HELP!! No lo/Hi beams, check engine light all at once...

[northernexp]

Hello everyone,

I just completed a cross country trip with the expedition and it held up perfectly, I changed the oil 2 days ago and finally had time to go clean it up today.

I pulled all 4 plastic trim pieces that are directly in front of you when you open up the doors, to vacuum underneath and get the stuff under it. I wasn't rough on the wire harnesses underneath the trim pieces while vacuuming, and after I finished up I put all 4 trim pieces back in place and started the expedition to leave and the first thing I noticed was that the headlights weren't on.

I realized I didn't have Hi beams as well which I find strange since they are wired separate and usually one works if one doesn't. I pulled over to start investigating and then I noticed the 4x4 light started blinking at the same time I went to check if the flashers worked, then the check engine light came on and the flashing 4x4 light shit off.

I am currently in a rental home in downtown until spring, when we move into our new home, all my tools are in storage which I don't have access to and I don't have a garage or even space to work on the expedition.

I will most likely get a code reader tomorrow but if anyone might have some suggestions on what I should try to do I would really appreciate it.

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

 

[MedicMoe]

were the plastic pieces you removed on the door sills? If so, those metal clips that hold the trim in place could of shorted out some wires. Recheck all that you moved/cleaned very thoroughly to look for any damaged wires.

 

[98eb5.4]

fuse?

 

[northernexp]

were the plastic pieces you removed on the door sills? If so, those metal clips that hold the trim in place could of shorted out some wires. Recheck all that you moved/cleaned very thoroughly to look for any damaged wires.

Yes they were the door sills I removed. I am going to pull the pieces off again this morning now that there's daylight and take a close look, I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

Thanks for all the replies, also I haven't even looked at the fuses yet, since the Hi and lo are both out ia assumed it was something other than fuses. I took a quick look at the fuses panel and didn't see any blown fuses but I will double check also.

I'll report back soon, thanks again guys!

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

 

[northernexp]

OK so my code was p1633 low voltage to the pcm, I still don't know what would have triggered this code but I cleared it and it still hasn't come back on.

Still don't have headlights, I have aftermarket hids with the wiring harness that only uses one side of the headlight wiring, leaving my driver side headlight wiring loose.

I plugged a regular halogen bulb into the loose wiring and the bulb works just fine, leaving me to believe that the fuses are good, I don't have a manual so I don't know which fuses to check.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[Bedrck47]

Other than looking at fuses or believing fuse are god the best way to check them is with a meter. If you were having trouble starting would you just look at a battery and say it looks good or would you test it? Just my opinion.
Looks can be deceiving

Although I will agree being you used a different lamp that the fuse most likely is good but still I would use a meter both on ohms and on volts.

Check your ground connections at the kick panel being you had low voltage to the PCM

 

[northernexp]

Sup homies.

While picking up a code reader I also picked up a cheap circuit tester and did some checking, it turns out the factory headlight wires are supplying power, I checked to see if there is power coming from the hid ballast and there is none, leaving me to suspect that my hid ballasts somehow got fried the same time the check engine light came on.

The only thing I can think of is I must have shorted something when I pulled the trim panels off to vacuum underneath them.

I'm on my way to pick up 2 new hid ballasts, I'm hoping this solves my problem, but from the testing I did I believe the only things left that could be faulty are the hid bulbs, or the ballasts.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[northernexp]

Other than looking at fuses or believing fuse are god the best way to check them is with a meter. If you were having trouble starting would you just look at a battery and say it looks good or would you test it? Just my opinion.
Looks can be deceiving

Although I will agree being you used a different lamp that the fuse most likely is good but still I would use a meter both on ohms and on volts.

Check your ground connections at the kick panel being you had low voltage to the PCM

I would have checked with a meter but unfortunately all my tools are in storage at the moment, but thank you for the input I really appreciate it.

I tested out the new ballasts and still no go. It's strange since I'm getting power from the OEM headlight wiring, but when I checked the power coming out of the ballast I didn't get anything.

Unfortunately by the time I got the ballasts and tester etc. It was getting dark but it's been snowing and blowing all day.

I will most likely revert to OEM halogen if it solves my problem. The weather doesn't permit me to work on it anymore without a garage, and we don't move into our home until the spring.

The place we bought had a heated garage, I just can't move in until spring.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[northernexp]

I don't have time to work on the headlight issue until tomorrow, but I've been going over things in my head and I think there may be an issue with the hid wiring harness.

The hid kit is a hi/lo kit that only uses one side of the headlight wiring, leaving the other side loose. I'm going to wire the hids directly to the OEM headlight wiring, eliminating all the extra wiring. I will lose my Hi beam functionality but quite honestly with Hi/lo hid kits there isn't much difference between Hi and lo, my light bar gives me as much additional light as I need.

I'm going to leave it like that until spring when I have my tools and a garage to work in then fix it properly. I am more than likely going to get aftermarket headlights, the clear lens with black housing and convert to led for lighting, I just need the junky hids to last a few more months.

I'll let you guys know how I make out tomorrow wiring the hids directly instead of the whole wiring system it came with. Thanks for ask the tips guys

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

 

[stamp11127]

FYI - HID's have a start pulse of around 20,000 volts then drop down to 85v to maintain the arc. I would set the meter manually to the highest range to be safe. There is a chance things could get real exciting with a "One Hung Low" China cheapie meter.