Bright corners too much power?
Cackophony
06-20-2002, 08:37 AM
Last week I decided to do the bright corners w/ turn signals mod that www.jdmfan.com had listed. I also bought some blue xenon 1157 bulbs for my turn signals. The guide at Auto Zone listed some other type of bulb for the turn signal, but the 1157 seemed to fit so I went ahead and bought them. Now recently I've noticed that sometime my left turn signal doesn't work. I took apart my corner today and it looks like the metal base of the bulb is getting so hot it's melting the plastic harness. What seems to happen is the little legs on the bulb that lock it into place are melting the plastic and the bulb is sliding away from the contacts. I then have to yank the bulb out (it's melted to the plastic a little) and put it back in. It will usually stay until the next morning. I'm assuming it either has something to do with the bulbs pulling too much power, or the fact that during the night the bright fillimant of the bulb is always on. Does anyone know what's going on, and how I can fix it? I'm afraid now that I'm going to have to but a whole fixture for my corners, and I'd imagine those aren't easy or cheap to get. Would I have to get them from a honda dealership? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
supafly1024
06-20-2002, 08:44 AM
Sounds to me like the bulb you have installed is pulling more wattage than the wire and harness were designed to pull. I would try putting a lower wattage bulb back in.
Cackophony
06-20-2002, 09:15 AM
Update... I just got back from driving my sister to work, and I noticed one of the turn signals was out again. I took everything apart and noticed that there's a hole in the side of the bulb. Now I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to break the bulb, so I'm assuming the hole was melted in the bulb. Can this happen? Until I figure out what's going on I put my stock bulbs back in and am just not going to use my turn signals unless I have too. Also, the fixture is melted pretty bad, how hard is it to get a replacement? I can't just go to auto zone and buy one can I?
supafly1024
06-20-2002, 09:22 AM
If you're looking for a replacement for the adapter that the bulb plugs into then you could probably find one at a junkyard, they are probably pretty close to the same for most Hondas around the same model year as yours. Then just cut your melted adapter off and splice the new one on.
Cackophony
06-20-2002, 09:26 AM
I still wish I knew what caused them to melt in the first place though. I was starting to lean towards your conclusion, that the bulb was just too powerfull. But would that have cause a whole to melt into the bulb itself? But I would think that if the bright corners mod caused the bulbs to get too hot somebody would have said something about it sooner. I can't believe I'm the first person this has happened too.
supafly1024
06-20-2002, 09:42 AM
I understand your point, I don't see any possible reason for the actual bulb getting a hole in it unless it was a faulty bulb. Is it getting hot and melting the adapter on both sides? If it's only doing it on the one side then there may just be something up with that one bulb.
supafly1024
06-20-2002, 09:44 AM
Oh yeah, one other thing, the "Blue Xenon" bulbs burn hotter because of the gas that's in them.
Cackophony
06-20-2002, 09:46 AM
the melting is happening on both sides. maybe it was just a combination of the hotter bulb and the bright fillament being constantly on that was just too much for the harness. I'm going to leave my stock bulbs in for a bit and see what happens, then maybe I'll try and get some non xenon blue bulbs. If anyone else has some more insight I'd definitely appreciate it. Thanks for you help...
Cackophony
06-21-2002, 08:33 AM
Anybody have any other ideas? Anyone else have problems like this by either doing the bright corners mod or using 1157 bulbs instead of 3496 bulbs?
Cackophony
06-21-2002, 09:26 AM
I was looking around online and noticed that there is a difference in high beam wattage in 1157 bulbs. I found some that were 5w/21w, some 5w/27w, and some 5w/35w. Could this be the problem? maybe my stock bulbs are 5w/21w or something like that, and the ones I bought were 5w/35w. Normally that wouldn't matter because the 5w is the one that would be on all the time and that's the same, the 35w would only flash when I'm making a turn, not long enough to heat up too much. But since I did the bright corners mod the 35w is on all the time, making too much heat for my harness to handle. This make sense? The only problem is that none of the bulbs that are for sale in stores around here have wattages marked on their packaging. Would wattage be marked on the bulb itself somewhere that I can check?
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