I think the dealership cut a headlight wire. Help?

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Big K

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So after bringing my truck to the stealership for the stumbling issue that was going on, they fixed it but now my high-beam on the drivers side isn't working. I know it was working fine before I took it there, so I was wondering if anyone had pics and could explain to me how it works so that I can fix it and prove that they purposefully rigged it to fail. Any takers? They said my light burned out, but I swapped the left an right headlight bulbs and the one that was "burnt out" worked fine. Now I'm on a missions to prove that they screwed me.
 
This is exactly why I don't go to any dealerships or shops that I don't know the people personally. Good luck trying to prove it, it's your word against theirs.

:angry::fire:

Did you find the wire cut?
 
No, partly because I don't know how many wires are supposed to go to the headlight, which controls the high-beams, etc...



If someone could explain to me how it's supposed to work then I'll look at it and see what I can find.
 
Check your fuses. The left and right high beams are on different circuits. The left is fuse #38, 10A in the battery junction box.
 
I agree with l1tech, you are overly paranoid.



More likely just a coincidence that your headlight died. Look at the wiring harness and socket. it may show signs of corrosion, or the wires may be frayed. Remember that if the wire is not cut near the headlight, the rest of the wires are wrapped in a loom. So why would any dealership want to take the time to open the loom to cut the wire to one of your headlights.



...Rich
 
3 wires go to the headlight.



1 ground, one +12V for low beam, and another +12 V for the high beam.



When you turn on your headlights, your switch sends a 12V signal to a relay that sends a 12V current to your headlight. It does the same thing when you turn on your high beams.



Seriously, if you do not understand simple electric circuts, you have no business under the hood. Find another mechanic and let him or her find what is wrong.





Tom
 
ALSO people never realize SLAMMING the hood is the #1 cause of week headlight bulbs to fail....



Todd Z
 
I recently had a dealer cut the ground strap between the battery and the frame. I drove the car in, and when I went to pick it up after they "fixed" the issue it was in there for, it would not start. They pushed it into the service bay and gave me the "we need $150 to diagnose a no-start" line. I saw that it was 100% dead so i went to the battery. Positive was fine, but when i tudgged on the negative cable, it came up from under the batter tray and had a clean cut - no green, no dull copper - bright shiny wire and an obvious cut from a pair of dikes. I reached in my pocket and called AAA for a tow. The service mamager thought I was calling the Cops and staryed yelling at me. What a scene.



If you replace the bulb and it is fine, it wass just bad luck. But.....
 
tony,

Why was your vehicle at the dealers in the first place? If they had done some work on it they should have been willing to see why your vehicle would not start after they serviced it. I think you jumped the gun when you found the cut cable and had the vehicle towed. Had you notified the dealer that the cable had been cut, they may have offered to fix it for free....since it happened while in their possesion.



My guess is that they fixed your vehicle, parked it in their lot, and perhaps someone tried to steal the vehicle or wanted to break-in and steal something in the vehicle. They crawled under the vehicle an cut the cable to insure that not alarms would go off. If that was the case, I think the dealership would have been responsible to replace/repair your cut battery cable, but I don't think they deliberately cut it. In legal terms, that is called a Balement which means they need to return the vehicle to you in the same condition they received it. Since you drove the vehicle to their shop, the cable was not cut when you brought it in.



...Rich
 
So I fixed it today. I did find a cut ground wire, so I fixed her up and it's all good now. The dealership contacted me saying that they did discover that one of their employees had confessed to cutting the wire, and have offered me free service should I ever feel comfortable bringing my vehicle back to them. I know that I was more likely being paranoid than not because I can get like that, but I feel good knowing that I was right and that all is fixed now.
 
Someone actually confessed to cutting the wire?? Did he tell them why? I just don't see any point in doing that..What was he trying to gain or prove?



Oh well, I guess that just proves that there are just more horse's asses in this world than there are horses.



...Rich
 
Well I guess I should retract my statement a bit... The lady I talked to on the phone didn't say he confessed, but a technician "admitted" to cutting a wire. My thought it that he was probably telling a coworker about it and someone overheard, but I don't care. My truck is fixed, a dirty mechanic learned a lesson.. All is good.



Nick
 
Did the technician "admit" to cutting the wire maliciously, or was it an accident?



I can't claim to be an expert on psychology--though I have seen criminal minds--but I can't see what any mechanic gets out of screwing with your headlights.



"Dude, I totally just like cut that guy's headlight cord, just to $*T# with him" ??



Maybe they could glean extra money out of you, but charging you for replacing the wire would make you suspicious, and claiming it was just a bulb is 20 bucks or so. This can't be worth 20 bucks to them, right?



It's not as though they even had anything close to a "reason" for this, right? They didn't have an axe to grind with you?? Sorry, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this; I'm already paranoid about most repair shops, and this horror story isn't helping.
 
I didn't get anything else out of the person that I talked to on the phone... (I think she was the service manager or something?) I, personally, as heartless as it is to say, don't care about his future with that company. All I know is that the next time something goes wrong I will take the time to learn how to fix it myself. No more service/repair shops for me. If I can't fix it, then I'll enlist the help of my friends who can. I've been pushed around and screwed over by dealerships and repair shops for too long.. It's time for me to take a stand. From hence forth I shall be known as:



Nick - The guy who (hopefully correctly) fixes things on his own. Haha.
 
I don't see how you can group all techs at all the hundreds of repair shops and say they are crooks when you catch one..



NObody likes bad apples in any line of work they do. It reflects on them all. I am sure that guy is no longer employed there.



I have worked with many techs for many years. I can count on one hand all the crooked ones... and they don't work for us anymore....



Most work hard, have gone to many years of schooling and constantly going to school to keep up to date on new technology... There is alot of room for mistake in this business, but to group them as crooked because a few, is wrong to do.



I hope your able to find and befriend a good tech, someday you might need him/her.



Brian
 

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