Nissan Terrano Headlight Issue

[LowRel]

So i got a wof the other day on the terrano passed all good at VTNZ aswell, was going for a night fish the other day and noticed the drivers side headlight doesnt go on dip, but does go on full beam. So assumed it would be the bulb, swaped it with the left side light to double check before i went and got a new one, and it did the same thing.
Got a test light to see if it was getting power, it had power to the terminal used for low beam, but as soon as i put the bulb in the power went off, took the bulb out and after maybe 5sec power came back on.
What could be causing this? As i assume the lights must of been working when i got a wof, unless the testing staition guy was having an off day
I have done a few 4wd trips down the ashburton river mouth inbetween the wof and noticing the light not working.

Any tips on what to check? Or someone had the same problem?

[sibainmud]

Battery terminals where the fuseable links are (3 or 4 wires separate from main battery lead. Or the relay is dodgey.
Cheers,

[LowRel]

Awesome all fixed was a loose connection by the battery, will have to give it a tidy up in the morning.
Cheers mate
Next question, what is the pump type thing attached to the rear of the alternator? Does it have anything to do with the ride adjustment thing? Which doesnt work due to not haveing factory shocks

[Sadam_Husain]

never looked under a terrano bonnet in my life but that pump on the back of the alt is probably the vaccum pump for the brake booster and 4wd actuator and all that shit it wont be anything to do with the suspension or ride settings

[sibainmud]

Bang on Sadam, brake booster vac pump. Only runs brake booster and EGR gear if still fitted. No vacuum operation on 4wd (thank God). Suspension settings are in the Factory shocks only and are the first thing to fark out. They have electrically controlled valves to change the ride from soft to firm.
Most Welcome.
Cheers,

[slide]

noticed the drivers side headlight doesnt go on dip, but does go on full beam. So assumed it would be the bulb, swaped it with the left side light to double check before i went and got a new one, and it did the same thing.
Got a test light to see if it was getting power, it had power to the terminal used for low beam, but as soon as i put the bulb in the power went off, took the bulb out and after maybe 5sec power came back on.
What could be causing this?

Any tips on what to check? Or someone had the same problem?

Yeap, I've seen & fixed that problem many a time....
Its the contacts in the headlight switch.
Theres a separate contact for each -LH hi -RH hi -park -LH lo -RH lo (in approx that order)
After many cycles switching on and off, and having a small arc each time the contact surface carbons up and can't get the power across.
(gets enough power thru for your low current testlight, but not for high current headlight bulb)
Fix is to remove and disassemble switch, and use 400 wet&dry to clean contacts.
Common problem on toyota (hilux) as well as nissan.
Good luck,
Nathan

[Terry]

and if it is the headlight switch (also comon on commodores with bigger bulbs - the switch on mine sent out smoke signals...) once it's cleaned up, fit relays from the battery to the headlights, switched by the original headlight wiring - it'll reduce the current through the switch so it doesn't happen again, and also increase voltage to the bulbs through reduced resistance - so brighter lights. Win all round, and really easy if you're at all handy (loads of how-tos on the web).

[LowRel]

Cheers for the info fellas, all really helpfull, will look into removing the switch and getting that cleaned up aswell, the small plug by the battery has seem to of solved the problem for now