Ok so i bought new tail lights for my 89 Si hatch and as soon as I put them in my lights go haywire.At first my pas. Head light was dim- in operative and my brake lights were always on. Also my clock and dash light would light up when I pressed the brakes when the lights were in off position and the blinkers were acting wierd as well. So I ended up figuring out a bad connector for the brake light was kepping the third brake light on. Also the passenger head light had a bad conector as well. Ok so now when lights are switched to off everything's fine BUT when I turn them on, passenger head light is still dim but get brighter as I drive ( but hight beam indicator is trying to come on,( fluctuates intensity)) and my brake lights kinda seem like the filaments are lighting backwards. When I press the brakes the brake lights get brighter and 3rd light acts as should but the running light seems way to bright for running lights.... Also I just noticed my wiper speed 1 only work with lights off, when on speed 1 does not work. Lists time it rained( few weeks ago) speed one never worked... Plz if anyone has read or delt with anything like this please help. It's my daily and I love it

 

Also I tried putting the old lights in but still no bueno.... The bula that were in it were a 1157 or 56 cuz orielys said they were a long life upgrade but with the new lights it seemed to be a problem and had to put 2056 and fixed 3rd brake light and dash lighting up when pressing pedal

 

Check connections on back of fuze box thats the only thng i can think of. Did u pull on harness. You have a bad connection somewere. Battery alternator good ? hats some weird stuff it doing

 

Its likely you have one bad bulb or one of the wrong type bulbs. Doulbe check all the bulbs and sockets.

 

I didn't pull on the harness.i did wiggle it to try and see where a problem might be. I did have a bad conector for the brake light bulb and passenger head light but I changed the pig tail and it got my 3rdbrake light to operate normaly.... The weird stuff is- my passenger head light an corner light is dim. Unplug low beam plug and corner light glow like it should. Plug it in and goes dim again.-when lights are turned on passenger light gets brighter for a bit and goes dim again and the whole time the blue high beam inicator is barely illuminated. When I turn the brights on the driver high beam lights up and the passenger is off.

 

I checked all the bulbs and replaced with corect replacement. Didn't have a problem with the ones I had untill the new tail light install

 

It does seem like my alternator if putting on a higher load

 

Have driven and owned over 12 CRX and Civic hatches combined, The stock set up does not fail,

go back to stock and stop the problem.

 

I did. And replaced 3 pig tails for the head lights

 

The bulbs in the new taillights may be the wrong type. Also check for a broken or disconnected rear ground wire.

 

I changed out the bulbs with corect brand new ones and i checked the grounds and they seem fine. I was reading about a icu but u a. In familiar with that

 

Also does the rear ground affect passenger head light?

 

I would find a wiring diagram and double check ALL ground points, and perhaps try an extra one from engine to chassis. It may sound weird, but I once had a del sol that had all it's stock ground straps intact(and clean) but would not turn over until I added an extra ground strap. Also maybe try switching the underhood fuse box with a known good one. Were the new taillights merely plug and play, or did you have to re-wire any? have you re-wired anything else besides what you have already mentioned(headlights, 3rd brake light)?

Definitely need to get a good wiring diagram though. And check those grounds, inside the car and outside. These cars do all sorts of weird things when they are not properly grounded.

 

i didnt re-wire, just changed the pig tails. yes the lights were plug and play but i changed one pig tail on the passenger side brake lamp bulb socket to fix the third brake light situation.

im looking up the wire diagrams on all data and also went to check voltage readings with my power probe. ive isolated the problem to the power wire for the passenger side head lamp low beam.its reading as a ground when off and when on it reads proper voltage just low amps.i opened the harness and saw no broken,frayed, or pinched wires. followed it back to this lil black map sensor looking thing with three wires bolted to the inside pas. footwell (red,yellow and green with white stripe) its about the same spot as the cel connector on the crx's, but the wires read a ground exept for the red/white wire(same color as power wire on headlamp).it will read a ground when i push the high beams to on but id have to hold it half way or its just a blip.so im thinking that lil mystery guy in the footwell or the icu next to the fuse box is at fault...

anyone hace an icu to sell?

 

I'm ordered a icu and well be here Thursday. Let you know what happens

 

Just so you aren't supprised, The ICU has nothing to do with the lighting circuit. But its possible it will fix your wiper problem.

For an explanation of the ICU look at post 2 here: https://honda-tech.com/forums/tech-misc-15/what-does-icu-integrated-control-unit-do-3123264/

Your lighting problem is likely very very simple.

You changed the rear lights, now you have a lighting problem, there's a 99.99% chance that what you did changing your lights is your problem.

Did you check the brake light harness ground yet?

Are the fuses still good?

I know you say you've checked already but you need to check again. One wrong type bulb will do exactly what you are describing. Make sure you dont have a single contact bulb in a dual contact socket or vise versa.

Maybe when you replaced the pig tails, you got one backwards?

 

I pulled the tail lights and on the back it says what bulb to use as I did. I used a pigtail from my old tail light and matched color and stipe for color and stripe. That did fix one of the tail light problems that I had.i even tried putting in the old lights to see if it would help but no it did not sadly.
When i unplug the passenger head light most of my issues go away. That power wire is reading as a short but has no breaks or loose connections all the way to this wierd thing in the pas. footwell. I was looking at several wireing diagrams and in one I saw that there's a wire that goes to the icu from the head light.that and I read a couple of treads were they had similar problems and a few people were explaining tail tail signs of a bad Icu. Several of witch I have. which leads me to believe that the icu is at fault but I'll have to wait and see cuz I've tried everything and even a couple of fellow tech are like wtf

I do have a question tho.if there was a bad bulb shouldn't the problem go away if I take the bulb out? I ask cuz the corners are not replaced but I've unplugged to see if the problem stops. I have the passenger head light disconnected cuz it makes my front corner light dim and it make my alternator full field.

 

What trips me out also is that I had a dual filament single ground bulb with the old lights and it worked fine

 

Yes it will go back to normal if a bad bulb is removed. but you wont know if it was the problem until you put another bulb in.

Try removing all of the tail light bulbs to see if the headlights go back to normal. I'm guessing they might, Then put the bulbs back one by one, checking after each bulb to see which bulb/socket if any is the problem.

I Find it odd that your headlight is shorted out but is still lighting up, I'm still hesitant to rule out the tail lights.


You say "dual filament sinlge ground" that sounds wrong, your dual filament bulb should look like this http://autolumination.com/visual_bul...er_bay15d.html
There are 2 contacts on the bottom of the bulb.

 

First I wana thank y'all for takeing the time to help me I out..
I know it may sound like I'm confused or am not familiar with bulbs or electronics but I am. I know some things sound wierd but this is what I'm finding.
The people who owned it b4 had did some bullshit wireing most of witth I thought I found and repaired. Been driveing the car for 2 out of the three years I owned it and haven't had anything like this for a good while now.

Today I noticed with the passenger head light unplugged its beeps with the keyin. Has been only a once in a blue moon kinda thing since ive owned it.all data shows the chime to be in circuit with icu

 

Also maybe check the headlight/signal switch if the icu(ecu?) doesn't work.

 

The icu ( integrated control unit) is like a old school body co trip module. It's a big grey game boy looking thing On the back of the fuse box.
I will definitely let you know as soon as I get the part in the mail

 

oh ok i know what you are talking about now.

 

Ok so I go it in he mail! Put that. Ad boy in and bam! Head light works as well as exert thing else again... But ( womp womp) my Passenger light is still haveing trouble fully lighting up. It's like a yellowish color. Not almost white like the other. So I'm going to wait till I got to work tommorow doi can use my voltmeter and see what's going on with that

 

Let me elaborate. The high beam works fine low beam somewhat dim on passenger side