[Cloud9...68]

    I need to replace my drivers' side headlight bulb receptacle, since my original has several burned contacts, compromising the connection to the light bulb's prongs.



Removing the receptacle itself is simple enough, but its wiring goes deep into the bowels of the front fender area, behind immovable body panels, and I can't even see the connector end, let along unplug it. I'm very tempted to punt and snip the three wires (a brown, a white, and a yellow, hard to see in the picture) on the new receptacle's wiring harness, and connect them to their corresponding wires on the the original receptacle's harness with inline crimp connectors (can't remember what they're "officially" called), and put shrink-wrap around them. The spliced areas would fit neatly under the harness's black sleeve, so they wouldn't be visible, or exposed to the elements. Is there any downside to doing this? Or is there some trick to getting the original's harness out without removing the fender? I couldn't find anything about it in the manual. I don't imagine this is too common of a repair... Here's the picture of the receptacle. Thanks.

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[Cloud9...68]

Whoa! Don't know how I managed the quadruple post. Sorry about that.

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[Cloud9...68]

Well, I ended up punting. I took off the belly pan and spent over an hour trying to find the plug end of the receptacle's wiring, but no luck. So I just spliced the wires and soldered the matching wires from the new receptacle, and covered them with shrink wrap. Headlight now works. I think the old one burned out because water got into the headlight plug area; not really a very good design. If it happens again, this may give me the excuse I need to go with Arktech's 993-style headlight finder mod <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[Bob Kovacs]

This is a little late but I didn't see your post until now.



Could you have reached the connector by taking off the plastic inner fender lining? I've taken this liner off on the passenger side and it's not as hard as you might think. You do have to take the wheel off, though.



--Bob

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='Cloud9...68' date='Aug 14 2005, 07:30 AM']this may give me the excuse I need to go with Arktech's 993-style headlight finder mod  <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

[right][post="8742"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



Yeah, I keep losing my headlights. A good headlight finder would sure come in handy... <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



Bob,



I think the thought of removing the fender liner crossed my mind, but it seemed 1) too complicated, and 2) too far from where the wires appeared to be leading. In hindsight, I wish I had tried. Oh, well, the headlight is working fine. I'll take a peek periodically to see if the patch is holding up.

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