Hi all,

New to the forum. Just bought my first Ford - my first truck! - a few weeks ago, a 2015 XLT. Had previously been a die hard Toyota guy, but my father-in-law swayed me. Very happy so far!

Right away, I noticed it had some funky headlight bulbs as they put out a different color than what I was used to, but didn't feel like messing with it, so just left them be.

This past weekend, thanks in part to the posts on this forum, I installed a Raptor-style grill, my first ever real "mod" to a vehicle I've owned. I'm not handy with this, so was only able to do it thanks to this forum and some YouTube surfing.

TODAY, a few days after I installed the grill, I noticed my passenger side headlight out! What I'm trying to determine is if I actually have a bulb that went out, coincidentally, shortly after this grill install, or if there's something wonky with the wiring. Now I should mention that I believe there's been something done to the OEM wiring by the previous owner. I've taken some pics and will try to attach them to show what I see between the passenger side light and the battery. Hoping some of you with electrical expertise can help me identify what's going on here, and whether I'm more likely experiencing a wiring issue or just need a bulb.

Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can provide! Really loving this community!


Here's a pic of the blue-green light output:




Close-up of the bulb:




This square plug is connected to what I believe is the OEM wiring harness (with blue, yellow, red, and green wires):




Another view of what I'm guessing is an aftermarket electrical tape job, showing an extra red wire:




This extra red wire, running from the harness back to the positive terminal on the battery:




Close-up of the extra red wire connected to the battery, as well as another mystery box, with a short piece of black wire coming out of it:

 

That is a mess. The box with the multi wires and sweet tape job is a relay that is probably there to power those "performance" bulbs (HID bulbs perhaps? Not sure from picture of it.) The power wire running to the positive battery post is tiny. Looks like maybe 16ga? The small box near the battery post is a fuse holder and I'm not sure if its got 2 wires going in the one side or not. Where does that small black heat shrinked wire go to, or is just that small piece there?

1. Find the stock bulb wires that would normally go into the stock reflectors.
2. Remove the fuse in the fuse holder of that rats nest of an installation.
3. Install stock H11 bulbs into the halogen housings and make sure they work with the stock factory wiring.
4. Once that works, remove that relay/fuse project and get rid of it.

Also, look here for information on upgrading the stock bulbs with slightly higher wattage bulbs that will give you better light output from those stock halogen reflectors.

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/easy-...ht-mod-313120/

 

See what you got there sir, is a mess... as artsr pointed out. Looks like the previous owner put an HID kit in the headlights. First of... HID kits in reflector housings is a bad idea. HID throws way too much light to be controlled in a reflector housing. You are better off putting a quality LED kit in if you want more light (as LED's won't throw as much light and are a bit easier to control)... STILL a lot more light then the halogens so a good upgrade ).

To fix your problem now, you need to replace the bulb that's going bad. Sounds like it's going as you had issues already. You COULD have knocked a wire loose but chances are, bad bulb... but honestly, you should rip all of that crap out and just put a nice simple clean kit in. Like I said, an LED kit is an easy and good upgrade. NO crazy wiring harness/rats nest to work with.

Shoot me a message if you need advice on a kit, but my first piece of advice.. pull out that HID kit as you should not run HID in those reflectors.

 

I would strongly recommend AGAINST installing LED's in place of what you currently have. The housings you have are reflector housings, designed to reflect the light from factory halogen bulbs down on the ground where it's supposed to be. It's all about where the light shines, not how bright it is. When you start putting aftermarket HID's (like you currently have) or LED's inside of the halogen reflector housing, you begin to get light scattered all over the place where it's not supposed to be (i.e. in oncoming driver's eyes). You need to put the factory halogen bulbs back in and remove that mess as stated above. If you want HID's or LEDs for better lighting, you will have to also purchase an entire premade PROJECTOR assembly or retrofit the proper PROJECTOR housings into your current assembly. Projectors (as opposed to reflectors) are specifically designed for HID or LED bulbs, and give you a clean cut-off line, which shines the light on the roadway where its supposed to be, and not into oncoming driver's eyes.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I ended up yanking out the HID bulbs and ballasts, but was too timid too mess around too much with the excess wiring, so it's still there, not serving any purpose.

Put stock halogens back in til I can decide on (and afford) all new housings and LEDs. Every time I find a set of housings I think look awesome, I find a bunch of cautionary tales about how they leak, go out, and are just plain not worth the money.