Headlamps running extremely hot (Delta II)

[Aijelt]

When checking the lights at the front of the car yesterday I noticed the right front headlight didn't work. So I replaced the bulb (H1, 55 Watts version) hoping that would solve the problem. Unfortunately it did not forcing me to search further. After a little investigation a bad grounding caused by a corroded connection was reason for the faulty light.

So, restoring the grounding made the light go shine but also it caused smoke. I thought that wasn't a good sign so I removed the whole unit to investigate what was causing the smoke. After a few tests it turned out that the light produced a great amount of heat causing a metal shield [used to deflect the light so other drivers aren't blinded, this is a factory installed shield inside the unit] to heat up a lot causing the smoke. Unfortunately the bulb fitting get's hot as well causing the ground cable to heat-up as well, even to a point that the insulation starts melting. Bad news I think.

Now we get to the point where I start asking. Has anyone of you encountered this problem? Did you solve it? How did you solve it? I rather not exchange the complete unit as that's a expensive thing to replace.

Thanks in advance.