Hey guys,
So I am having a real hard time with this. I installed a new heavy duty wiring harness in my car, which was a huge mistake I never should have done it. Anyways, I installed that harness to the headlights they worked fine. Then I cut them down because I thought the wiring was too long for the cover to go back on. After I did that, the headlights were very dim and didn't work. So I thought it must be because I cut down the wiring, so I bought another pair of wiring harnesses and installed them. Now, the right side light works perfect, but the left side doesn't. So I tried the bulb from the right one and put it into the left one. Didn't work, so I decided it was just a faulty wiring harness. So now I am stuck again. Do I spend more money for more harnesses, upgrade to HID, smash the lights with a hammer? I am so frustrated right now and I just want my lights to work again with my regular bulbs. Please help! HID is a bad choice for me at this point I don't have that kind of money and I just got new bulbs.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
what was the reasoning of installing the "heavy duty" harness in the first place?
Are you sure you reconnected everything correctly when cutting down the harness? Also, do the brights come on when you flip to bright on the column?
check the fuse u may of popped it with the newest change. yea joe i never figd why he did this justin please explain why u did that.
i did it because i bought bulbs that needed a heavy duty harness because the stock ones were melting the bulbs. now i found good bulbs that are stock wattage and i have no harness that works. its always something. i wish my stock harnesses were still in there and everything would be perfect, but of course it's all crashed to h***. the fuses are fine anyways im pretty sure. one thing that it did different is that the DRL light flickers on and off when starting up the car. that annoyed the crap out of me. i just wish i had the stock harnesses in there and everything would be perfect....what can i do so i dont waste tons more money. id like HIDs but their too expensive and these bulbs i got are very similar to the HIDs i saw on your car wayne. they may not be as bright but the color is identical and they look great. i had them working on high beams with the old harness but the low beams wouldnt work. now with these new harnesses only the right bulb works. i think the right bulb has correct wattage and stuff, but the left doesn't work at all. what can i do ASAP because i can't drive the car like this.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
Go to the junkyard and get a used harness, swap it in and never touch anything electrical again.
The stock harness won't make bulbs melt, if you were drawing too much current through them the fuse would pop. Sounds like you're just buying stupid bulbs because you think the color is cool.
Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.
theres no junkyards around here....anyone have an extra one willing to part with it for an 03-05 cavalier?
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
the harness from an 00-02 will work also.
I think sunfire harnesses will work as well as they all have the 9007 bulb in common.
Somone can confirm or deny the sunfore part but I'm pretty sure they are the same.
As for your current problem, it almost sounds like you have the blue wires crossed. If I remember correct there are 2 blue wires in the harness, one is a positive, and one is a switched positive. I had a similar issue when I was wiring up my S15 headlights to the stock harness
I'll see if I can find my old wiring diagram.
can't find my old diagram, but here's the colors:
00-02 Cavalier
Driverside
High Beam Ground = Blue
Positive = Dark Blue
Low Beam Ground = Pink
Passengerside
High Beam Ground = Pink
Positive = Orange
Low Beam Ground = Dark Blue
lots of info here:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=7&i=354984&t=315239&p=1
may need to go thru the harness with a mulit-meter one wire at a time
thanks for the help joey, but that didnt really help me. now i know where the one guy was getting his colors from, but i hook the wiring harness up to three wires that come out of the headlight housing. those wires are black, red, and green. the wiring harnesses i have now have a black, yellow, and red wire coming from them. here is the ebay auction to confirm:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220348909271&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBDIX%3AIT
anyways, ive tried several ways of hooking those wires up and no matter what the left headlight (driver side) doesnt come on at all. the right seems to be functioning okay, but i think the light is still too dim. help me and ill give you 20 bucks
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
Justin Smith wrote:theres no junkyards around here....anyone have an extra one willing to part with it for an 03-05 cavalier?
Manheim
http://www.janddautosalvage.com/
Fleetwood
http://www.villagemotorsinc.net/
Buck Auto Sales & Salvage Company
Quarryville, Pennsylvania USA
717-284-2595
Brown's Used Auto Parts
Ephrata, Pennsylvania USA
717-733-1060
thanks but all the junkyards ive went to in the past charged me more than a brand new item, don't think ill take my chances there.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
Ever heard of bartering?
And I highly doubt that, especially if you tell them it's more than one brand new.
Paying someone to install parts and bragging about it being fast, is like watching someone bang your wife and being proud to raise their kids.
yeah i've tried it man, they are overpriced....
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
Justin Smith wrote:thanks for the help joey, but that didnt really help me. now i know where the one guy was getting his colors from, but i hook the wiring harness up to three wires that come out of the headlight housing. those wires are black, red, and green. the wiring harnesses i have now have a black, yellow, and red wire coming from them. here is the ebay auction to confirm:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220348909271&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBDIX%3AIT
anyways, ive tried several ways of hooking those wires up and no matter what the left headlight (driver side) doesnt come on at all. the right seems to be functioning okay, but i think the light is still too dim. help me and ill give you 20 bucks
so what wire colors did you hook together on each harness?
what are the 3 colors coming from the stock harness, and what 3 colors from the new plugs did you hook those upto? Try and be as specific as possible. I'll see if I can't figure it out.
Also, I'm curious why you have black red and green coming from the stock harness on an 03-05. is that some kind of replacement harness as well?
i hooked the wires up like so:
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
and no the wires coming from my headlights were stock.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
since it looks like that harness is made for my car, i really hope it works and nothing else is wrong. i love how everyone helps and then my threads just die.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
threads die justin, don't cry about it. u should've waited for a response bfore going out and buying the product without knowing if it's going to work for you or not. u seem to do that all to often. learn some patience man.
i did wait for a response, but i need headlights to drive.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
just my luck, the new harnesses didnt work and i wasted another 15 dollars. i dont know what to do now. i wish i had just left my stock ones in to begin with. now the left doesnt work at all and the right is very dim. it has to be something with the harness wiring that is causing this because every time i try a new one something different happens to the lights. i just need the stock ones back! sigh.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
what did u do with ur original stock one's? if you don't have those i'd get out to a junkyard asap.
threw them out, i ordered some headlamps on ebay. junkyards are few and far between and they always jack up their prices because there's hardly any around here.
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
i went ahead and bought complete new headlights. 65 dollars shipped for the pair. they are in like new condition. it has the stock wiring harness included so this should fix it. if this doesn't work, then i know there's a problem elsewhere but i am almost positive it has to do with the headlights wiring harness. will update once i get them in. probably in about a week or so. is anyone interested in my old ones? my old headlights are in like brand new condition minus the wiring harness being cut off, but if you know how to fix that or just need it for parts its in like brand new condition, they are very nice. ill ship both for 40 dollars. thanks!
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."
