Hijet headlamp confusion

Forum: 

I noticed a couple of days ago that the drivers side headlamp doesn't light up on dipped beam on my 94 Hijet van. However, when switched to full beam both drivers and passenger side light up no problem. Obviously my first move (After checking the fuses, which were fine) was to check for bulb malfunction, but the screws holding the light cover on the inside of the van are corroded to the point where it looks like it will be virtually impossible to access the bulb in the conventional way. It then occurred to me - is there not just one bulb inside the housing which handles both dipped and main beam? Being pretty new to Hijets and auto maintenance in general I have no idea, but the owners manual seemed to give that impression.
So I guess what I'm trying to find out is -
Are there separate filaments/bulbs, hence do I have simply a duff bulb, and if so, how the heck am I going to get to it to replace it? And if not, presumably I have some kind of wiring problem - How might I go about diagnosing and fixing this?
Any help at all would be really greatly appreciated
Thanks,
Rich Allen

Headlamp Removal

Hi,
The only other way that you will get at the headlight bulb, is from outside the van. 1) Remove one screw holding the indicator lense on. Remove indicator/sidelight unit and unplug. 2) Remove two screws holding the plastic headlight cowling in place. Pull cowling outwards to dis-engage plastic pegs on the part of the cowling that's nearest to the centre of the van. 3) You will now see 2 headlight adjustment screws on the bottom of the headlight, and one at the top. Spray these liberally with penetrating oil. Slacken the screws right off, and the whole headlight assembly will slide to one side, and come off the screws. Alternatively, remove the screws altogether. Remember though, that the screws have springs behind them. 4) You can now get at the headlight bulb, and replace it if necessary. Re-assembly is the reverse of this procedure. Obviously, you will need to re-set your headlamp aim. You can either take it to a garage and have it done on a beam setter, or get the van on level gound about 15 - 20 feet from a wall and adjust the headlamp when it's dark. You can always have it fine tuned next time you have the van M.O.T'd. Works for me !

Sorted

Hey, thanks for the suggestions. After weighing up the respective hassle I ended up simply drilling out the screws, which thankfully was a matter of a few minutes. Turns out it was just a corroded H4 connector after all! Cut it off and did a temporary solder until the new one arrives in the post, and fitted the replacement pair of bulbs I'd already bought anyway.. heh. Although the guys who sold the bulbs sent H7 by accident first and let me keep them as an apology so if I sell them on then no harm done!

Headlights

You did'nt need to order new bulb connections. The 3 pin H4 plugs are the same for most makes of car using this type of bulb. You could have gone down to your local scrapyard and cut one off a car there.

oops

Oh cock, didn't think of that. Still, one off a scrapped car might not have been much better than the one I got rid of. Ah well, too late now anyway.