onefast87gn
Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2016
i hear ya, im retired and had time to mess around otherwise i would have just sent it back for a refund. i wouldnt spend a dime at the octane website, no com skills at all.
Headlight question
- Thread starter abrasv
- Start date
Well because I’m impatient I went and fixed the wiring they sent. First issue was ground was missing from one of the relays they ran Black wire from one relay to the other which tied into a white wire which would be a power feed causing hi-beams to be on all the time After I ran a new ground from the relay everything worked fine except the bright indicator was on with the low beams. I ended up swapping the double blue wires with the double whites. They had hi-beam relay wired as the low beam.
- Joined
- May 28, 2001
Looks like a mixed bag on the reviews....
Being they are on the left coast, I'm betting that Sum Ting Wong is the culprit with the screw ups....
Being they are on the left coast, I'm betting that Sum Ting Wong is the culprit with the screw ups....
I bought the Kirban's headlight upgrade kit about a month ago, and mine too was not "plug-n-play". I did make it work though, and I do like the end result. I would buy it again, but it would be nice if Kirban's would get this thing right. I had 3 issues with mine:
1. The relays were not wired up right. Or rather, they were not wired to match the triggers coming from the stock head light harness.
2. Two of the 4 ground wires were too short
3. One of the wiring connections inside the harness just didn't look good
To break things down:
1. The instructions are adamant that you have to match the wires in the stock headlight harness to the plug on the new harness. They are very clear on this. Black to black, tan to white, green to blue. No problem. I ensured that was the case (did not have to move any wires around), installed it, and the result? With headlights on Low, all 4 lights came on. Switch it to High and the Brights indicator in the dash came on and all 4 headlights went out. So I took the harness out of the car, traced everything with my multimeter, and this is what I got: (see attached Wiring Initial Install.pdf) Looking at my diagram, the behavior observed made perfect sense. Science works.
At first I was going to rewire the relays to make everything right, but then a friend noticed that I could just rewire the plug that connects to the stock headlight harness. Had to move all 3 wires - Green had to go to Black, Tan had to meet Blue, and Black had to connect to White. As per the attached Wiring Fixed.pdf.
NOW when installed, it worked perfectly! Almost hooray!
2. There are 4 ground wires, one from each headlight. The instructions give a good location to put them. Unfortunately two of mine, one each side, each coming from the high beam headlight, was about 2-1/2 inches too short to reach the recommended spot. See the attached pic Short Ground.jpg So I had to lengthen those two grounds so they would stretch. I tried installing those two grounds on the core support, since that was close and convenient, but it must not be grounded to the rest of the car very well - when I did that the high beams were pretty dim. Much much better at the recommended location.
3. Finally, I noticed that there is a crimped connector in the harness where the one blue wire from the high beam relay is split into 2 blue wires going to each side of the car. The exposed wires at this junction looked like they were starting to fray, there were a few loose strands that had already broken. See the pic Potential Problem.jpg. I did not like that at all. Maybe it would be ok, I dunno, but I soldered that whole thing up so I would not have to worry about it.
Like I said at the start, I do like the end result, seems to be a lot better than my stock head lights! And it was convenient to buy all the parts together in one kit. Just wish I hadn't had to go through the hassle to make it work.
John
1. The relays were not wired up right. Or rather, they were not wired to match the triggers coming from the stock head light harness.
2. Two of the 4 ground wires were too short
3. One of the wiring connections inside the harness just didn't look good
To break things down:
1. The instructions are adamant that you have to match the wires in the stock headlight harness to the plug on the new harness. They are very clear on this. Black to black, tan to white, green to blue. No problem. I ensured that was the case (did not have to move any wires around), installed it, and the result? With headlights on Low, all 4 lights came on. Switch it to High and the Brights indicator in the dash came on and all 4 headlights went out. So I took the harness out of the car, traced everything with my multimeter, and this is what I got: (see attached Wiring Initial Install.pdf) Looking at my diagram, the behavior observed made perfect sense. Science works.
At first I was going to rewire the relays to make everything right, but then a friend noticed that I could just rewire the plug that connects to the stock headlight harness. Had to move all 3 wires - Green had to go to Black, Tan had to meet Blue, and Black had to connect to White. As per the attached Wiring Fixed.pdf.
NOW when installed, it worked perfectly! Almost hooray!
2. There are 4 ground wires, one from each headlight. The instructions give a good location to put them. Unfortunately two of mine, one each side, each coming from the high beam headlight, was about 2-1/2 inches too short to reach the recommended spot. See the attached pic Short Ground.jpg So I had to lengthen those two grounds so they would stretch. I tried installing those two grounds on the core support, since that was close and convenient, but it must not be grounded to the rest of the car very well - when I did that the high beams were pretty dim. Much much better at the recommended location.
3. Finally, I noticed that there is a crimped connector in the harness where the one blue wire from the high beam relay is split into 2 blue wires going to each side of the car. The exposed wires at this junction looked like they were starting to fray, there were a few loose strands that had already broken. See the pic Potential Problem.jpg. I did not like that at all. Maybe it would be ok, I dunno, but I soldered that whole thing up so I would not have to worry about it.
Like I said at the start, I do like the end result, seems to be a lot better than my stock head lights! And it was convenient to buy all the parts together in one kit. Just wish I hadn't had to go through the hassle to make it work.
John
Attachments
- Joined
- May 28, 2001
Some 
wiring and choice of connectors.....
How much does that "kit" cost?
wiring and choice of connectors.....How much does that "kit" cost?
$130 for Kirban's #7530, which is the wiring harness + the 4 new H4 headlights. $68 for the harness by itself, #7531. Plus shipping of course Worth it to me to not have to track down the various connectors and whatnot. I was still time ahead by just fixing up what I received. But I understand that others may feel differently.
John
Worth it to me to not have to track down the various connectors and whatnot. I was still time ahead by just fixing up what I received. But I understand that others may feel differently.John
