H13 is the correct lamp. You have a short in the wiring. Trace the wiring back to the source until you find it. Or replace the wiring harness.

 

 

It won't really matter, but it does kinda prove things. Middle wire should be the ground, black wire. Which means both the low and high beams connect to it. The outer two wires are one for low and one for high. If its the one gettin' burnt, somethings causing it to be over-amped with juice... which is why I think it's a short somewhere. You said this was a wreck, so someone didn't find something when they put it back together. Hence a short. Hence you actually have to trace things backwards, maybe use a multimeter on each end of the harness, and get a wiring diagram for the car. Here's one: http://iihs.net/fsm/?d=40&f=Headlamps.%20Autolamps.pdf

Hope that helps ya out a little bit more.

 

another thought: I wonder if it might have to do with the fog lights? Maybe drawing power through the same circuit as the headlights? How are the fog lights wired; do they have a separate switch? Just grasping at straws but I think it's worth a look.

 

 

hmmmm . . . the ground wire just goes directly to ground, doesn't it? Probably a chassis ground, or direct to negative terminal of battery?

I don't think you can have a short on the ground wire; or if you did, it would not make any difference, because it connects straight to ground anyway.

It sounds like what is happening is, there is too much current coming from the positive side of the circuit; and the ground connector/wire cannot handle it so it is getting hot and melting. So if that is the case, you need to figure out why there is so much current coming in to that circuit.

but I could be all wrong, I hate troubleshooting electrical problems! :-)