Shorted high-beam also ruined low-beam?

[Boxer Wagon]

Note: I have the JDM projector headlights.

Hey guys. I was getting overly annoyed with my passenger side high beam, and trying to finneagal the high beam bulb into proper positioning, when the high beam dies completely. I replaced it into its seat, and closed it back up, then switched on my low beams, only to find the the low beam was dead.

So, now the only light I have coming from the passenger side is the turn signal.

I pulled the low beam light out, and found the filament detached from it's mounting point at the base of the bulb. The high beam, however, seems to be in good condition, other than the part where it's not turning on.

Is it possible that I shorted something while I was messing with the high beam initially? Did the low beam blow because of how the current works?

EDIT: I'll have access to a volt meter tomorrow, which should answer my questions on how to fix it, but I'm still trying to figure out just what happened.

If you need more detail, please let me know. I'll do my best.

[chuckthefuk]

Its very difficult to burn the wiring on the headlight harness.

You have to start with a multimeter or at least a 12volt test light. Test the harness plug in the engine bay first. Subaru uses grounds for triggers so you will have 1 x 12 volt and 2 x ground (1 for hi beam 1 for low beam)

If you are getting power and ground at the harness plug then move on to the headlight housing harness. Plug the connectors in and test the leads that go to each bulb.

JDM projectors are 2 separate bulbs and only share the power source.

-Chuck

[Boxer Wagon]

I'll give this a shot, thanks

[Boxer Wagon]

Alright, so I replaced the burnt low beam, as well as the high beam. I also replaced the 15amp fuse that was blown. The headlights now work, however, the high beams come on at about 15% power when the low beams are on. Any ideas?

[chuckthefuk]

How did u wire this up? Ur highs should disable the lows and foga by default.

[Boxer Wagon]

How did u wire this up? Ur highs should disable the lows and foga by default.

They do. When I turn on my high beams, the lows shut off. When I have the low beams on, however, the high beams seem to be getting some residual current. Possibly a relay going bad?

I wired them up roughly following viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5941 (https://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5941) that guide. I used female to male connectors from the stock wiring to the new headlights. However, before last night, I never had a problem.

[02_Legacy]

Based on your statement that your highs come on dimly when the lows are on I would say you have the wiring messed up, the power wire to the High beam bulb, the high beam ground where power is supposed to go, and the low beam ground in the correct position, that would give you the effect you are describing, however, you are sure none of the wires got mixed up? and it was working right before?

[Boxer Wagon]

I'll try swapping the high beam ground and the power wire again. No luck on previous attempts, but what the hell, right? Yes, it was working find prior to shorting out and burning the low beam bulb.

I'm also going to grab a couple relays while I'm at the junkyard today, see if swapping them out helps any.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Just to make sure:

Make sure you've wired the lights based on a switched ground system. You have 3 wires: A hot (both lights), ground (low), ground (high). The ground actually switches the lights and the hot is on all of the time (for both). So for the JDMs, you need to split the hot between the two lights and wire one ground to the low, and one ground to the high.

Does this make sense to you/have you wired it this way?

[Boxer Wagon]

I do have it wired that way. I searched the harness, and found that a part of it had the slightest bit of wire showing, and was grounding the the body. I wrapped it in electrical tape, with intent to replace that section as soon as I have time. This remedied the problem :smt026

Thanks everyone for your help!!