change search input field color

Hello James, 

Are you talking about the search bar on the front (main) page? 

If so, try the following code:

.hc-search-input input.special {
    border-top-right-radius: 0;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 0;
    background-color: black;
}

 It will change it like this:

Kind of, not the entire bar, just the placeholder text!

Oh I see, try the following (this works in chrome):

input::-webkit-input-placeholder{
    color:red;
}

This works for me (tested in Chrome).

LOL Look up, I tried that, and nope.... Adjust to include the input and still the same.

I have the input text in black but not the darn placeholder.....

 Tried this and without the "input"

input::-webkit-input-placeholder{
    color:#000  !important;
}
input:-moz-placeholder {
 color:#000 !important;
}
input:-ms-input-placeholder {
 color:#000 !important;
}

 And result is same for all browsers

On inspector I am seeing the styling applied but still its not displayed.... I was thinking myabe some script but as we havent added anything I am really at a loss on this one...

That is very odd...

Out of curiosity, which browser (and version) are you trying? 

I tried in both Chrome and Firefox (latest versions).

I added these to my stylesheet and it seemed to do the trick:

input::-webkit-input-placeholder{ /* Chrome */
    color:red;
}

::-moz-placeholder { /* Mozilla Firefox 19+ */
   color:    red;
   opacity:  1;
}

 This one is from Firefox:

I tried the code you pasted in your first post. 

Can you remove the two lines: 

.ui-autocomplete, .ui-state-hover, .ui-state-active, #support-search-input, .ui-autocomplete-input {color:#000 !important;}

.ui-autocomplete-input::placeholder {color:#000 !important;}

 And only have:

::-webkit-input-placeholder { /* Chrome/Opera/Safari */
  color:#000 !important;
}
::-moz-placeholder { /* Firefox 19+ */
  color:red !important;
}
:-ms-input-placeholder { /* IE 10+ */
  color:#000 !important;
}
:-moz-placeholder { /* Firefox 18- */
  color:#000 !important;
}

And see if that works? 

got it now, thx very much :)