2015 Kia Soul, Headlight & Turn Signal Inoperative

This 2015 Kia Soul came in with the complaint that the driver’s high beam headlight and the left front turn signal did not work. I had already done some preliminary work before getting to this point in the diagnosis. The previous work included checking the fuses, headlight bulb & it’s harness connector, codes and data. The fuses were all good, the bulb was new and the harness connector was not damaged. There was a code B2513:00 stored in the Smart Junction Block. The description was for a short to ground in the left low beam circuit.

That is when I noticed some evidence of tampering at the connector body below. I disconnected the harness connector and inspected the end that is behind the mirror in the image below. It looked fine. Then I got my mirror on a stick out to inspect the mating half of the connect that is fixed to the headlamp assembly. That is when I noticed the two bent terminals that are at the upper right of the image seen in the mirror.

I decided to get some picks out to try and bend the terminals back into position. I was able to get them partially straightened and at least away from the plastic body.

Then I could slide the end of a small screwdriver between the plastic body and the terminal to finish bending it back into position.

After they were close to being straightened out I used a pair of duckbill pliers to bend the terminals back flat and get them more aligned horizontally.

I used a pair of needle nose pliers the straighten out a little bit of twist in one of the terminals.

I used the mirror again to confirm that they were straight and back into alignment.

I then carefully attached the mating harness connector and made sure it was firmly seated. I did pull it off and put it back on to confirm the pins stayed straight.

I then had to reinstall the bulb cover that was left loose by the customer when they replaced the bulb. I had to hold it in the gap between the headlamp and the fuse box and then move it towards the outside of the car, drop it down and bring it back around to center it up on the hole. It took some wiggling and maneuvering around to get it into position and then a little more work to get it aligned and twisted to its lock stop.

The headlight and turn signal now work as they should.

To see more details please watch the video on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktY3g8BwASA

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