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The Headlights
A couple of nights after I got the car, I
noticed that the drivers side high beam headlight was out. No big
deal, I figured that it was either a bad bulb, or a bad fuse. The
next day, I decided to look into things a bit, and pulled out the
headlight bulbs. I didn't notice anything wrong with the drivers
side bulb, but there were some significant looking black marks on the
passengers side bulb, so I decided that a new pair of bulbs was in
order. That Saturday (the same day I bought the parts for the
wipers) I bought a pair of light bulbs while I was in the auto parts
store. After I finished the work on the wipers, I put the new
bulbs in.
Of course, things NEVER go that easy for me, and with the new
bulbs in place, the drivers side high beam still was not working.
I next went to the fuse box, and switched the fuses for the left and
right high beams. That didn't make a difference either.
Logic tells me that if the dimmer switch is working, and the
problem isn't the fuse or the bulb, then there is a problem either in
the socket or the wiring, and that is where I was headed next . . .
until I did some looking around on the internet. Apparently, the
dimmer switch on the Maxima has seperate contacts for the drivers side
high beam, and the passengers side high beam. In addition, the
high beam lamp on the dash board is powered off the drivers side high
beam output. Interestingly enough, when I turn on my high beams,
the indicator lamp on the dash does not light up.
On Saturday, Jan 13th I ordered a new dimmer switch from the
parts store. The switch arrived a few days later, and on Wednesday
I tackled the job. It was a pretty easy fix, no need to remove the
steering wheel or mess with anything there, just a few screws to remove
the column cover, and the switch. I had the whole job done in
about half an hour, and now have all my headlights working properly. |