Head Lights. Does Your Car Do This?

[jrocket]

Hi all. Just wanting to know some info on the head lights of the skyline r33. I had to take my car to a tester to get a road worthy done and they tested the head lights and said that when you turn it from low beam to high beam the low beam lights cut out and that they are suppose to stay on with the high beams. I thought this was just the way the skylines are. Does anyone elses car do the same thing. My car failed the test as a result of this bs. They recon that a relay might be the blame or the light selector on the column.

Any info would be great.

[themashedman]

Hi all. Just wanting to know some info on the head lights of the skyline r33. I had to take my car to a tester to get a road worthy done and they tested the head lights and said that when you turn it from low beam to high beam the low beam lights cut out and that they are suppose to stay on with the high beams. I thought this was just the way the skylines are. Does anyone elses car do the same thing. My car failed the test as a result of this bs. They recon that a relay might be the blame or the light selector on the column.

Any info would be great.

No on R33 the main beam turns pff when high beam is switched on. That is how it is, Your RW guy is wrong

[jrocket]

Hey thx.yeah i thought that he might not be right. i will have to go somewhere else where they don't give a cr@p

[Xizor]

Whoever that is, he's a f**king moron. Im struggling to think of a dual headlight car that doesnt operate that way!

[d0p3y]

Whoever that is, he's a f**king moron. Im struggling to think of a dual headlight car that doesnt operate that way!

Our Accord Euro leaves both on when switched to high beam - but there are a majority of cars where it doesnt leave both on. I've never seen an R33 where the low beam stays on, theyre like that from factory - it's not required to be changed as a compliance item so your RWC guy is a clueless knob jockey who should have just passed it.

[jrocket]

LOL thanks for the feed back guys. yeah i was just really suprised when he mentioned it. But how can i prove that the skyline is setup like this from factory. I am going to get the car road worthied by another place ne ways so hopefully i wont have this problem again.

[ferni]

Tell him to call nissan or Vicroads. He is wrong. Some people hack the wiring so that both stay on....

[jrocket]

Yeah i can rewire it if i wanted but its a lot of trouble to go to if the car is meant to be as it is. I will see what happens at the next place i get rw done.

Man i been having some troubles. I got my car not 2 months ago and first time i get pulled up i get canned. I haven't even touched the car since i brought it from a dealer. I was under the impression that thecar was legal as it had passed road worthy. Underneath the car ther was some minor chassis damage and i brought it to the attention of the dealer when i was looking at the car. When i go to pick the car up i looked under it and damage still there and i figured it must have been not bad enough to make the car unroad worthy and i figured i will just get it fixed in my own time. Also the car was low but i figured it must be legal too as they got it road worthied. So i thought nothing more of these things. Then i getting pulled up and cop issues tickets and defect for car sitting too low and made me get it checked over again. Turns out that the damage underneath is unacceptable and needs repair and engineers to pass. Also tint that came with car too dark. And i get this headlight bull $hit to fix also.

Oh did i mention this car was previously ment to pass roadworthy.

[Konrad]

You can try taking it up with the dealer, if they are decent enough and value their reputation they will be reasonable, best bet is to keep your cool when you discuss the situation with them...but honestly theres just as much chance they will tell you to get stuffed

I had a similar problem with my car except i went through a private sale. Car passed rwc and full mechanical inspection when i bought it, 1 month later with no other mods i get done by the cops for various defects (steering wheel too small, boost gauge mounted in 'head impact area' pfft, shit like that). I told the officer that i bought the car like that and it passed RWC and mechanic inspection, his response "RWC aren't worth shit mate, i can get a RWC that says that trailer over there is a boat!"....end of the day RWC are just a safety inspection to ensure the car isn't a deathtrap. They do not ensure full compatibility with ADR/ transport dept's/whoever's rules.

Sounds like you have some serious body damage, so that really IS a RWC issue though, so the responsibility goes back to the dealer if they garanteed RWC when they sold you the car.

Good luck

[Matty 31]

my r31 works with 4 high beams (series 3)

low beam side is a H4 low/high combo and central high beam only is H1..........all 4 come on when its on high beam

[ellie]

So does my R32, so do ALL bmw's, So do Mercs! There would be litterally hundreds of dual head light vehicles that the low beam remains active when the high beam is actived. As a mechanic, i'm actually more surprised that R33 do that because i've never seen my friends use their high beam nor have I come accross it before!

Edited July 15, 2006 by ellie

[Victory]

The issue is that the other cars run H4 bulbs for low beam. These are a twin filament bulb that works for both low and high beam.

R33 Skylines run H1 bulbs in both low and high beam and these are single filament bulbs.

This is the first car that I have had with H1 for low and high beams and I am not used to lack of light. I have two Mazda 626’s and I run 130W / 100W H4 for low beam and 100W high beams which makes very good light.

I have been told that Skylines cannot cope with 100W H1 bulbs as they melt the reflectors - is this correct? I have run 100W or greater in every car that I have had for the last 30 years and I have never damaged a reflector.

[Ronin 09]

Our Accord Euro leaves both on when switched to high beam - but there are a majority of cars where it doesnt leave both on. I've never seen an R33 where the low beam stays on, theyre like that from factory - it's not required to be changed as a compliance item so your RWC guy is a clueless knob jockey who should have just passed it.

Thats because, if your euro is the lux pack with xenons, they don't like being switched on and off.

if you switch them on and off quickly when they've been on, there is no need to fire the globe with a high voltage to ignite them - but the ignitor doesn't know and sends a start up high voltage to it. This burns out the globes a lot quicker

[kimbod]

Hi all. Just wanting to know some info on the head lights of the skyline r33. I had to take my car to a tester to get a road worthy done and they tested the head lights and said that when you turn it from low beam to high beam the low beam lights cut out and that they are suppose to stay on with the high beams. I thought this was just the way the skylines are. Does anyone elses car do the same thing. My car failed the test as a result of this bs. They recon that a relay might be the blame or the light selector on the column.

Any info would be great.

Shouldn't fail you. R33's are complied like that. It is simple to have them on when you hit high beam. Gives a bit more light on the road. We all know how feeble the headlights are .

[gts4diehard]

Elie,

Hey just a quick note on the R32's, the low beams go OFF when you put it onto highbeam.

The R32 High beams are just 'ok' for lighting but when you go back to the low beams it looks like someone is holding a candle in front of you.

If yours lows stayon with the highs then someone has already 'fixed' them for you because the lighting on R32's doesn't work that way standard. I often thought about doing that to my R32 but never got around to it. The R31 lights (both high and low on for high beam) are

much better, and the lights on my Magna are amazing compared to my old R32.

Irocket,

I would goto the guy who passed the road worthy and get him to fix it, his licence is at stake for something like this as well as the cosy deal he has going with the car dealer. A friend bought a Silvia a couple of years ago that had passed the road worthy but when he took the car for a tuneup a couple of days later the mechanic pointed out all the un roadworthy 'features' of the car and before you knew it the dodgy mechanic had righted it.

This is a good point to remember for anyone who gets a 'mate' to do a roadworthy for them, because it can come back to bite them on the arse!

Edited July 16, 2006 by gts4diehard

[Cubes]

The R32's std switch and wiring turns off the low beam when the high's are flicked on.

I modified my switch so the low stays on.

[jrocket]

Thank everyone for the feed back. It given me quite a bit to think about. I am quite pissed bout the damage on the underside of my car passing before. I had a go at repairing it today. I just going to use a metal mend repair glue to hold the section in place then tar over it and should pass ok. It was only a short rip in the chassis but not compromising it at all. But just cos its the chassis the dudes wont pass it. Makes me wonder what the hell the jap owner did with this car.

[Cubes]

Good luck... You can buy the chassis rail sections from nissan for relatively cheap and have some one weld them in.

[blind_elk]

I don't think I have ever seen a car where the low-beam filament stays activated while the hi-beams are active (HIDs may be different, but that could be for technical rather than legal reasons).

I have never had my 32 fail a RWC because of the way the headlights work (which is "hi-beam on, lo-beam off").

[Xizor]

The issue is that the other cars run H4 bulbs for low beam. These are a twin filament bulb that works for both low and high beam.

R33 Skylines run H1 bulbs in both low and high beam and these are single filament bulbs.

This is the first car that I have had with H1 for low and high beams and I am not used to lack of light. I have two Mazda 626’s and I run 130W / 100W H4 for low beam and 100W high beams which makes very good light.

I have been told that Skylines cannot cope with 100W H1 bulbs as they melt the reflectors - is this correct? I have run 100W or greater in every car that I have had for the last 30 years and I have never damaged a reflector.

I dont think this is really accurate, im sure i've read of many people using 100w+ bulbs...