Driver Side Headlight Issue

[SteelStroke]

1st time Porsche owner.

 

2003 Boxster S with 107K miles, triptronic trans.

 

Bought all new headlight assembly bulbs (Philips H7 Ultra Clear Blue Tip halogens)

 

Passenger side swap.  No problem works great.

 

Driver side - Headlights will not go out of daytime running lamp mode.  No  low beam lights nor high beam.  When I use the turn signal the actual headlamp blinks, not the turn signal and goes very quick.  Not even fog lamp works.  Put back in the old bulbs, still same issue.  Checked fuses and all good.

 

Thinking it is the main headlight assembly plug not seating (Used compressed air to clear out dust on male/female ends) or something else.  Not an electrical genius.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[rogerjohnsen]

I can't say this is for sure the problem but thought I'd throw it out there.  I had a problem with both my 2003 Boxster S and 2004 911 Turbo where the lights stopped working and both were caused by the actual switch unit.  It's a pretty common issue and could be what you're seeing, however, I've never seen it only affect one light and not both.  Someone more knowledgable can chime in and tell you for sure but that's the closest possibility I can think of.  Aside from that, I know there's a connector block that mates the wires to the headlight assembly.  I had a problem with my turn signal not working and that was traced to a bad connection at the connector.  Also could be the culprit in this case.

[SteelStroke]

Ordered a new headlight switch from Pelican.  I will attempt to install myself.  Loren has a nice simple guide here :-)

 

Thanks roger for the tip.

Edited June 25, 2016 by SteelStroke

[SteelStroke]

Installed the new headlight switch to no avail.  Does the same thing.  Bite the bullet and ordered a new headlight assembly.

[rogerjohnsen]

That sucks - hoping it was an easy fix.  I suppose the entire assembly is easy too - just more money.  Will be looking to see if that fixes the problem. Good Luck!

[SteelStroke]

Me too.  Will let you know tomorrow eve after the part comes in.

[cbonilla]

I had a similar problem with one front turn signal. After swapping the bulb and having the problem persist I sprayed the contacts on the headlamp assembly and where it mates with electric contact cleaner. Had to do it a couple of times but now the problem seems to be fixed.

[SteelStroke]

I have done that as well.  Has to be something in the assembly wiring.

[rogerjohnsen]

This is where a tester / volt meter is worth its weight in gold. Easy to pinpoint problems and even a cheap one will do the trick.

[SteelStroke]

An rather expensive lesson but without this forum it would have been much more.  The issue was a cracked headlight connector (did not feel loose the first few times I checked it but maybe removing the headlight assembly so many times in an attempt to figure it out caused it).  Removed from the bracket, plugged directly into assembly (On a tip I read here) and all is good.

 

At least I have two new headlight assembly's and they look rather smashing.

 

Many thanks to this forum.  Contributions will continue.

[cbonilla]

This is where a tester / volt meter is worth its weight in gold. Easy to pinpoint problems and even a cheap one will do the trick.

Agreed. but mine was an intermittent problem that seemed to fix itself (for a while) by removing and resintalling the headlight assembly. I fear that the problem may recur the next time I have to remove the headlight, but for now all is well

 

CB