Drivers side headlight not working.

[Clancaster23]

I have aftermarket headlights in my '12. I am using the retro shop kit that was recommended for these. I just saw that none of the drivers side lighting, except for the orange turn signal bulb, is not working. I wanted to see if anyone had any clue why it isn't working before I go tearing stuff off to get another look at it. Is there a separate fuse for each side headlight that could be out or might there be something wrong with the canbus adapter or the hid ballast?

 

[Clancaster23]

I was able to swap sides with the canbus adapter and the ballasts and still the drivers side is not working so it's neither of those two. I think there's still one more wire that's used in this setup and I can't easily get to it without taking the headlight out so I guess I'll have to get in there and take it all apart again. They could have made these things much easier to access.

 

[SIhemi]

Check your ground.

 

[sbarron]

They could have made these things much easier to access.

You could have checked function before buttoning them all up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MADDOG]

I agree. Check your ground.

 

[RamCares]

I was able to swap sides with the canbus adapter and the ballasts and still the drivers side is not working so it's neither of those two. I think there's still one more wire that's used in this setup and I can't easily get to it without taking the headlight out so I guess I'll have to get in there and take it all apart again. They could have made these things much easier to access.

Great advice from people on the forum. Keep us updated. Thanks - Kevin T, Social Connect Team

 

[Clancaster23]

What ground am I checking? When I wired these up, I didn't have a ground wire that I had to actually attach to the frame, it was all plug and play basically so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be checking. And I didn't just install these, they have worked fine for seven months and just now stopped working for whatever reason.

This is what my wiring consists of: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p9yrf7ab9y1aodq/2009+ Canbus HIDs.jpg?dl=0

 

[SIhemi]

I would send retroshop an email. Jj is great answering question and handling any problems you may have.

 

[Clancaster23]

Already did. I need to get time to take the headlight out and see if it's the igniters and go from there.

 

[Clancaster23]

I finally got a chance to take the headlight out and check further into why it isn't working. I've come to the conclusion that it has to be something in the main harness connection but I don't know what. I first hooked up the stock headlight and that does work so there's nothing wrong with the truck. I was looking at the main harness connector on the aftermarket headlight and I noticed it looks like some of the silicone or whatever the stuff is that they fill the back end of it may have gotten warm and it kind of oozed out some and now it's basically all gone around the ground wire. The other two wires are still surrounded by the stuff but they are all firmly still attached to the connector so I'm not sure what's up. Is the ground wire maybe broken inside and that's why nothing works on the headlight? I attached a pic of what the harness looks like. Like I said, I still have the stock headlights. Can I maybe snip off the harness of one of them, take off this harness on this light and put the stock one on it?


http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/20160805_165409_zpsllvdx3s6.jpg

 

[07MegaCabRam]

This almost sounds like you fried your TIPM. Common with aftermaket / HIDs.

 

[Clancaster23]

Tipm??

 

[Clancaster23]

Anyone? And if this module is blown, would my passenger side still work just fine as it is now?

 

[Hootbro]

Anyone? And if this module is blown, would my passenger side still work just fine as it is now?

Total Integrated Power Module (TIPM) has many inputs and output circuits. So yeah, not beyond reason that one side will work and not the other.

Not the first that would have TIPM go bad as it is not a normal serviceable item and it is a all or nothing affair when issues arise from it. That is why I have held off doing any headlight mods as it seems to be somewhat of a common occurrence for these HID mods to fry the TIPM.

 

[TruckNut]

Wonder if you could do a "work around" like they did for the fuel pump relay problem? They were replacing a lot of TIPM units (2012, 2013) and then someone came up with a $25 work around where the fuse was adapted to being wired outside, off the fried portion of the module.

 

[Hootbro]

Wonder if you could do a "work around" like they did for the fuel pump relay problem? They were replacing a lot of TIPM units (2012, 2013) and then someone came up with a $25 work around where the fuse was adapted to being wired outside, off the fried portion of the module.

That is quite possibly an option. Seen it done on a Pacifica with no issue.

 

[kennewbike]

mine did this and it was my ground

 

[Clancaster23]

Apparently I just had a loose wire somewhere. I went and took the other side out, started swapping wires around and first learned that the headlight itself is good, then hooked up the other side and it still worked with the drivers side wiring. So that tells me that there must have been a wire not playing nice with the others. Also got in touch with Jeremy at Retro Shop, where I got the HID kit, and he told me he has never had a tipm failure with his kits so that's a relief also. Anyways, check your wires!