my 280zx's headlights were having a problem: one was bright and the other was dim. well, after working on it a bit earlier today, i think the problem might be the switch. but it may be a while before i can go get a switch from a junk yard and i don't like the thought of getting a ticket, so i decided to piggy back the power from one headlight to the other until i get the problem fixed.

i bought all the stuff i needed from autozone earlier today. i started putting everything together, making sure to do it right. i finally finish and i'm proud of what i made. i love wiring so i go downstairs to install it... very simple job, just plug a bunch of stuff in. well, after i plugged everything in, i went to start the car since running the lights without the car running drains alot of the battery. so i start the car.... not realizing how close the wires are to the radiator fan. engine starts, i hear a loud noise and the sound of something hitting something else. i IMMEDIATELY turn the car off and after 2 seconds of thought, realized what had happened. the wires completely wrapped themselves tightly around the fan.

so i stand there, staring at it, wondering how the hell i'm going to undo this. it'd be nice to have light and do this in the morning, but i hafta drive to school tomorrow morning. i grab a knife. should i just start hacking away at the wires that are completely wound up in the middle? no, i don't know where debris is going to end up and i'd risk cutting something that i wish i hadn't, making my night even better. so... off to work i go. i untangle, one by one, each wire. now, this isn't just unwinding. with the way i wired this up, the whole thing had basically braided itself together randomly, at points, also wrapping themselves around the fan blades. it was like one of those mind bender puzzles, but in a tight cramped place, and in the dark, and also quite dirty.

45 minutes later, i pull the last wire out. i go to plug the original light plugs in and find that when the fan ripped my plugs out of the lights, it also warped the hell out of the prongs too. great, all my wiring is torn apart PLUS i hafta buy new lights. at least my engine is ok.

the moral: KEEP WIRES AWAY FROM THE F-ING FAN!!!

 

Sorry, don't take offense, but I laughed my *** off when I read this. I did the same thing to a different car.

 

ya know, i had the same problem with my headlights, turned out one of the ground leads for my headlight had been chewd in half by a squirrel.... sorry about the wireing tho... hope things turn out okay

 

nah, that's cool. it was just stupid of me to do it, hehe. and at least the wires didn't get wrapped into a pulley or anything. this gives me an excuse to go get an h4 conversion now

 

thats a funny story
a dim light i found out can also be a bad fuse...appearantly theres 2 fuses, one for left and one for the right light...when i took one out it got dimm...i had the same problem and i was kiking myself in the nuts trying to figure out why the light was dim..wiring was great and everything so i went got a new fusepanel since my was all corroded and bam light works...

 

Skully, you have the strangest ways of solving problems. whatever works for you though! Hows your intake gasket performance mod going?

 

haha its good good! hehe too bad they dont have K&N intake gaskets...

 

i had the exact same problem, fuse panel all corred, and the headlights were dim, so i swapped out the fuse panal too