I don't know how best to explain it but here it goes. My 97 ES has about 178k on it. I have Nokya Arctic white headlights. They have been in the car for 2 years come march. The issue I am having is that the driver's side headlight seems to have a mind of it's own. It comes on intermittantly. When the lights are turned on the driver's side light may not come on. It may come on after a while but there is no pattern. I noticed that the High beams work on both headlights but only the low beam on the driver's side has the problem. When the light does decide to work, it is much dimmer than the passenger light. The passenger light is bright blueish white but the driver's side looks like a regular bulb. Another thing I noticed was that when the lights come on, there seems to be a delay for the driver's side. When the lights are switched on, the passenger side comes on immediately but the driver's side may be a second or two late. What are your thoughts?

 

Either the Bulb is bad, or the Harness wiring is bad.

 

Some times those higher wattage bulbs can melt the small factory wiring, check to make sure this has not happened. It would be a good idea to upgrade the wiring alltogether. Also make sure where the wiring is grounded that it has not come loose. Try taking a Voltage meter and make sure the bulb is getting at least 12v, if it is, swap the passenger and drivers bulbs and see if the problem continues. I personally upgraded to real HID's and they work great, they are either on or off, no diming at all, which is especially good if you have a soundsystem that is drawing a lot of current. I got mine straight from a guy in Japan, they are made by McCulloch which is a dependable company, and were only $210 shipped to my door. His E-mail is Hidseller@hotmail.com. Hope this helps

 

Hopefully it did not hurt your wiring harness, usually cheap brand bulbs will do that but make sure you don't have any corrosion on your ends, if so clean them and then add de electric grease to keep moisture out

 

These bulbs are really good because they have lasted for 2 years. That is great for aftermarket bulbs. I haven't gotten a chance to switch the bulbs yet but I will do it this weekend.

 

I managed to take the headlight out last night and noticed that the heat from the bulb melted the socket. The harness is fine and putting out 12V. I looked at the socket (the black piece between the headlight harness and the bulb) and noticed that the plastic melted around the metal contacts resulting in an intermittant power failure. I took a screwdriver and pryed the contact away from the melted plastic. The light is working perfectly now. It is bright and there is no delay anymore.

Does anyone know where; besides the dealership, I can find this socket?

 

I would check your local junkyard for the cheapest option and the fastest. Ebay would be another good idea but they usually charge u 20 dollars to ship small things that should only costs a couple bucks to ship. I just did a quick search online and found this site that sells heavy duty harnesses for about 15 bucks, you could possibly find some better deals out there but this is not too bad for 15 bucks. I would really advise u to do the upgrade now, since its so cheap, and before it does more damage....

 

Just buy some from wal-mart for 3-4 dollars. No they are not of cheap quality as one would think "just because it's from wal-mart." They're actually good, and I tried them already. They're better than oem harness plugs. They're called "headlight socket" on the box. If you can't find 'em, then people already bought 'em all.

 

local autopart stores (Autozone, Napa, Advanced Auto, Pepboys, etc) also carry them.