'94 Ford Taurus headlight significantly dimmer than the other?

Question

Just recently I noticed that my driver side headlight is way dimmer than the other, to the point where it's nearly useless. I've had problems with this headlight before, it use to leak water inside. When that happened the bulb would always burst. This past week or so it's been constant rain here (TS Faye) and sometime during that period is when I noticed the dimmer light.

Any ideas? And how do I fix it?

Answer 1

Lens cloudy, bad connection due to water or weak bulb.  Yes, they will dim over time.  Fix your water leak, check for proper voltage at the lamp socket and use new bulb.  

Answer 2

It could be a weak ground connection.  Check and clean all headlight electrical connectors with sand paper.  Sand them so the metal is shiny again.  

Answer 3

Water corrodes all the contacts in the light assembly..find out where leak is and seal it with tube of silicone also one of connection is damaged, probably best to call junk yards to find a whole headlight assy. to repace this one.. ..then you will have a new undamaged bulb socket ,etc. .also as mentioned could be poor ground contact..But if this has been going on long time just replace it.  good luck

Answer 4

I'll bet the plug for the bulb is all gunked up and corroded. You should change it. Also take the lense assembly off and either seal it up or change it ( though that sometimes can get really expensive.)

Answer 5

You need to replace the light enclosure to keep moisture out. You will continue to have this problem until the replacement is done. Any shop should be able to do this for you along with putting a good bulb in there.

You could even check with a auto body shop for this repair, they may have a competitive price for you and will do a better job than a regular repair shop.