One dim headlight, no daytime running lights?

[dbsoundman]

Hi all, I had the opportunity to drive my bus at dusk the other day, and boy I'm glad I did, because I realized the headlights really stink! The passenger side headlight appears to get to normal intensity when I turn the headlights on, but the focus is off - the beam is really narrow in the vertical axis. The driver's side headlight, on the other hand, only seems to reach "dim" intensity, almost like it's acting like a daytime running light? As far as I've seen, my bus doesn't have DRLs, unless the module is there and doesn't work (I'll check this week to see if I can find a DRL module).


Is there anything else that could cause the driver's side lamp to be so dim?


This pic doesn't do it justice, but you can kind of tell that the driver's side is dimmer than the passenger side.

[BarnYardCamp]

poor ground connection. If those are sealed beams, unplug the connector and clean the prongs on the back of the headlight.

[dbsoundman]

Originally Posted by BarnYardCamp

poor ground connection. If those are sealed beams, unplug the connector and clean the prongs on the back of the headlight.

They might be sealed beams, I'm not 100% sure but it's quite possible.

[ol trunt]

Bad ground x 10. It'll cause a fire if not properly cleaned up.
Jack

[dbsoundman]

They are indeed sealed beams! GE 2B1 lamps to be exact. I wiggled around the connector on the back and tried again, sure enough they’re now both on normal brightness together.

I can’t seem to engage the brights however. There’s a momentary rocker switch to change between DIM and BRIGHT, but toggling it to bright doesn’t make any change. Granted this is with the key in accessory and engine off. I looked in the fuse box and I think I may have a daytime running lights module, which probably doesn’t work since the headlights don’t come on during the day. Any recommendations there?