Headlight problem; not a bulb, not a fuse

circlark

Member
Hey team,

The passenger-side headlight (low beam) of my '03 P5 stopped working last night. 'No problem,' I thought, and I swapped out the bulb. But it still didn't work, and there was nothing wrong with the old bulb. So I thought, 'must be a fuse.' I pulled the fuse for various lights and troubleshooted, but they all looked solid and worked fine when moved around.

Where does that leave me? Is it definitely wiring? Is this something I'm going to be able to fix myself?
(I have a 'change the brakes' level of aptitude, but I haven't done much in the engine compartment. I do like soldering and wiring in general, but I don't know where to start with troubleshooting the wiring of a car)

Your thoughts and advice are much appreciated!
 
Hey team,

The passenger-side headlight (low beam) of my '03 P5 stopped working last night. 'No problem,' I thought, and I swapped out the bulb. But it still didn't work, and there was nothing wrong with the old bulb. So I thought, 'must be a fuse.' I pulled the fuse for various lights and troubleshooted, but they all looked solid and worked fine when moved around.

Where does that leave me? Is it definitely wiring? Is this something I'm going to be able to fix myself?
(I have a 'change the brakes' level of aptitude, but I haven't done much in the engine compartment. I do like soldering and wiring in general, but I don't know where to start with troubleshooting the wiring of a car)

Your thoughts and advice are much appreciated!

Did you make sure the connection is on purperly? Or is the connection even getting power?
 
> Did you make sure the connection is on purperly? Or is the connection even getting power?

I pulled everything out of the assembly and plugged the bulb in as tightly as I could. I just set it on top of the washer fluid tank so it was not strained at all. Still, only the driver-side headlight worked.
 
First steps were good . Bulb. Fuse. The next step would be to check for power just like circlark said. But do NOT forget to check your ground at the same time , use the ground that's in the connection when checking for power. ( 12 V test light ) because no ground is just as bad as no power! if you have nothing check your ground and power individually from each other. Then go from there.
 
I had this problem, the contacts in my bulb socket were corroded. check it with a test light or multimeter and go from there.
 
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