Both Headlights out at the same time?

ZeroZeta

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone had heard of or experienced this problem in a Z?

Both lights on my 2013 completely stopped working one day. The entire assemblies on both sides.

No low beam, high beams, or front turn Signals/hazards

I am a bit baffled by this.

I have checked the fusible link at the battery terminal, fuses under the dash, IPDM hi/low beam fuses, and made sure harnesses to the BCM and IPDM were secure.

I was curious if there are any other power connection, harness, fuse/junction box I might have missed.

Still digging through the FSM as well.

SouthArk370Z

Check the FSM and see where the harness splits to go to each light. Inspect the connector(s) close to that point.

Headlights often have an interposing relay - the FSM will tell you where it is located.

__________________
Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub
Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

ZeroZeta

Thanks for the suggestion sir. I will report back on my findings

ZeeingAround

See if they have a common ground wire.

__________________
Get some roosters for eggs and Bulls for milk . Then you will see that gender matters. Especially at milking time.

SouthArk370Z

Great idea. Unless there just happens to be two burnt out bulbs or two blown ballasts, it's almost certainly something they share in common.

__________________
Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub
Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

maizenblue

He said his turn signals dont work either. So 2 blown bulbs or ballasts wouldnt explain that. You could put money down on it that theres a shared connection somewhere shorted

ZeroZeta

Yeah I am thinking short as well. I was doing some trouble shooting and noticed that when I switch the turn signal on the interior blinkers are flashing faster than normal (faster than hazard lights) so I believe that indicates a ground problem.

There was electrical work done recently. I installed new amp radio myself (I believe light worked after that - no issues with install and I did ground everything properly)

Car was then in the shop when I had a new bumper put on.

The shop took off my daytime lights and installed them on the new bumper.

So the daytime lights work but both headlights are not working in any capacity.

I need to pull the DRL wires to see if maybe they got something mixed up. Which is doubtful since I know the factory harness had a fair amount of slack and they didn't need to really do anything since it was still using the factory wires, harness, and lights.

nis350

take it to the dealer. i assume it is still under warranty since it is an 2013?

ZeroZeta

Actually, trying to put off going to the dealer as long as possible.

I have gotten to the point that they can basically blame most anything on the fact that the car is modded, and in this case they probably would be right about my light issue or at least not completely incorrect since they worked prior to my DRLs being disconnected and moved to a new fascia.

So warranty may not be applicable here.

Trips

Have you looked at the fuse box by the battery?

I would look there for something that maybe blown besides the driver side kick panel or the passenger side panel.

__________________

SouthArk370Z

The BCM monitors current flow to the lamps and will go into "fast flash" mode if the current is too low (eg, burnt out lamp).

This could be a ground problem - look for a ground common to the circuits involved.
The flip side of the coin is, as has been mentioned before, it could be a power common problem. I'd look for a cut wire, bad connector, or fuse.

There may be an interposing power relay that the circuits share - if so, check it.

__________________
Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub
Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

ZeroZeta

Thanks for the input SouthArk370z.

So after a week and a half I solved the issue. I went to go trace the lines from the headlights looking for problems (short etc)

I did this after removing my strut bar and intake system allowing me to get a better view.

The problem was pretty apparent after that.

The connectors for both headlights were just dangling.

The fact that anyone at the body shop/dealer or whoever disconnected them baffles me. There was no logical reason to have disconnected them when simply disconnecting the battery would have sufficed to cut power.

Anyway reconnecting them without taking the bumper, fender, or wheel wells off was a pain but mission accomplished. All front lights are working again.

Glad this was a relatively simple no cost fix.

Thanks again to everyone that responded!

Super Moderator II

Awesome to hear its fixed But yea pretty weird for them to disconnect them from there.

__________________