after buying a new assembly housing and testing the bulbs....... it turned out to be as simple as a blown fuse... arg!
now i have a front headlight out. i switched the low-beam bulbs to make sure it wasn't the actual bulb... the bulb is fine... i tested the fuse... fuse is fine... the turn signal, foglight and high-beam work within the headlight... i have no idea what's going on now!