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New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

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Old Dec 9, 2024 | 12:07 PM
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WolfElite75's Avatar
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Car: 1984 Z28 Camaro, 1990 Firebird
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New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

Hello, I'm new to here.

I recently purchased these 4 LED headlights hoping to install them (plug and play) but they don't seem to work properly. These headlights have a low beam (6 LEDS light up) and high beam (all 15 LEDS light up) function built into them. In my testing what seems to happen when they are plugged in is when I turn on the low beams - nothing happens. When I turn the high beams - all of them light up except the inner headlights which are in low beam mode and not high beam mode.

I saw somewhere that I might need an H4 relay wiring harness but I'm not sure what to specifically get online that will work...

If anyone has had an issue like this/ have these headlights I would really appreciate anything on how to get them working properly.


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Old Dec 9, 2024 | 02:39 PM
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Re: New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

There's an article in the howto that may help, but the short version is the f-body has an h4 style plug, but it's wired differently. You can unpin and swap the wires yourself without buying a separate harness. I don't remember which version of the 'non standard' pinouts gm used, but green is high, tan is low, and black is ground. You can unpin them and move them to the 'standard' positions, and it should work. That's basically all the h4 harnesses do, unless you're wanting to wire directly to your battery.

Diagram Link

That link shows the 'non standard' and standard wiring to give you an idea.
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Old Dec 9, 2024 | 05:50 PM
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Car: 1984 Z28 Camaro, 1990 Firebird
Engine: Carbureted 305 5.0L
Transmission: 700r4
Re: New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

Originally Posted by pirateofms
There's an article in the howto that may help, but the short version is the f-body has an h4 style plug, but it's wired differently. You can unpin and swap the wires yourself without buying a separate harness. I don't remember which version of the 'non standard' pinouts gm used, but green is high, tan is low, and black is ground. You can unpin them and move them to the 'standard' positions, and it should work. That's basically all the h4 harnesses do, unless you're wanting to wire directly to your battery.

Diagram Link

That link shows the 'non standard' and standard wiring to give you an idea.
Okay okay this is super helpful - if I may add another question to the matter - I think I found the ad of where these headlights are originally from (I got mine off of FB marketplace 2nd hand). With these two diagrams on the ad, what wires would have to be connected to the female end of a 3 prong socket to have them work properly for both low and high beams?



Edit: Totally might have read something wrong in my excitement, are you saying that any H4 harnesses would work too?

Last edited by WolfElite75; Dec 9, 2024 at 05:53 PM. Reason: Clarity
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Old Dec 9, 2024 | 10:17 PM
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WolfElite75's Avatar
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Car: 1984 Z28 Camaro, 1990 Firebird
Engine: Carbureted 305 5.0L
Transmission: 700r4
Re: New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

Originally Posted by WolfElite75
If anyone has had an issue like this/ have these headlights I would really appreciate anything on how to get them working properly.
UPDATE: I GOT THEM WORKING! Thanks to pirateofms linking the wiring diagram and my best friend John, let me explain how to get them working without having to do any sautering or having to purchase any new wiring harnesses:

The connecting pins of these headlights are a 3 pin H4 connector, as shown here. Yellow is low beam, Red is high beam, and ​​​​​is Black is ground:


Now, with this connector it is easy to stick a pick in the front where the plug parts are and pop them out and they slide out the back of the connector. By shifting the wires over one each and sliding them back in we get this orientation that matches up with my 84' Z28 Camaros wiring harness:


This oriantation allows you to plug into the two 3-prong female plugs in the wiring harness for your low beams to work. Turning on high beams will also put them into high beam mode.

That's all fine and dandy BUT what about the other two headlights? Well by doing something similar, but just using a pick to slide out the Yellow (low beam) connector on the bottom - you now have a 2 prong light! The ground and high beam are still wired allowing you to plug them into your wiring harness and the lights will turn on when you switch to high beams.

I hope this helps if anyone else comes along with this issue! You can also probably wire the high beam only headlights to work with low beams as well if you get a 3 prong adapter to sauter into the wiring. That will be a other day though! Finished product below:
Low beams
Low beams
Low beams from the front (remember the middle lights are high beam only as we disconnected the middle prong to make it a 2 prong light)
Low beams from the front (remember the middle lights are high beam only as we disconnected the middle prong to make it a 2 prong light)
High beams
High beams
High beams from the front (all 4 lights on!)
High beams from the front (all 4 lights on!)

Last edited by WolfElite75; Dec 9, 2024 at 10:36 PM.
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Old Dec 10, 2024 | 05:44 PM
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Re: New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

Awesome, glad you got it sorted.
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Old Dec 14, 2024 | 03:27 PM
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Re: New LED Headlights Not Working Properly 84' Z28

This is good information. Thanks for posting.

Fred
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