one headlight not bright

kwisor

kwisor

Senior Member
hello
I just installed a water pump on my 30 tudor I had to remove the radiator to do that I did replace the nuts and studs with the bolts that look like nuts so if there is a next time I will not have to remove it anyway when I hooked up the head lights one shines bright the other one is dull I thought I may have lost a ground so ran wire from the head to the light did not change it was fine before I took it apart any ideas where to look
thank you
kevin wisor
1930 tudor
1923 roadster p/u
 
Switch bulbs from headlight to headlight. If the problem travels, it's the bulb, If the problem stays in the one headlight, the cause is most likely a poor ground. Remove the headlight and wire brush the bulbous base and the "socket" in the headlight bar. They must be bright silver clean to get a good ground. And a good ground is critical in a 6 volt system!
Marshall
 
couldnt you do a simple test and take a wire clipped to a known good ground point on a framerail or headstud or something then touch it to the adjustment screw on the back of the headlight?

if it gets brighter you know its a ground problem.

OR

is the problem really the brighter one is too bright (aka both fillaments on or highbeam on when low should be on etc) how are your headlights actually wired? ford origonal sockets? repo sockets with finicky plugs? straight thru wires and spade connectors?
 
a test light is your friend... i can easily fix anything electrically on the A with one.
see what you have at the end of the juice (bulb socket) pigtails and the socket housing then work your way from that point...
 
I have experienced this problem, and found it to be a combination of both poor ground connection, and poor 'load' (negative connection, in a positive-ground car) contact. Poor ground was fixed simply by swivelling the headlamp housing back-and-forth a bit (presumably scraping off some rust and/or paint). The poor 'load' contact was fixed by replacing it with a new one.
 
It sure sounds like a bad ground, I echo about the test light, it sure prevents you from changing parts you do not have to.

Henry's 31
 
My neighbor and I just returned from Harbor Freight, where he bought a test light for about $3. It's actually a better quality one, and just like the one I bought a few years ago at the used tool store for $5.
 
the headlight was not out, it was dim. apparently it had a weak ground. is a test light going to show that, I assumed it only showed a make or break status.
 
ericr said:
the headlight was not out, it was dim. apparently it had a weak ground. is a test light going to show that, I assumed it only showed a make or break status.
Click to expand...

yes it will show a poor ground
the light will be dimmer than battery voltage like the headlight bulb is
 
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Maybe another way to test the ground is to try to "twist" the headlight a little on the bar. If it brightens up, then you have a bad ground. I know it will mess up your settings on your lights but do just a little twist. This has worked for me.
 
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