Headlight Socket Replacement

[spadez911]

Hey i have a camry, 95-97 and the headlight socket needs to be replaced...can anyone tell me how to do this and if it is hard to do also??? the socket has a short so i wanted to kno if i should jus cut off the old one and splice the wire and put the new one on

[spadez911]

its a 3rd gen camry

[88 LE]

1. Cut the old socket off.

2. Match up the wires, solder, and heat shrink.

[spadez911]

can i jus cut the wires off and then line them up and twist em together and then i put electrical tape over it?? is the soldering and the heat sink really necessary??

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by spadez911

can i jus cut the wires off and then line them up and twist em together and then i put electrical tape over it??

No.

Twisting wires together and taping is not a good connection. I refer to it as ghetto rigging.

is the soldering and the heat sink really necessary??

For a good connection, you want to solder the wires together. And since its for something important (headlights) I would highly recommend that you solder the wires together.

If you don't want to use heat shrink, you can use electrical tape to cover up the connections.

I just like heat shink cos it looks cleaner and seals tighter then electrical tape.

[spadez911]

lol ok thanks for the info....very appreciated

[alex86]

hrmm the wires are so big to twist and have so many in one place. any good ideas on how to solder and connect the wires together correctly? ill take a pic of the wires later today.

[anuthaCamry]

Instead of soldering, consider using butt connectors which are hollow insulated barrels of metal that are compressed (crimped) onto stripped wire. If you don't have an electrical multi-tool, for stripping and crimping, you can probably buy one for like 5-10 dollars. The butt terminals are about 1.80 for about 5 or so and can be bought at any hardware store. Toyota's wiring harness repair manual recomends using this procedure and also to completely wrap the connector and about 1/2" of the surrounding wires with electrical tape in one direction and then in reverse with another piece to protect from moisture.

I think that they sell headlight sockets at auto parts stores.

[alex86]

here are a couple pics of wat the wires look like after stripping and its all clumped up and alot of wires. would it still work with the butt connectors? and all u would do is strip the wires on the plugs and wires on the harness on the car and just put it together in the butt? and how?

[CraigW]

Soldering and heat shrink is best, If you use the butt connectors they can work loose over time, Try to get them clamped tight as possible. Just do 1 wire at a time matching the two plugs up side by side.

[alex86]

....thats no good its gonna take me a long tyme but ill prob just do butt connectors unless i some how get my friend to come over nd solder. but ill do wat i can.

[500KCamry]

You can also get heatshrink with an internal glue/sealer (can't remember the name for it), when it is heated and shrinks, the glue melts and oozes out. It seals the soldered electrical connection, making it weather/moisture protected. Not sure how small this type of shrink goes to, but you can always cover each connection individually with normal heat shrink, then use the sealer shrink over the bundle of joints.

That sealing shrink is darn good stuff.

[toyrolla]

I just replaced one on my Gen2 daily driver.

With solder, heatshrink, and tape; it takes 30 minutes or less.

Let's go! Change it!

Hehehehehehe.......

[alex86]

fun....my friend has that electrical tape goo stuff which turns from liquid to like a plastic adhesive(sp?) that thing works charms. ill prob go buy that

[karshin]

Hi all. I was wondering where I could buy one of these sockets. My Camry is a 1990, and I need the socket as well as the black screw-on retaining collar. Am I SOL as far as the retaining collar goes? Thanks.