1990 Nissan Sentra Sentra electric problems

OJHAWAIIAN

MEMBER
1990 NISSAN SENTRA
1.6L
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
130,000 MILES

It first started with driver headlight not working. Turned it on at night and noticed both work on high beams but on low beams only the passenger side worked. I also checked both bulbs and they both are fine. So because of the dilemma I needed my car for work so I jumped the low beam wire from the passenger side to the driver side so I have light for driving in the night. It worked fine for a month but now I notice when I step on the brake pedal my aftermarket radio resets constantly more when car is running other than that the car is so far running fine. I guess my question is because I jumped the wire is it going to cause grief to the car to where it will cause it to eventually shut off? Or get worse? Also when I do step on the brake pedal I notice all the lights flicker dash, radio, headlights or any lights on at the time.

3 Replies

FREEMBA

MECHANIC
1,152 POSTS

Your drivers side headlight needs to be replace and you should disconnect the jumper wire.

The headlights on your car are Dual Filament bulbs, which means that they are essentially two bulbs in one (a high beam filament and a low beam filament).
Once one of the filaments burns out, you'll not have light on either the high or low setting. Once you change the bulb, let me know how it works.

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Thursday, December 12th, 2013 AT 5:46 AM

OJHAWAIIAN

MEMBER
9 POSTS

Now its doing something diffrent. Idisconnected that jump wire and reinstalled every wire back to stock. Instead I cleaned the light switch in the console cause the contacts were dirty now the lights work great beside this other problem. Car wont start right away. The way I can tell if it wont start is when the lights on the dash is somwhat dim, and when it is the exact opposit I know I can crank it and it will run. But when its dim it act like there is no juice in the battery but I already checked voltage on battery and it looks good. Also replaced the alternator last year and it seems the output voltage is ok when running. Every so often also the radio would reset itself when brake is applied. Would it be some kind of relay iam just trowing that out or maybe ignition switch I dont know.

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Saturday, December 14th, 2013 AT 9:35 AM

FREEMBA

MECHANIC
1,152 POSTS

Have your charging system and battery tested. Many auto parts stores will test them for FREE, so you will save some money there. Let me know the results.

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Sunday, December 15th, 2013 AT 4:28 PM