Smoke from steering column problem

[jgautosport]

So tonight I was driving with the headlights on (first time ever since I've owned the car). and I noticed after about 10 minutes of driving smoke was coming from my steering column. I turn off the headlight switch and smokes gone. So I pull the column covers off and try it again waiting for the smoke and it seems the smoke is coming from the white square piece leading into the turnsignal switch.with the red and black wire leading into it. It was also too hot to the touch.

 

All the connectors from the firewall forward were cleaned and checked. The only thing different from the stock setup that I have are cheap ebay round headlights that use H4 bulbs.

 

Im thinking maybe the cheap headlight bulbs are the culprit. They were already installed in the lenses and had no voltage / wattage rating on them to see.

 

Has anyone else switched over to the H4 bulb setup and experienced any problems? I may just switch back to stock since the light output is horrible on these these anyway.

 

I did not do any type of upgrade or relay add on to this set up, just the new housings and bulbs plugged in.

 

Any info would be much appreciated. I have an autocross im attending tommorow night and Im driving to and from there and need my headlights. Thanks

[Zinpieces]

Hold the presses, and call the fire department Batman! Probably you are drawing too much current through the headlight switch. When converting to halogen lamps you usually need to put relays in the circuit. Let the headlight switch operate the relay and power the lamps from a higher wattage source. Had the same problem in my Buick when i installed xenon lamps, four relays later no problem. 2 relays were enough, i get carried away!

Hope this helps!

[jgautosport]

Thank you, added a relay, no hot wires, so far so good. Didn't have time to do it right through the switch but put the headlights on its own circuit with a toggle switch and relays. This weekend ill correct it. Thanks again for your help

[cygnusx1]

I run sealed beam halogens through the stalk and my same connector was getting pretty hot.  Turns out the connector had too much resistance.  I cleaned and re-crimped the wire at the connector and it stays much cooler.  However, relays are the ultimate solution.

[jgautosport]

They were pretty gunked up when I pulled it off, when I rewire it. I'll keep that in mind. I'll clean and check the connection and still use the relay set up. Just glad I learned something from this. Hopes it helps someone else in the future.