Aftermark Headlight Install Issues

I bought a set of aftermarket headlights and the installation went fine with the exception of one connector. In the attached picture, the connector does not work with the connector provided by the headlight mfg. The alignment grove is on the opposite side.

Has anyone else run into this issue? Any suggestions on how to fix this? I am currently looking into purchasing a new connector. Or possibly grinding off the alignment tab to make this work. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Yikes.....how does that happen? I dont think I'd trust it. Where did you buy these headlights? Can you return them because of this?

 

I purchased the headlights from eBay. Perhaps not the greatest idea? I have contacted the seller and they don't know why it doesn't have a matching connector either. They will accept a return though.

They seem to work well though. I can't seem to figure out what this connector does since I have full functionality of the lights.

Even though I can return them, I wanted to see if there was some way to fix the issue first.

 

That looks like it's for the side markers.

 

I just did my sons 09....if i remember correctly it had the headlight connector..one for DRL's/Turn signal and one for sidemarker light

 

That would make sense that they are side marker lights since my turn signal lights work. I did not notice that they were not illuminated. I will double-check this tonight.

I'm considering removing the alignment tab and seeing if they work. Is this a bad idea? Or worth a shot?

 

I confirmed that these lights are for the side marker lights, however, I still can't seem to make any sense of why they are different than OEM. The attached image shows both the OEM lights and the new sockets for the LED connector. You can see the alignment tab is on the opposite side like I mentioned previously. The pins of the connector looks the same, so I trying to think why cutting the alignment tab off wouldn't fix the issue. They should work. I just want a second opinion or someone to talk me out of it. Any thoughts?

 

Meh, I'd just file down the alignment tab and send it. It's not like they're nice OEM lights..

 

Thanks for all the advice. I got antsy last night and cut the tab off one side and it worked. Not sure if this will lead to problems later on, but it's just a small LED and I'm not too worried about it. I just didn't see the justification for buying additional connectors for aftermarket headlights I bought through ebay. We shall see what happens.

 

That's what I would have done too. As long as the connector clicks in place, the alignment tab isn't that necessary.

 

where did you get those shorter connectors? i recently got new headlights from ebay and my side marker connectors are too long to fit in the housing and seal.

 

Cheap headlights. Save yourself now and teturn

 

It's just two wires. Filament bulbs don't care about polarity. Some LED bulbs do, in which case you just flip the bulb in its socket.

eBay is usually the least expensive place to buy aftermarket headlights and tail lights.