hopeforcash

Hi everybody,
First I'm not too mechanically handy, but did managed to change the bulb. And even put the light back together again! However, much to my disappointment, the front left signal light still does not work. The rear works and blinks very fast, I'm guessing it's because the front is not working.

Called my Indie and he's busy for a while (my case is not too serious, I guess - he's parttime on his own and has a fulltime job) and said it might be the relay.

Any suggestions? Is it hard to change the relay or how does one test if it is the relay? Are there other simplier tests first that I can try?

Thanks

ivangene

blinker socket - thats what mine was... the inside of the socket had rusted away and was no longer contacting the bulb...

unfortunantly the cure is an entire new headlight to the tune of $1K - I fixed it with some tin foil and it worked for a while while I searched a cheaper cure... was able to find a socket at an on-line Porsche dismanteler for $15... plug and play... away I went



then sold the headlights and bought other ones.... twice

hopeforcash

When I changed the bulb, the whole housing, connections and sockets were rust free and very clean.

Can it be something else?

sjfehr

Blinking very fast and not working is a sign you probably don't have the headlamp assembly reinstalled right. Take it out and reinstall it; be very careful to align it in the slots. Also, beware: it can fly out under heavy braking if you don't have it installed right. (Ask me how I know...)

Barn996

I agree. Same thing happened to me, the headlight unit was not in far enough to plug into the fixed male plug at the back of the HL unit. Be very careful not to break the flimsy plastic piece that hold the male plug.

JDSStudios

Interesting. I would like to know if it was just bad reassembly
since it is rust free.

sjfehr

I posted a thread about it when I lost my loose headlight earlier this year:
https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-...-flew-out.html

Goldenwarrior1

I had this same issue about a week ago. Look closely at the socket housing, there are two metal tabs that contact the housing. One of them may be discolored from arcing. Take a small jewelers file and clean the 2 brass tabs on the socket and also take a small tool and bend the receiving tabs in the housing out very slightly to ensure a good contact and then reinstall. Should be good to go.

Pac996

Three rights make a left

hopeforcash

Thanks everybody When you say reinstall, you mean the whole headlight assembly or the signal light bulb assembly

I suspect it is the whole assembly as initially when I pushed on the headlight assembly, the signal light worked

However the following day it was not working so I thought the bulb was really out. Changed the bulb and still did not work.

Doesn't the assembly follow theplastic guides in and the lock secures it? Can you still push it in further or pull the male side out more?
I'll post my results when I try reassembling it again

Barn996

The whole HL assembly, needs to make a good connection where it plugs together.

Goldenwarrior1

I was referring to the turn signal bulb assy for the contacts however, if it works when you push on the whole headlight assy then it is the mating connector the whole headlight assy plugs into. It this is the case, take some electrical contact cleaner and clean both the male and female connectors and then reassemble making sure both guide rails are engaged with the alignment pins on the headlight. The locking bar should be set so as to engage the light housing and lock it into place with the headlight removal/installation tool.

mtl911sc

Same here...was a busy week for turn signals going out I guess??

For me it was a metal contact on the bulb holder/socket itself, which I figured out when I swapped turn signal bulbs from right to left and still had nothing. Upon close examination of the bulb holder, one of the metal contacts looked a bit burnt, and a bit of the surrounding plastic was fused onto the contact as well. So I just carefully filed & cleaned it up so that both contacts on the bulb holder were 100%, put the holder w/ the old bulb back into the headlight housing and reinstalled, and problem was solved. Hopefully you will be as lucky.

Awesomo996

I bought a new socket from Sunset, didn't need a whole new headlight assembly. I had the same problem, cleaned the contacts in the mating connector between the headlight assembly and the car. Also had to adjust the height of the docking plate by turning the nuts under it about a half turn up. So far three months and it works fine.

hopeforcash

Well, Spent half an hour reinstalling (a few times) the headlight assembly and still not working. The contacts are clean (like new, no dirt or even dust) both between the car and headlight assembly as well as the housing of the signal light (the bulb contact and the housing and the assembly).

I guess I should schedule a trip to the professional!

Any other ideas?