Headlight Brightness Variation

shay4au · 08-26-2009, 10:09 AM

After purchasing my used '01 TJ, I noticed that the passenger side headlight did not shine as bright as the driver side. I recently replaced both with new Silverstar headlights, thinking this would solve the problem. I was wrong as they still have this issue. Has anyone else every experienced this or know what could possibly be the problem??

ScottHarr_TJ · 08-26-2009, 10:22 AM

Check to make sure they are aimed properly. when you change the whole headlight sometimes one of them is not aimed the same way as the other which causes one to appear brighter than the other. Same thing happened with mine.

Solidsyko · 08-26-2009, 03:58 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong...but doesn't the wiring go to the driver headlight then piggy back to the passenger headlight? my passenger was noticeably dimmer then the driver till I did a wiring harness upgrade and now they are the same brightness...

shay4au · 08-26-2009, 04:52 PM

Interesting.... I'm not exactly sure, but I'll look into it this week. That may very well be the case. Just seemed strange to me. Thanks for the idea!

kswyg001 · 08-26-2009, 09:57 PM

shay4au- any more developments?

mylt1 · 08-27-2009, 08:28 AM

check your grounds to make sure there tight and have no corrosion on them. if that is fine pull the bulbs and with a mulit meter, check the power at each light and at the battery. if its not close to each other its time to build a new harness. there very easy to build and the parts needed are available at any auto parts store.

**jerryjeeper** · 08-27-2009, 08:32 AM

Re-do the terminals on the grounds for the dim light, then recheck. I've seen that fix the similar problem on Jeeps before.

**Scrambler82** · 08-28-2009, 07:03 AM

If you find the wires corroded and instead of trying to fix bad wire, replace the harness with a home made harness or a store harness, either way you will get better lighting out of it.

Use the existing wires to the headlights as the trigger for the two new relays, one high beam, one low beam.

Main thing to remember is that you will need a good ground for the lights and IMHO, the ground should be run back to the battery.

08-27-2009, 08:28 AM	#6
mylt1 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Virginia Posts: 5,874 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	check your grounds to make sure there tight and have no corrosion on them. if that is fine pull the bulbs and with a mulit meter, check the power at each light and at the battery. if its not close to each other its time to build a new harness. there very easy to build and the parts needed are available at any auto parts store.