Does anyone have a link to the 90's headlight harness upgrade? I have searched around but have not found the writeup. Maybe its on a different forum? One I have not checked?

harness upgrade?

what are you trying to do?

harness upgrade?

what are you trying to do?

I just want to upgrade the wiring to the headlights because they are dim and the passenger side plug keeps melting. A friend told me there was a harness upgrade write-up on a forum, but I have not found it. Apparently Painless performance makes, or made a harness but I cant find it on their website.

ok.

polishing the plastic headlight housing will fix the ''dim'' part of the problem.

you can buy a kit for $25 and spend less than an hour to make them like new.

easy and effective.

 

as for the melting,

go to the parts store and buy a generic ''head light connector'' replacement .

mine cost about $5 at advance auto.

i spliced it in and had no more problems.

 

if you are worried about getting the right plug,

take a picture with you,

or just cut out the connector you have and take that with you.

this one is not rocket surgery.

Generally just replacing the plug will fix the problem.

 

Agree with John, if your headlamp lenses are not crystal clear your light output will be very poor. Turtle wax sells a $10 with a lens sealer that seems to work very well. Its a bit of work because the polishing is done by hand, but gives very good results if you're patient and follow the process exactly.

 

 

Upgrading the wiring isn't difficult, but isn't really necessary unless you have a large drop in voltage reaching the lamp, or have high voltage on the ground side when the lamp is on. If you have 13v on the supply side, but have 1.5v on the ground side, you effectively only have 11.5V working voltage at the bulb.

 

Buy the wire and some weatherproof heat shrink crimp connectors. Two 4 pin relays, and two 20 amp fuse holders. The easiest way to make this work is to change the lamps from a switched ground to a switched power circuit.

Edited August 29, 201510 yr by Fairtax4me

+1 on the Turtle Wax kit.

ok.

polishing the plastic headlight housing will fix the ''dim'' part of the problem.

you can buy a kit for $25 and spend less than an hour to make them like new.

easy and effective.

 

as for the melting,

go to the parts store and buy a generic ''head light connector'' replacement .

mine cost about $5 at advance auto.

i spliced it in and had no more problems.

 

if you are worried about getting the right plug,

take a picture with you,

or just cut out the connector you have and take that with you.

this one is not rocket surgery.

I dont think that would make a difference on my glass lens, lol! This is the second plug that has melted within 8 months or so. Anyways thanks for the reply's, but I found a Painless Performance upgrade that should work. The headlight plug doesnt fit but I can just cut it and wire it in. This is supposed to increase the voltage to the bulbs and brighten them up a bit, or I can at least run higher wattage bulbs.

Ok so got the Painless Performance harness installed on the 97 OBS. Not so painless after all!! First the harness plug wouldnt connect into my headlight pug. Had to cut the top half off to make it fit. Second i couldnt unplug the headlight connectors after connecting to the bulbs. IDK what the hell kind of super plug Painless uses but once you put it on good luck taking it back off!! Ripped the back completely off one bulb trying to unplug it. Chewed up both new plugs pretty good trying to pry them off with a screwdriver. Third!!!! When I did the first test both hi and low beams worked. Cut the power and ground to length and reconnected but now only low beams. Maybe the relay? IDK. The lows are brighter than before, but that doesnt really help without hi beams. Any ideas out there?

Well finally got to the bottom of the problem with no hi-beams. After going through everything with a volt meter, turns out that the Painless Performance harness had a bad connection inside one of the relay plugs. Had to pull it apart, but when I did it was no attached and the wire was clamped down so tight that is just cut right right through it. Im gonna call them back tomorrow!