Rep Power: 244

Hey guys,

My driver side low beam was brighter tha my passenger side...I got my passenger headlight replaced and it didn't make a difference..

I manually adjusted my whole passenger headlight to point a bit higher, that fixes the driver's light being brighter than the passenger problem from a distance. However, against a wall you can tell it is higher...especially when you back away from it!!

Another problem was that the high beam didn't line up properly on the passenger side...I finally got some pictures showing this (the blue bulbs help show the problem better, i have swapped the blue bulbs to see if that changed the problem, but it remained the same)....

By the way, on my car there is only one place to pivot the headlight and its the whole headlight vertically only...i can't adjust the individual beams...I have a 2005 Civic SI (canadian non-hatchback model...equivalent to the US model 2005 Civic EX)

Any help would be appriciated, Thanks!

Both 1

Both 2

Both 3

Driver 1

Driver 2

Passenger 1

Passenger 2

 
Rep Power: 260

are these just OEM headlights with brighter bulbs or what? wat were u doing for this to happen

 
Rep Power: 244

The low beams are stock bulbs and high beams are aftermarket blue bulbs, my passenger side headlight broke and it had to be replaced...ever since then, it was never the same:| It was replaced with an OEM Honda headlight...I even had them replace it again because they thought it could have been a defective headlight...but the problem still remained the same! My driver side headlight was also replaced recently due to another reason (assembly was shaking inside when the car idled)...so their both fairly new headlights

 
Rep Power: 0

maybe try aligning them?

 
Rep Power: 244

I raised the passenger side light up, it fixed the one light being dimmer than the other problem when you look at the lights from a distance...but the beams move up porportionally, therefore there still is a gap between the low/high beam..

 
Rep Power: 329

Are the bulbs in correctly? Maybe one is tilted a little.....

 
Rep Power: 244

Nope, checked all the bulbs, they're all in properly!

 
Rep Power: 260

hm..what kind of aftermarket bulbs did u get? were they cheap? maybe the bulb itself is just funny...try going back to ur old high beam bulbs and see if the problem is still there...

 
Rep Power: 244

They're the Lumincs Pure Blue Krypton Series bulbs, I've tried swaping the bulbs from one side to the other, but it didn't make a difference...I even put in stock high beams and they had the same problem...i took pics with the blue ones, because it stands out more that way for contrasting purposes (and i was too lazy to switch them back to stock high beams again too lol), but they both do the same thing..

 
Rep Power: 260

geez....that sucks...::yawwnn::...umm..i really dont know what to say. i cant think of anything else right now as to why theyre liek that. i mean my headlights look kinda liek that too.on the right theres liek this higher pointier looking spot of light. i always thogyuth it was cuz my left headlamp was a lil yellowish...messing up the light output..but um ...i duno wat to tell u. maybe its just a honda thing. has it always been liek that?!?

 
Rep Power: 244

My cousin bought a 2005 Civic Reverb the same time I got my car...i'll get his car and compare the two...only problem is, he has an accident on his that cost almost $10,000..so i dunno if it's good to compare with...I'll give it a shot anyways, i'll let you guys know the results..

 
Rep Power: 291

what you describe with one bulb dimmer than the other sounds exactly like a bad ground. if you have access to a multimeter, you can check the connections. especially since you said it was replaced, i bet something wasn't done correctly.

 
Rep Power: 244

Well, the COMPLETE wire harness was also replaced by Honda just recently as well...could that have something to do wit it? I don't have access to a multimeter, but i can try to find someone who might...Also, if there was a problem with the ground for the wire harness itself, wouldn't that affect both sides since their attached to the same harness anyways? If not, can you tell me what i should set the multimeter to and how to do the test that i want to do? Thanks man!

 
Rep Power: 0

Same here! i just replaced my passenger side headlamp assembly on my 04 vic coupe because it had oxidation problems. I have a 10k HID kit on it but before it was replaced they both shined and aimed the same, now the side i just replaced don't even shine nor aim the same. I try adjusting them by the adjuster thing but it doesn't even move. What else can be done?

 
Rep Power: 237

Maybe one has a shroud on the bulb, and the other doesnt?

 
Rep Power: 252

you can get a decent multimeter for like $15fromw walmart... Just put the positive wire from the multimeter on the live headlight wire, and the negative wire from the multimeter to either the negative wire in the headlight wires, or just to a ground source. Set the multimeter to the 20V setting, and then look at what the display says...if it says 12V you're good...unless the bulbs you are using have a different amount of voltage going in..then just set the multimeter to a higher voltage...

 
Rep Power: 0

They both have 12V according to the meter so i guess i'm good there.
Bakertime what is a shroud?

 
Rep Power: 291

that harness would affect it big time. the high and low each have a ground with a common positive, and each side has a seperate ground, so you have 4 grounds total. that's why your right low beam could be dim and the other 3 work fine. the setting on the multimeter will be for resistance which is the omega symbol. you want less than 1 ohm of resistance when you check from the low negative to the chassis. the headlight switch will have to be on in the low beam position to check it due to the relays.

 
Rep Power: 812

1. you cant tell anything unless youre 25 ft from the wall
2. i dont see any problem from your pic. if changing the headlamp didnt work, its not the headlamp thats the problem.
3. you cant adjust hi beam to be level, nor does it matter for anything. it even says this in the service book.
4. part of one headlight may be covering the other side and making it look brighter, which is also normal. otherwise your bulbs are installed wrong or you have some wiring issues with the car.

go take a pic 25 ft from a wall and see if it looks like this with the lo beams on

 
Rep Power: 0

I have an 04 civic i just replaced my right headlamp but its not a honda oem i bought it from an aftermarket company i noticed that the little cover inside the headlamp itself is cut different from the oem headlamp i'm talking about the one infront of the bulb itself. I noticed that the aftermarket one covers more of the bulb than the oem. I want to know if this can cause the light no to shine as bright?

 
Rep Power: 244

I can only tell that one light is brighter than the other when I walk about 20ft in front of my car and kneel down slowly...as i am kneeling down, i notice the driver's side light get really bright before the passenger side gets really bright, but at a low enough level, they're both bright...Also, i can tell in the reflection of cars in front of me as well that the driver's side is brighter...and i assume oncomming traffic can notice the same thing...i'll try to take a pic facing a wall from far away and see what i get..

 
Rep Power: 244

So for the multimeter, I am suppose to set it to 20V and check to see if i get 12V on the meter for each side, right?

Then check the impedence to make sure it is at less than 1 ohm on each side?

When I check the voltage and impedence, i am still plugging the multimeter's prongs into the positive and negative of the wire plug for the beams, right? or do i check the impedence by hooking it up differently?

 
Rep Power: 812

that bulb cover, no. it is just to prevent drivers from seeing the bulb lit up which isnt even needed cause most bulbs have a cap on the bulb painted on. it wont affect light, the beam is made by the light shining back on the mirror reflectors in the back. however, ive noticed that aftermarket sets can be different from oem as far as optics are concerned. try and find an oem replacement from junkyard or ebay and try that. oem and aftermarket will not be the same. similar but not the same.

 
Rep Power: 244

I got a hold of a multimeter, but the prongs don't fit into the plug's socket for the low beams!! How can I get around this??

 
Rep Power: 0

Well i went to a junkyard and bought a used passenger oem headlamp assembly and i put it on and now it shines and aims just like the driver side. so i guess that aftermarket headlamp was defective or something or i guess that bulb cover does make a difference.

 
Rep Power: 812

cool, its not defective, its just not made to oem specs. having those mirrors lined up the right way is something aftermarket doesnt care as much about.

 
Rep Power: 244

I have an OEM Honda headlight and it still doesn't shine the same way:|

 
Rep Power: 812

maybe needs adjusting? park 25 foot from wall and see if you can level it by turning the gear to move them up/down. is the beam too lo or high?

 
Rep Power: 301

ok, i'm too lazy to read the entire thread but aren't the lowbeams and highbeams both in one bulb? the other bulbs in the headlight are turnsignals, parking lights, sidemarkers etc you are supposed to use the lowbeam to align the headlights. highbeams will self align according to lowbeams..if highbeams wont self align, there's a problem w/ your headlights

anyways when aligning headlights, regular halogen lights will not be a straight cut off....look up "visually optically aligned left" or "visually optically aligned right" i cant remember which one our cars have but it affects how alignment is performed...

also search for the diy on how to align headlights

 
Rep Power: 291

depends on what year. 01-03 for example have H4 bulbs where low and high are combined. 04-07 have seperat high and low beam bulbs. so no, not everyone has one headlight bulb.