Headlight (low beam) not working (Nissan Tino 1.8, 2001)

[JD]

Car electrics... gha!

The offside low beam headlight on my Noosan Tino 1.8, 2001 has stopped working

I checked the single-filament bulb. It's fine

I checcked for voltage to the connectors. There is no voltage at the connectors when the headlights are switched on.

I found two 15A fuses. one labeled headlight/L and headlight/R. They appear fine and I swapped them over and there was no difference.

The Haynes manual lighting circuit diagram shows a headlight relay, but doesn't tell me where it is located.

I found a ralay named MAIN inder the bonnet in a nearside fusebox, but it's not the main beam that has quit. There are other relays in the same fusebox but none of thjem are labeleled 'healight'.

Can anyone tell if there is an offside low beam relay and where it is located?

There is a box offside in the engine compartment with a few relays but it doesn't say what they are. And they do not pull out easily. They are so securely in place, I was afraid I'd break something if I forced them free.

There are a couple of relays hidden behind the facia under the steering wheel.

Also, I was surprised to find no 'headlight relay' for a Nissan Tino being offered on eBay.

Many thanks,

JD

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd be surprised if it used two relays for dip beam. No reason they'd be on separately. Of course if it has a CAN bus system, all bets are off.

[Brian-Gaff]

Not being a car electrics expert, but if the normal beam works, checking the fuses you checked is hardly going to be the place to look. I'd have though that they would be only switching a single pole in any case so maybe one needs to be a bit more discriminating when following the wiring.

Id be first tempted to look for exposed wires that might have suffered some damage before giving up though. Brian

[Andrew Gabriel]

Check the handbook. That info has been in the handbook for all cars I've owned and friend's cars I've repaired.

[newshound]

Cross-posted to car NG where Mr Cheerful (and others) will almost certainly know!

[Mrcheerful]

If only one headlamp works ok and no power shows at the other bulb, then the most likely fault is a blown headlamp fuse. Autodata is incomplete regarding the fuse box contents, usually there will be one fuse for each main beam and one for each dip beam, so 4 fuses in total. if in doubt as to which is which, just check them all. Turn the lights on and check for power on each side of every fuse, the fuse that has power on one side and not the other is the one.

[JD]

Mrcheerful wrote in news:FF48y.429612$ [e-mail]:

Thanks for the replies everyone... I have found the correct fuse, but it's intact. What I have now discovered is that there is no voltage between one side of the fuse socket and the other. Does this indicate a broken wire somewhere? If so, would it make sense to simply take a 2" piece of wire with the ends stripped, and wedge one end into the positive side of the nearside lowbeam fuse socket and then jam the other end into the positive side of the offside lowbeam fuse socket - and then insert the fuses, whichch would keep the wire securely in place at both ends? Yes, it's a Jerry-rig solution, but it should work in theory, shouldn't it? If you agree that thsi should work without any major problems, I'll do that rather than spend what could be an eternity out in the cold trying to trace the elusive break.

TIA

JD

[Graham J]

What you've written does not make sense. If you take the fuse out of course one side of the fuse socket will have voltage - from the battery; and the other side - to the light - will not.

So if the fuse is good it will carry the current from one side of its socket to the other. What might be happening is that the fuse is not connecting properly in the socket. Or that when mechanically stressed by insertion into the socket it actually goes open-circuit. I suggest you try a new fuse in its place.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Graham J writes

Or swap with the good one?

>

[Dave Plowman (News)]

That would be correct if the fuse was good.

Is there volts between the fuse and ground?

[Norman Rowing]

Why f*ck about dangerously? Do the job properly and stop putting others at risk.

[Dave Liquorice]

When the lights are supposed to be on ...

stressed

Which may become a bad fuse if there is an overload in that circuit, same for a nw fuse of course. Is the OP checking the fuses visually? It is sometimes not visually obvious that a fuse has blown, it needs an elctrical test really.

[stvlcnc43]

What check did you make? Visual? Electrical?

[Chris J Dixon]

When I had a intermittent earth fault in my car wiring, I produced a very useful test lead. I took an old headlamp bulb (well, the main beam filament is still OK, how could I throw it away?) and soldered on a pair of leads with crock clips. In place of the fuse which kept blowing I then connected this assembly. Whilst all was well on the load side, the circuits worked as normal, the bulb filament was still cold. When the faulty cable touched earthed metal, the bulb glowed brightly, but there was no dangerous overcurrent.

NB do this carefully, as the circuit is no longer protected.

Chris

[JD]

[e-mail] wrote in news:4a56e299-a5da-41b3-8d2a-df8077ea4ae3 @googlegroups.com:

Ohm meter and visual. The Ohms reading indicates it has resistance, so the filament must be intact, and it looks intact too.

JD

[JD]

Tim Lamb wrote in news:244COuS2RbYWFw22 @marfordfarm.demon.co.uk:

I did try that and it made no difference.

JD

[Mrcheerful]

the simplest option is to make up a fused flylead that goes from the powered side of the fuse holder direct to the deadlight, hunt down the actual fault when the weather is better.

[JD]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

No, there is zero volts between the ssde of the fuse socket that is supposed to be live, and ground.

JD

[JD]

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The fuses are fine; I've swapped the left and right fuses over and one headlight comes on and the other still doesn't, same as before.

JD

[JD]

Mrcheerful wrote in news:NKy8y.481307$wD3.212918 @fx45.am4:

Thanks; I was thinking similar, but my idea is to solder a short lead from the live side of the nearside headlight fuse holder to the supposedly live (but not) side of the offside headlight fuse holder. That way, I'd have a fuse between the battery positive and the headlight. That should be a simple, effective fix, yes?

JD