Headlight loom

[Bushbasher]

My question is; is the passenger side headlight wiring loom separate from the right and just a plug in section somewhere behind the grill or is the whole thing one piece which plugs in somewhere back from the front of the car? Is it a major headache to replace or can I just unplug the left side easily and replace it and the headlight?
Last night on the way home, the missus had the passenger headlight melt down and burst into flames. luckily, she had an extinguisher on hand and put it out before any paint or panel damage was done but it did kill the headlight and wiring loom. I think I've traced the problem to the indicator stalk dip switch which looks to have not turned off the low beam when the high beam was lit up. When I checked it out, all the shielding on all 3 wires was burnt off from the globe back about 8cm. I'm surmising that with a 100/90w globe and both low and high lit up in the H4 the earth wire couldn't take the extra power and melted then arced to the 2 live wires and up she went.
I'll have to replace the indicator/wiper switch assembly as well but that's easy enough. I already have the torx bit to get the airbag/horn cover off, having had to do the clock spring in both cars in the last few years.

Cheers
Bushbasher

[bartsau]

The LH headlight loom goes straight into the loom which runs left (Looking back at the car from in front) and then through the drivers side guard and eventually back into the cabin near the drivers side A pillar.

The loom separates just to the right of the passenger head light loom (Again looking at the car front on) under the airbox.

Hope that makes sense otherwise I can get a photo tomorrow.

[Bushbasher]

Ok, I've spent the day trying to sort out the loom issue and I'm still none the wiser. I've got the Ford parts guy telling me there's a loom section that plugs in to the main loom and even showing me the printed picture from their computer graphics but I walked around a wrecking yard today and every AU I saw has one complete loom from one side of the car to the other at the front from the fuse box next to the ABS unit to under the airbox. This incorporates the headlight assembly plugs and at no point along the loom does there appear a jumping off point and/or plug that the headlight wiring can disconnect from. I've had 2 people now mention the term "headlight jumper cable" which suggests that a replacement headlight loom somehow hooks into the main loom but I'm buggered if I can figure out how or where. Has anyone actually done the headlight wiring loom replacement and can clue me in cos this is doin' me head in..... or is it just a matter of stripping back the cable sheath and splicing into the main loom?

Cheers
Bushbasher

[mik]

any updates bushy, i hate those type of jobs, i think i would have wimped out and got mr sparky to do the job, i do remember (vaguely) rooting around with my headlights fitting HID lights and about a year or so later putting the globes back in, i don`t remember seeing any headlight plug into the loom.

[Bushbasher]

G'day Mik, the latest is that there is indeed NO jumping off point where a "jumper cable" can plug in. I went back to the wreckers and stripped back the sheath on one car and it is indeed one full loom. The only way to fix it is to replace the entire front loom which is a nightmare or open up the sheath and cut off the old wiring and splice in new; painful but there's no other way. The "headlight Jumper Cable", as near as I can figure is actually an update part to allow S2 headlights to be fitted to S1 cars as S1 headlights are no longer available. I'm about to go to the panel beaters to see what price they came to with the insurance to fix it all but at this point I think I'll do it myself as I can have it all sorted for less than my excess anyway and this way I'll get 2 new headlights instead of 1 cos I can buy 2 off of Ebay for the price of 1 from Ford and I won't lose 10% from my NCB.
On that point, is there any headlights I should steer away from on Ebay, any with dodgy or unfocused lenses and that sort of thing? I might start a new thread and see what people have to say think.

Bushbasher

[mik]

that`s a bugger , oh well, you`ll get there mate......slow an steady wins the race ;), i dont know much about the lenses, i do know i recently bought a couple of headlight assemblies (2nd hand) off ebay one had a split in it, another had broken brackets on it, one of the reasons i was replacing mine :(, so i`d definatly think twice about buying second handy`s again, good luck with your newy`s.