is burnt up.