Driver's headlamp requires a "manual" push to come on...
 

Howdy forum! Just got my girl back from a nagging rear wheel bearing that I finally got repaired after over a year of neglect (not my daily driver). In driving her home, I of course fell in love with car all over again, but have one more nagging annoyance I finally want to tackle...


When i turn the knob for the headlights, only the passenger side turns on, and the driver side appears to only be like a driving light (not my low beam). High beam works fine on both sides. To get low to work on driver side, I have a stupid routine of "leaning into" the headlight or pushing on it once and it turns on. To avoid this embarrassing sequence, I want to fix the light to always come on like normal.



When I use the factory tool to "lock in" the headlamp, it kinda goes all the way in then, *pops* out again (ever so slightly). If I remember correctly, there's like a bar or something underneath that "catches" the assembly and pulls it in tight. Is it possible that's broken or something?


I've been hesitant to remove the headlights because the rubber gasket surrounding it is quite aged and I didn't want to risk messing it up with a lot of in/out, in/out, while troubleshooting.


Anyone else had this problem and found a reliable repair? It's gotten to the point that even if I fixed it, I'd have this weird feeling now that it's not on (hard to tell unless it's completely dark out).

If it is popping back out slightly, it may not be fully locking (the tool may be slipping). Make sure that neither the lock bar or tool are stripped.

Pull the headlight and check the wires inside for missing or cracked insulation. Also check that the connector on the tray (inside the fender) is secure.

The tray that holds the connector on my car is cracked slightly at the back near the connector, so mine wasn't seating for awhile. I put the connector back in place and am more careful now. Check that black tray, you may need to replace it if it's cracked too much.

A few years back I had a 98 Box that I picked up to sell. I pulled the headlights to wet sand and when I replaced them, the passenger side headlight wouldn't work. After some investigation, I found that the tray connector (on the vertical part of the tray at the back) was not seated completely due to a crack in the tray plastic. I finally pulled the wheel well cover and braced the tray with my hand while my son pushed the headlight assembly into the fender. All good after that.

There's a yellow retaining clip that holds the headlight wire harness onto the back of the headlight tray. I'd check to see if it's still there.