[rob1234]

Good morning all,

I'm not an electronic expert, so I was hoping you guys can guide in the right direction. I bought a 2011 mustang V6 Pony Package, and I wanted to have the HID headlights as the GT's (same year). So I bought the GT OEM HID headlights. You can find them in the following link

Ford Mustang LH Xenon Headlight 10 11 12 2010 2011 2012 New | eBay

The headlights low beam work just fine, but I'm having issues with the high beams. When the low beams are on and I turn on the high beam, they would stay on for like half a second, and then the headlight would turn off. It would turn back on when I go back to the low beams.
If the head lights are off and I try to flash the high beams, the high beams would not turn on at all even though I hear something inside the housing (maybe the balast).
I called the guy who did the job, and he said the mustang v6 "does not support the headlights". Is that actually true? Or the guy just didn't know what he was talking about.

After looking at his job, I'm not sure I trust him (I see two wires coming off straight from the battery into the headlight).

An advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Siber Express]

Actually it is not that the car is a V6 since both cars had the HID option, it sounds like he has it wired to the flash to pass part of the light.
As for the 2 wires, are they going to positive or negative?
Ford Service Manuals - Wiring Diagrams

 

[rob1234]

First of all Thanks for your response.

I first wanted to make sure if the whole "GT headlights are not supported in v6" was accurate or not.
The wires are attached to the positive battery post each holding a 10 Amp fuse, I haven't traced them all the way to the headlight yet. However, I know they go to the headlight because I accidentally blew a fuse one time and the headlight stopped working.
Is there any documentation on how to wire the harness that goes to the headlight?

 

[rob1234]

I saw that the harness plugged into my headlight takes 4 wires.

I looked at the diagram provided by Siber Express.
Are those the 4 wires from the diagram? If so, what do you mean with "has it wired to the flash"? Are you wondering if the high beam wire is not connected to the "smart junction" box?

Thanks again

 

[Siber Express]

You have a Flash to Pass on the HID, it is just that it flashes for a second when you are actually warning someone you are passing, the regular headlamps will just stay on high beam if you hold the lever back.
I have a 13 so it is different wiring than the 10-12 but the V6 as well as the GT had a HID option, it was not stock on either until the 2013.

 

[rob1234]

Ah ok, but I don't see a Flash To Pass label on the wiring diagram you provided. I only see 4 ... ground, low beam, battery power, and the high beam relay.
Are these headlights supposed to flash on high beams? In order words, are they not meant to stay on high beam?
I hardly ever use them, but my inspection sticker is due, and they won't pass it if the high beams don't work, i tried already.

 

[eats7]

The SJB Passenger fuse box, would need to be programmed for the factory hids. Dealer will do it. I had to replace my SJB, and the dealer said it needed to be reprogrammed for my factory hids(it was a used SJB)

 

[rob1234]

Interesting point, but I don't see any differences in the smart junction box between an HID and non-HID lights in the diagram

 

[eats7]

There aren't any differences physically, only that it needs to be programmed to work with hids correctly. It's a software setting

 

[rob1234]

In case anyone runs into this problem...I made a lot of research on this issue, and found several approaches to fix it. This may or may not be applicable to your vehicle, but hopefully it would guide you to the right direction.

eats7 is correct, there is no difference physically on the smart junction box (SJB), and it doesn't work the same way when the vehicle doesn't come with HIDs from factory. The reason is this, for mustangs that DON'T come with the HIDs from factory, the SJB would EITHER send low beam OR high beam, this is the way halogen lights (non-HID) work. In order words, when the low beam is hot, the high beam is not, and when the high beam is hot, the low beam is not. This functionality would cause problems if you put OEM HIDS.

The OEM HIDs work different, they must ALWAYS receive low beam, even if the high beam is on. All the high beam does is move a shutter inside the headlights that moves the light further up, so the headlights would still need the low beam to keep the lights on.

There are several options to make them work


1. Just as eats7 suggested, reprogram the smart junction box to always send low beam even if the high beam is on. This is probably the ideal solution. Only the dealer can do that and the price may not be cheap.

2. Install a relay that switches with the high beam coming from the SJB. The high beam would still go to the high beam of the headlight, but it would also go to the relay switch. The relay would be connected to the low beam of the headlight, so when the high beam is on, the low beam would also be hot.

3. Install a separate switch whose sole purpose is to send power to the high beam. This approach would disable the factory high beam switch .

I hope this would help somebody that ran into the same problem.
Thanks everybody for your help.

 

[eats7]

If you're curious as to why this is, the hids actually have a shutter covering the top part behind the bulb, and when the high beam switch is activated, it raises the shutter so you can see the whole bulb. This is why the wiring is different. The low beam wire is always in because it's actually powering the hids weather or not it's low or high beam.

 

[SquidBillyPaul]

Dang.... Always learning something new around here! :smile:

 

[davidwli]

Good morning all,

I'm not an electronic expert, so I was hoping you guys can guide in the right direction. I bought a 2011 mustang V6 Pony Package, and I wanted to have the HID headlights as the GT's (same year). So I bought the GT OEM HID headlights. You can find them in the following link

Ford Mustang LH Xenon Headlight 10 11 12 2010 2011 2012 New | eBay

The headlights low beam work just fine, but I'm having issues with the high beams. When the low beams are on and I turn on the high beam, they would stay on for like half a second, and then the headlight would turn off. It would turn back on when I go back to the low beams.
If the head lights are off and I try to flash the high beams, the high beams would not turn on at all even though I hear something inside the housing (maybe the balast).
I called the guy who did the job, and he said the mustang v6 "does not support the headlights". Is that actually true? Or the guy just didn't know what he was talking about.

After looking at his job, I'm not sure I trust him (I see two wires coming off straight from the battery into the headlight).

An advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I also converted my 2012 halogens units to the OEM HID units. Sounds like your wiring is incorrect ( also doesn't matter if it's a V6 or GT as others have stated) . I bought a plug and play relay wiring harness from Retro-Solutions.com to connect my HID headlights and they work perfectly (low beams and high beams). Retro solutions was also able to customize my relay harness to account for Canadian Mustangs which are programmed to use DRL's. If you can't figure out the proper rewiring of your install , contact Retro solutions and they can build a custom harness that will bypass the smart junction box and allow your HID's to work properly. Email them at ; [email protected]