Park light wiring connector help and advice needed.

[teamjlf]

I recently replaced the park light globes on my 2010 kizashi. It should have been a simple job. Lol.

So after scraping some skin off my knuckles and 20 minutes of swearing and contorting my fingers into shapes that only rubber should be capable of , I had the new bulbs in.

Now when I tested them they worked perfectly, however I noticed that the drivers side indicator wasn't working. Left side was working OK.

The right side indicator in the headlight assembly wasn't flashing with indicator or hazards. The rear and side indicators are still working but flashing fast. I tested with a spare bulb that I knew was ok and it also failed to flash. Anyways, after some troubleshooting I have discovered that the plastic clip that clips into the back of the headlight housing has somehow bent the fine metal connectors on the headlight assy. After trying to slightly bend these back, they have broken off !!!!!

Not the pins on the connector on the loom , the pins that are located on the headlight assy that are housed in the small rectangular plastic extension on the back of the headlight. The loom and plug for the park lights plugs into this.

It looks like this piece can be removed from the back of the headlight assy as it swivels slightly but looks to be retained at the bottom by a torx screw of some type ?

So my question is .... Is this a serviceable item or am I up for a whole new headlight ?
I can't believe that such a simple job of replacing a globe could lead to such an issue.
I took my time and the utmost care. Didn't force the clip or stress anything. These cars are so ^%#>!# fragile.....

Any advice now would be appreciated.

[KuroNekko]

I had to re-read your post a number of times and look at my own photos from my HID installation to get what you were saying.
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but you damaged the main headlight connector on the headlight and apparently broke the pin inside it for the turn signal bulb.

First, take off the bumper and headlight from the car and remove this connector. Examine the connector to see how it's designed and how to fix the issue. No point replacing the connector if it won't fix the issue. I actually think you need to crimp on a new pin to the wire and put it through the connector. Just replacing the connector may not help at all depending on the design.

Here's my write-up on how to take off the bumper and headlights. These include photos of the headlight which should help you too.
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewto ... =32&t=2861

I also want to add that I strongly advise removing the bumper and headlights for any work on the headlights such as replacing the bulbs. Your issue exemplifies why. There is no clearance to do things comfortably and when you can't see nor grip properly, things can go wrong. Your repair or replacement in this case will require the headlights to come off of the car.

Just to double-check, it sounds like you broke a pin in the part circled in green below, correct?
If so, remove it and examine how it's designed. My guess is that the fix will require cutting the broken pin off the wire, crimping on a new pin, and reinserting it into the connector.

back of headlight.jpg (314.3 KiB) Viewed 6584 times

[murcod]

If KuroNekko has got the right bit pictured (it sounds right?) then it's going to be difficult to fix to return to "as new".

If you can get that plug socket out of the headlight, you should be able to either carefully disassemble the electrical plug (there's normally concealed clips) or else release the individual pin from the housing (once again, usually concealed clips hold the pins in.)

You'll then need to find a new pin (good luck!) plus the proper crimping tool.

[teamjlf]

I had to re-read your post a number of times and look at my own photos from my HID installation to get what you were saying.
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but you damaged the main headlight connector on the headlight and apparently broke the pin inside it for the turn signal bulb.

First, take off the bumper and headlight from the car and remove this connector. Examine the connector to see how it's designed and how to fix the issue. No point replacing the connector if it won't fix the issue. I actually think you need to crimp on a new pin to the wire and put it through the connector. Just replacing the connector may not help at all depending on the design.

Here's my write-up on how to take off the bumper and headlights. These include photos of the headlight which should help you too.
http://www.kizashiclub.com/forum/viewto ... =32&t=2861

I also want to add that I strongly advise removing the bumper and headlights for any work on the headlights such as replacing the bulbs. Your issue exemplifies why. There is no clearance to do things comfortably and when you can't see nor grip properly, things can go wrong. Your repair or replacement in this case will require the headlights to come off of the car.

Just to double-check, it sounds like you broke a pin in the part circled in green below, correct?
If so, remove it and examine how it's designed. My guess is that the fix will require cutting the broken pin off the wire, crimping on a new pin, and reinserting it into the connector.

back of headlight.jpg

Yes, the item you have circled in green is correct. There seems to be 2 pins in there. 1 for the park light globe and 1 for the indicator globe. They are like hairs and have basically broken off. Basically means I have no park light or indicator light on drivers side headlight. Low beam and high beam work fine - must work off a separate plug.

In your picture you can see that there is a torx type screw at one end of the plug. The plug / pin assembly looks to be a separet pice to the main headlight body and swivels slightly. The torx screw seems to be keeping it in place. So what I'm hoping is that this piece is a replaceable item and the headlight can be salvaged.

Still can't believe how fragile this item is. Bumper doesn't really need to come off for this job, as the plug is easily accessible and the plug loom xlips in quite easily. Just seems that the plug may have just gone on a very slight angle when refitted and the bent the pins on the housing very slightly. When trying to bend the pins back gently, they just fell out......

Thanks heaps for the replies so far. Very much appreciated.

[KuroNekko]

I strongly advise you remove the bumper and headlights for this repair. While you may still be able to access the connector with them on, removing them will offer better access for more intricate repairs which is required at this point. You'd ideally want to have the headlight on a work bench under a good light to make sure you can see things well and optimally access components.
Trust me on this. I have a HID kit in my low beam, had a LED kit in my high beam, have LED position bulbs, and removed the horizontal adjuster covers. I've done my fair share of work/mods to the headlight and can tell you that you should really get the headlights off to do any considerable work.

Truth be told, I think you could have minimized the risk of damaging the pins in the connector had you connected the harness while the headlights were not attached to the car. This allows you to better access the harness and connector. I connect the harness first and then bolt on the headlights.

Also, as Murcod and I see it, you will likely need to cut, strip, and crimp on a new pin to the wire before routing that through the connector. Not sure how you plan to do this while the headlight is bolted to the car. You can barely see, let alone access, the components.

As my photos depict, you will have much better access once the headlight is off the car.
Here's another photo of the connector in a recent photo I took. You can see the pins of the connector well in this photo.

[teamjlf]

From the pic above , it seems that it may not be the headlight plug. The pins that "fell out" were not spade type as in the photo. They were grey and thin cylindrical pins. Like thin wire. Maybe these are in the loom connector ?
Will go and have a look inside the connector from passenger side light and see what it looks like as well. You can see from the photos that there are pin plug holes where these connectors sit. It is here where the problem may be as the pins are so thin if they dont seat properly they can easily bend.

Thanks for the pics. Very helpful.

[murcod]

In that last photo you can just see the thinner pin/s you refer to in the upper left corner of the plug. They would most likely be the indicator and parker pins (as they use less current); the spade type pins would be high and low beam which require a lot more current.

[teamjlf]

Murcod

Your picture helped me to decipher the issue.
I cut up 2 new pins and inserted them into the loom plug in the correct locations.
Top uppermost right hole is for park light pin.
The hole next to that is for turn signal / hazard light.
I removed white plastic guide plate from the headlight housing with some pliers and slipped it over the loom assembly to make sure the pins were aligned straight and would hopefully plug into their respective pin holes in the headlight assembly.

Hey pesto !!!!!!

Everything works now.

Many thanks to all on this thread for advice and pics.
Invaluable and probably saved me $$ in not having to take it into dealer. I'm sure they would have just opted to replace the whole headlight .

[bootymac]

Glad you got it fixed. I wonder how the pins broke in the first place?

[murcod]

Not something I'd have thought would work, but if the lights are functioning again you've got to be happy.