Hi guys, need your help !
I'm not a mechanic at all, but want to fix my car myself for once !

Driver side High beam is not working. All rest is fine. What could it be?
They are sealed beam lamps, so i presume the high and normal driving bulbs are inside, and you can not open it? So need to replace it with a complete new light?
Fuses are ok.

Removed the plastic cover and chrome ring. There is only one big plug connected.
What is the small white wire for?

I have read about replacing them by H4's . Is this just plug and play?

Thanks for the help !

Cedric

Hi,

The white wire is your power to the high beam. You just need to put it back in the connector and it will most likely work.

If you still have issues, you can try and swap the headlights from side to side just so you’ll know that you’re not dealing with a bad headlight.

Going to H4s is a nice upgrade and not very expensive. Just be sure to buy quality.

The H4 housing upgrade is a perfect time to upgrade to LED bulbs as well! Brighter, whiter light, and less pull on the electrical system.

H4 Housings:
http://shop.914rubber.com/H4-Glass-Housing...eg-bulbs-H4.htm

LED bulbs:
http://shop.914rubber.com/LED-Headlight-bulbs-H4LEDS2.htm

I feel stupid

LED is not allowed to pass the technical control here in Belgium.

So the H4 setup is just with the same plug?

Oh. Sorry. Pity. They really are nice, bright, and uniform lighting.

Yes, the H4 bulbs plug right in to the factory harness.

There should be a little tab on the back of the terminal on that white wire that you might want to GENTLY bend up just a little with a small standard screwdriver to help it lock into place in the plastic plug so it doesn't pop out again. But once that female terminal is on the blade of the bulb terminal, it will be secure, so don't sweat it if it still wants to pop out.

The H4 bulbs will plug in to the existing harness, but installing a relay is necessary to avoid cooking the headlight switch or something else that isn't designed for the additional current. Ask me how I know. What I don't know is how to properly install the relay and fix my column switch that is no longer switching between high and low beams.

Maybe someone else can chime in on that point?

I googled: "female wire connector with tab" the connector on the left shows the tab.

The tab may be missing or as mentioned it need to be re-sprung into the proper place to keep the connector in the 3 wire housing. If it is missing, once you connect the 3-wire connector to the bulb, you can just slide the white wire in to the proper place on the 3-wire connector. Give it a slight tug once you think you have it connected. If it is loose you need to work on the connector a bit to make it hold

Click to view attachment

Don’t feel stupid. Everyone needs to start at one place.

I remember what a technician guy told me when I was 16. Always look for a witness mark. Something that does not look right. Stare at each part and look for any thing that is funny. I worked at a stereo and TV shop delivering TV sets and they did work on Bad TVs in the back (this was tube time in the mid 60s) The guys would tap each part and some times smack the TV to se if something was a loose. Looking for evidence of how a bolt or washer was held in place.

I stare at stuff a lot. It is a fact for a QC guy but can be a challenge when you see everything that is wrong.

Bob B

I've known guys to change items on their cars (very wide rims and tires hanging outside the fenders and really loud or no mufflers) to stock items just to pass inspection. After the inspection, put the fun stuff back on.

I saw a reply to that from another Belgium or Germany member, cant remember which, who said if they were in an accident, insurance would inspect the car and deny claim if they had non-approved parts.

Yep same in my country,I will remove my LED headlights because the supplier mentioned they aren't quite legal here,I didn't ask why and don't know,could it be the shape of the beam or the brightness .
I will check the government pages and see why,all the other mods on my car have to be individually complied and listed on a metal plate riveted to the car.

On the plus side, I’m not sure I’d survive a crash in my 914 anyway.

Noticed that the connectors are not looking verry fresh, so will replace them all, with a new plastic plug. Small piece broke off.

Those flag terminals can be a PITA to crimp properly because standard crimping tools don't work on them. I crimped mine with end crimpers but also soldered them to be sure. I would just clean them up. Soaking them in lemon juice or vinegar mixed with salt will brighten them up. A scotch brite pad also works well. I shot all of mine with contact cleaner after cleaning them up a bit and then gooped in dielectric grease to help protect from future corrosion.

Great advice for cleaning the terminals up, but its not recommended to solder wires to wire terminals, where the condition can transmit vibration between the mounted equipment (headlight assembly) that is fixed to the chassis, and a wire that is free to flex and move around. The soft copper wire will fracture right at that fixed-to flex interface over time. A crimped only connection is designed to accommodate that movement.

Soldering a wire to wire splice where the splice is free hanging and free to move on both sides is not an issue.

Good to know. Lucky for me, the only flag terminals that I crimped and soldered were the fog light terminals on a car that has no fog lights. So, they are only for decoration at the moment. If I ever add fog lights, I guess I'll have to redo those terminals. Might redo them anyway if I can figure out a good way to crimp without a fancy flag terminal crimper.

Jeff,

What's your opinion if you soldered the connection then used heat shrink over the solder connection and wire insulation?