Melted headlight connectors?

[JDH,Yaris]

I have a 2008 yaris with the factory headlights and connectors, last night my low beam went out and thought it would be a simple fix, after looking at it closer this afternoon I noticed both of my headlight connectors are completely melted and need to be replaced, I have never experienced this before in any other car I have owned, is this a defect in design or is something electrically wrong..?

[CoryM]

Hmmm. A little unusual for both to be like that (and for no one else to have had the problem). Chances are they fit between the metal parts of the connector and the bulbs was poor. Poor fit=high resistance=heat. Possible cheap or wrong bulbs?

[MadMax]

Have you owned it since new? Could be a previous owner (if there was one) may have replaced the original bulbs with higher output ones.

I had the same problem with my Jeep, put in some IPF Fatboys which is a common upgrade; but lost a low beam one night and when I went to replace it, the connection had partially melted. I was able to get new bulbs in but nothing as bright as the IPFs as I don't need a complete wiring meltdown.

Otherwise, I have not heard of anyone having this problem with the stock bulbs; or at least it isn't common...

Cheers! M2

[JDH,Yaris]

Yes, I have owned the car since it was from the dealership. I'm wondering if it could have been caused by the alternator; because I have been noticing that my lights flickering for a few months now, didn't think anything of just past it off as the vehicle was getting older and mileage as well (100,000miles) I had a charging system test done last summer and everything was fine, I primarily did that to see if it was time to change the battery or not, still running on the factory battery to this day.

[CoryM]

There are other parts of the car that are far more sensitive to incorrect voltage than the headlamps. I would guess the flickering was from loose connections. Have you replaced the bulbs? Or ever removed the connectors before? It's possible there was a bad run of connectors from factory that didn't fit snug and you got two of them. Usually that end up being lots of bad ones though, not just a few.

I would suggest replacing the harness and replacing the bulbs and see if your lights still flicker. Also would be a good idea to measure the voltage at the connector.

Cheers.

[contraband831]

what voltage light bulb are you using? I use 100w but i bought heavy duty connectors from micro image, you can find them on ebay as well, which keeps the oem connectors from melting.