what's behind the headlamp assembly?

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

If I pull the headlamp assembly out what will I find back there? Will I find and have easy access to the wiring bundle that seems to run into in from the trunk and exit from underneath the bucket on it's way to the turn signals?

The reason I ask is I'm having some funky issues with my left blinker assembly and I noticed that the wire bundle leading from it disappears into what appears to be the bottom of the headlamp bucket just above the washer bottle. If I pull on the wire bundle a bit (maybe an inch or two) to pull out the slack the blinker will stop working. Push it back in a little and it works again (there are other strange things happening too).

The problem as far as I can tell seems to be in the wire bundle inside the headlamp area. Some wires in there may be loose or touching each other and I want to check them out. However, I don't want to take out the whole headlamp assembly if it won't give me direct access to the wire bundle in question.

-Scott

djmcmath · 01-17-2005, 10:50 AM

It is as you suspect in that the wiring goes up through the fender into the headlight bucket. There's nothing scary back there. BTW, you only need to pull the bottom mounting screw -- the other 2 are for adjusting. (Assuming your headlights are like mine, of course.)

Dan

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

Thanks Dan,

I'll get in there and check it out.

-Scott

rlane · 01-17-2005, 11:13 AM

Given your description it may actually be the connector at the bulkhead (between the trunk and the fender that needs cleaning and repositioning (If your 84 is like my 73 the connector is a multipin deal ?8-9 pins that gets a lot of corrosion) If the issue is actually shorts occuring in the wiring it may be best to go ahead and remove the washer bottle so you can see and have space to work in there.)

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

Lighting problems solved today.

I decided to take off my headlamps today to see what was back there wiring-wise. The headlamps came off easily as you all said. Sure enough, there was a loose ground wire in the left headlamp bucket. Re-attached it and, like magic, everything worked properly on that side again.

I'm glad to finally get that out of the way.

-Scott