i have an 87 gl and when i baught the car from the origanal owner (now a widower) i was amazed how great of a condition the car was in.

 

the night that i brought the car home i emediatly took the car out for a 300km run from victoria to nanimo and back again, the headlights suck!!!

 

i replaced the bulbs with ge 65/55w but they still were inadaquite. i replaced them with some off road only 100/80w wich were equilly bad. i took them to my dad who adjusted the headlights down quit a bit and that helped but its still dissapointing.

 

which brings me to my question...if the 65/55s and the 100/80s were almost the same in light efectiveness do i have a power suply or relay problem, my volt meter on the dash shows no issues what did i do wrong?

there might be some condensation or other junk inside the housing. a poor ground might dim the lights.

Those higher wattage bulbs are basically junk in subaru's. Their electrical wiring system is set up for 55 watt bulbs. I tried a set of the 100 watt "ricer" bulbs last winter. Even in snow, the highbeams were dimmer than standard low beams.

 

From what I found, the glass on the headlight assembly gets dirt on the inside. I soaked my headlight assemblies in 409 cleaner for a night and then rinsed them out with hot water and it made a big difference.

 

Check the lenses for holes in them. A crack usually wont let crap in there, but I've got a few holes in mine. you can use RTV to seal up the holes after you clean and dry out the assembly.

 

Bad ground could also be causing the problem. Check the wiring connectors for cracked or corroded wires

My problems have all been from condensation inside the light. It eventually causes the chromed reflector to dull and eventually rust.

 

I've had good luck finding replacement headlight lenses at the junkyard.

Most deifinately go for grounds, battery, alternator. start with the biggest. I had 87 with 4 headlights that did this. Upon changing the battery, there was an improvement, and also the alternator had a strange gum in it (not oil) that after cleaning, was the biggest improvement(take some fine grit sandpaper to the core and shell, and check there is two rows of brushes in the back cover of alternator, mine was running with just one for years!) then the headlights were very bright.

okay, update. not sure why but in the rain these new bulbs (ricer if you wish) are a huge improvement over standard...

 

lenses are clean but this seems to be my first car that has reflector (?) lenses. all of my other lenses have been perfectly clear so i'm thinking that the problem might be that i'm not used to this style of lens.

 

mild corrosion on battery but no where else, will have to wait until warmer weather before i clean that out though...unless it gets worse.

 

as for the lights not being made for high wattage bulbs i will switch them back and see if there's a difference