Thread: Headlight problems

Well I bought new headlights got stockies and have a set of 55w HIDs to go in tomorrow. here is the problem(s)

1. the low beam pattern sux nothing like stock
2. the little black thingy in the headlight is different then the stock ones (that might be why they have a different pattern)
3. after hooking them back up I have no high beams at all


BUT since the old headlights were hazed over and the chrome was most of the way gone I can see MUCH better just with the halogen bulbs

just wish my high beams worked so I could see if there is any improvement there

sorry my cell phone camera sux so I got to change the gamma so you can see the pattern in the picture.....ok so the camera on my phone sux so bad I can't fix it but what I can see in the pattern is that it looks like a (J Z) pattern the "J" being the pattern of the left headlight and the "Z" being the pattern of the right headlight

the pattern might bleed out when I put the 55w HID kit in

is it possible to have burned out both high beams at the same time? Is there a fuse somewhere just for the high beams? Is having 3 jobs broken my brain so I can figure this out ?

well here is a picture the picture looks like the headlights are perfect but I can see there are not



thanks for any help
4play

well going to go pick up my 55w HID kit back in a few mins

HID kit installed just need to tweak it a little
I will be reading BackinBlack's post on HIDs
before


after

show pics of your housing please, light off and on from front

Originally Posted by TheBeastGTP

show pics of your housing please, light off and on from front

they are stock housings but I will take a pic when I leave for work and post them when I get home

I will post a pic of close up for you

like this or closer?

more headlight pictures

I really wish I had a better camera to take these pictures

here is a close up of the lights while off


here is a picture of them on


here is a picture of the beam pattern

I might have them in wrong now that I think of it since they are for both the 9007 and the 9004

I'm going to tinker with them Wed night any ideas till then will help greatly

thanks

what kind of bulb is that, a d2s with a 9007 base. If it is make sure your return wire on the bulb is facing down. give me a link or show me a pic of the bulb by itself. Sorry to be so pic happy but i cant tell whats up with your bulb.

Ive done retro fits many times with lexus, infinity, acura projectors into housings before. The factory housing on our car is really not made to throw the light of an hid bulb correctly, i will admit it is better than stock though.

as far is the pattern is concerned with a projector it has a shield inside to provide the correct beam pattern, it is called a "step", that is the pattern it makes on a wall. If yours is flaring or making odd patterns i would be willing to bet the bulb is not not seated well, maybe a base issue. If it is seated well then its something else with the bulb, like rotation. If this is not the culprit then i would say that is the way they intended it to look from the place you bought it. Let me know

Wow thanks for the info

I measured the bulb looks like the arc is at 1.8" so Im going to take it back .100"
the return line that I think your talking about is not pointing down on the one bulb and the other its just a hair off

I'm trying to figure out a way to make either a new shield for inside the headlight or fix the one that is in there

this seems like its going to be a bigger project then I thought. I think I will put one of my jobs on hold till I get these fixed
I really could use a day off anyways I aint had a day off in a while. working 7 days a week for 3 months straight sux

I dont mind posting pics if it help solve the problem

I'm just having problems getting all the pics on here since I can only have so many at once

dont worry about the shield in your light housing, its merely to keep the light focused. I am more concerned about seating and rotation. Just remove the far away shot if you need to add another pic

they seat just fine I was just worried about focusing them
they sit in the housing firm with very little movement better then the halogens sit in there
I have some gaskets and spacers I'm going to try tonight to move them back .100" and I might take the old shield out of the other housings just in case since that seems to be the only difference between the two headlight housings

OK FINALLY I got them fixed I moved the bulbs back .100". Now they look great just have to spend a little more time aiming them.

Lowbeam


Highbeam

ok the drive home was interesting either my lights sux or they rock not sure yet but the beam pattern on the ground infront of my car is awesome it looks like and arrow point the direction the car is moving

about 20 feet in front of the car you can clearly see and arrow pointing forward

I would like to see the beam pattern from a set of spyder projectors with a set of HIDs in them I might change my mind and buy a set if the beam pattern is better

I dont really care for the hot spots in the beam pattern of the stock lights I would like an evenly distributed beam but since I havent seen the beam pattern on the projectors I don't know if I wanna but them