2006 Chevrolet Express with headlamp problems
- Thread starter dhalltoyo
- Start date
fatboy1
Veteran Expediter
my father-n-law has had this problem,he started buying the higher price bulbs, well the problems still came back,he's in the process of changing the lamps out to the ones,where you replace the bulbs,instead of changing out the whole lense.i'll keep you informed on the process.he's said that the sealed beam lamps are not made as good as they were.
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I went threw a period with my 03 where I would have to replace a head light once a week, it started right after I switched to the silverstar, Then I replaced them with cool blues and had the same problem, went back to the basic no frills headlights and problem gone.
Hi
1)Touching the glass part of a halegon bulb is a big no no.Touching the glass when installing bulb will cause it to burn out very quickly.
2) check for loose or corroded wires where the bulb plugs in and at the interior light switch.
3) check relay.they are usually under the hood, mounted on the firewall or on a fender.try to wiggle the prongs if they are lose, corroded, or burnt the relay is trash.
good luck
1)Touching the glass part of a halegon bulb is a big no no.Touching the glass when installing bulb will cause it to burn out very quickly.
2) check for loose or corroded wires where the bulb plugs in and at the interior light switch.
3) check relay.they are usually under the hood, mounted on the firewall or on a fender.try to wiggle the prongs if they are lose, corroded, or burnt the relay is trash.
good luck
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
sounds like a "ground" issue...like not a good ground....corroded or loose....
Is it a sealed beam headlamp like on the base models with the black plastic grille or the composite where you change the actual bulb like with the fancier chrome grille package? I have the sealed beams in my 02 Savana and I had problems with the driver side going dim when I hit a bump. If I got out and hit the bulb it would come back on I just assumed it was a bad sealed beam unit so I bought another one but the same thing happened. What was really bad was it got to the point where my daytime running lights (which on that year/model utilizes the actual headlights but at 80%) would start alternating like an emergency vehicle. I had people pulling over for me!! I had to disengage the drl's by pressing the emergency brake down to the first click...just enough to make the lights go out. They would never alternate if I was using the headlights at full capacity by having the switch on.
The remedy for my problem was removing the driver side headlight plug and spraying it with WD-40 to remove some corrosion that had built up evidently causing a ground problem. I did that 3-4 months ago and have had no further problems. I even figured this out BEFORE I threw the original bulb away so now I have a spare. : )
The remedy for my problem was removing the driver side headlight plug and spraying it with WD-40 to remove some corrosion that had built up evidently causing a ground problem. I did that 3-4 months ago and have had no further problems. I even figured this out BEFORE I threw the original bulb away so now I have a spare. : )
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
As i said and a few others have ,entioned, i'd be looking at 'scokets" where they plug onto the lamps and at ALL grounds, not just those for the headlamps but all grounds that you can find....any of you guys that are old enough to remember the "floor shifter cables on GM cars in the late 60's till the mids 70's will remember that if the "accessory ground strap" from the engine to the firewall was let off (very common when changing the air filter) that shifter cable became the ground, would swell up and burn up.....U'd be looking at the grounds....
Fastman 1 hit the nail on the head for me. Bought Silvania silverstar headlights for my 2010 express van. 5 weeks later they started flickering on and off. Started up on a rainey early morning and both went dead. Got through the morning using highbeams then 1 of those went out. I was convinced it was an electrical problem with the van. I read the posts here and decided to first try to replace the 5 week old headlights with the cheapest replacement i could find. I have had no problems since.
Bet the connectors are bad. Not hard to replace, you get a new pigtail and splice it into the old wiring.
The connection between the headlight and the connector is subject to oxidizing and corrosion just like any other electrical connection in older vehicles. That, and ground-fault issues will keep any driver of older vehicles up at night trying to work it out.
The connection between the headlight and the connector is subject to oxidizing and corrosion just like any other electrical connection in older vehicles. That, and ground-fault issues will keep any driver of older vehicles up at night trying to work it out.
I've done a few of the harness electrical connections, but I've done all of the bulb connections with Deoxit D100 contact cleaner, and then a light coating of DeoxIT Shield protectant.
It's all that AND a bag o' chips. It's kind of expensive, but a teeny tiny bit goes a really long way.
The D Series comes in several different kinds: spray, brush on, pen, little tube like a Super Glue tube (2ml, which is what I recommend if you need it for a few connections and all the bulbs, just couple of drops on a Q-Tip) and different strengths: D100 is 100%, D5 is 5%, etc. You clean the contacts real well with D100, then put a thin layer of the blue DeoxIT Shield on it. I also have the 25ml bottles of both. I will outlive those bottles.
Search the net, particularly places like Amazon and electrical parts shops for the best prices. A 25ml needle bottle is like $24 on Amazon, which is pretty good.
I use DeoxIT for the contacts in my high end LED flashlights, where good connections are critical. About 4 years ago I was tired of the random weird errors with the lights, especially the tail lights, where one would be out and when I touched it to replace it, it would light up. I cleaned all the bulb contact surfaces and the socket surfaces, and used the Shield on them, and haven't had a problem since.
I cannot recommend this stuff too highly.
It's all that AND a bag o' chips. It's kind of expensive, but a teeny tiny bit goes a really long way.
The D Series comes in several different kinds: spray, brush on, pen, little tube like a Super Glue tube (2ml, which is what I recommend if you need it for a few connections and all the bulbs, just couple of drops on a Q-Tip) and different strengths: D100 is 100%, D5 is 5%, etc. You clean the contacts real well with D100, then put a thin layer of the blue DeoxIT Shield on it. I also have the 25ml bottles of both. I will outlive those bottles.
Search the net, particularly places like Amazon and electrical parts shops for the best prices. A 25ml needle bottle is like $24 on Amazon, which is pretty good.
I use DeoxIT for the contacts in my high end LED flashlights, where good connections are critical. About 4 years ago I was tired of the random weird errors with the lights, especially the tail lights, where one would be out and when I touched it to replace it, it would light up. I cleaned all the bulb contact surfaces and the socket surfaces, and used the Shield on them, and haven't had a problem since.
I cannot recommend this stuff too highly.
tknight
Veteran Expediter
Www.Partsexpress.Com
sell the entire product line of caig labs de oz it and a product called cramolin for audio connections
It's also available from www.mcmelectronics.com
sell the entire product line of caig labs de oz it and a product called cramolin for audio connections
It's also available from www.mcmelectronics.com