Overheated, melted electrical connectors in headlights is a failure that is becoming more common in older vehicles in which the headlights have been configured to be ON when the car is ON. There are safety benefits to having the headlights on and convenience benefits to not possibly forgetting to turn the headlights off, so let’s not quibble about the cause of the failure but come up with a workable solution…
Sample Headlight Connectors
photographed by David Winters During a routine bulb replacement, we may discover melted electrical connectors, which require replacement. If we replace melted materials with the same materials, they are likely to melt again. As an improvement to this repair, we have added to our inventory of parts a heavy-duty electrical connector with larger wires that can be soldered in place to replace the original (melting) plastic connector. This robust connector can handle the heat produced when headlights are on constantly. From our experience, this heavy-duty connector is a permanent solution.