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'86 GL headlights


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Eek gads man, I cant drive over 45 at night! Are the Sylvania 9004XV plug and go lights? No modifications needed? I dont suppose there is a way to clean the inside of the glass without taking the whole car apart?

 

Think this is the way to go??

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Eek gads man, I cant drive over 45 at night! Are the Sylvania 9004XV plug and go lights? No modifications needed? I dont suppose there is a way to clean the inside of the glass without taking the whole car apart?

 

Think this is the way to go??

 

#1...I've found powdered dishwashing soap effective to wash the insides out. Follow with window cleaner. Of course, you'd have to take them off the car first. Then you may have rust and a reseal to deal with.

 

#2...Buy some on eBay

 

or something.

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Are the lenses really that dirty??

 

I have never done anything to my headlights, they are original (i've replaced bulbs but only with direct replacements)

 

I am running a stock alternator, and my headlights are quite frankly, the best I have ever had in a car.

 

That being the case, any time I hear someone complain about their headlights, in a Loyale-style car (ie, the big square "bug eye" single light-per-side setup) I think to myself "They probably have wiring or grounding problems.." Of course, if its the lens that is the issue, then this is all moot..

 

I *think* that the headlight switch runs a ground to the bulb.. I don't know how the positive voltage is supplied (I guess just straight through a fuse?) and I do not know if we have relays in our headlight circuit.. but I would suspect your wiring myself, and poor wiring is only going to be overtaxed by higher wattage bulbs. I have been meaning to get around to researching how this circuit is designed just so that I could actually make a post like this, that would be of more technical assistance.. BUT if you can find the answers to a few other questions I have raised (or if we could get them posted here by someone who knows) then you could use the information I wrote up here to help yourself re wire the headlight circuit. It shouldn't be a major job; nor should it cost much. My write up uses junkyard bits from a BMW, and the relays are sourceable from a number of different vehicles. Bosch components in the BMW mentioned... so its not cheap stuff. Alternately, you can buy relays of the same type with a wiring kit in a store, but that can cost $30+, where in the boneyard you should get name brand bits for less. In any case, new relays are easy to source.

 

If you come to the conclusion that the wiring may well be part of your issue (ie, your bulbs just dont seem bright enough) then I will try to help you in redesigning it; it isn't a very major task. One way to check would be to remove the bulb from its housing, leave it plugged in, and have someone turn it on.. see how bright it gets, then take the bulb out and wire it srtaight to the battery; if the bulb is significantly brighter when its directly on the battery, then your current wiring (har, har) isn't supplying enough juice. Don't worry; im NOT talking about replacing any wires in any difficult manner.

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Wow, thanks for the input. Sorry to say though, I am almost positive it is the glass. We live on gravel roads, mud, dust, which is the cause of it. I will though, take them out and have a close look. I really dont think it is the wiring. It also is the alignment, which I need to take a look at.

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Wow, thanks for the input. Sorry to say though, I am almost positive it is the glass. We live on gravel roads, mud, dust, which is the cause of it. I will though, take them out and have a close look. I really dont think it is the wiring. It also is the alignment, which I need to take a look at.

 

The problem I've seen most is that the chrome reflective backing gets dirty, pitted, and eventually flakes or rusts. You can remove the glass, pry off the little clips, and remove all plastic pieces like the adjuster inserts and what not. then put the whole assembly in a 250 degree oven. They will just pop apart with a little prying then. But really unless you want to rechrome the backing you are better off to find a set that is shiny still.

 

Glass lenses don't yellow over time like new plastic ones. Unless you have chips in your glass, you wouldn't really have much *dust* in there. Do you have condensation in them? That can defract the light and make it dim, and is the other really common cause of dim lights. (other than grounding issues which can be checked easy)

 

If you want to do a quick check of the grounds it's easy. Pull the plug off the bulb. Jumper a wire between the center pole of connector and center of bulb. Then ground either of the other bulb terminals to a good ground on the engine. One turns on hi, one lo. If it is brighter this way than normal, you have a bad ground.

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I upgraded my Loyale with some Sylvania 9007's. Check the thread out here

I have my lights aimed as low as possible and they still illuminate further and wider than the 9004 bulbs. High beams are awesome too! You just have to switch two of the wires and get rid of a couple metal tabs inside the lense backing. Gives you another option anyway.

 

Explain how you did it. The link to the other forum is a dead link.

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The link to the other forum is a dead link.

Thats a shame. I had to switch the center and right (Facing the front of the car) wires on the connectors and there are three metal tabs that keep the 9004 bulb in place, but only the top one matches up with the 9007 bulb. I cut the two tabs as far down as I could then started at them with a little file. The filing doesn't take too long and the bulb still fits in tight and secure with just the one tab and the locking ring. Switching the wires was a cut, splice, and solder job that is a little bit of a pain just because you don't have much wire to work with unless you feel like undoing a lot of the tape wrapping. You might be able to use connectors instead of splicing, but I do advise against just splicing and taping and hoping that they don't come appart while you're driving down the road.

 

The difference between the bulbs are: filament orientation, the high beam and ground are switched when comparing to the 9004's, 9004 high/low is 65/45 watts and 9007 high/low is 65/55 watts and obviously upgrading to a brighter light helped greatly.

 

I hope this helps.

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I got them out, put some dry dish soap in them and cleaned them. Lots of condensation in them. How about drilling a small hole on the back side, to allow for condensation to evaporate? Kinda like we used to do in point distributors.

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I got them out, put some dry dish soap in them and cleaned them. Lots of condensation in them. How about drilling a small hole on the back side, to allow for condensation to evaporate? Kinda like we used to do in point distributors.

Yeah, I ended up drilling tiny holes in both the top and bottom. Tried to do the top ones in a place where water can't just roll in easy. Could even fit a little rubber elbow like the side markers have. I drilled drain holes in the bottom of those too. I see lots of Soobs in the north west with standing water in the headlights and markers

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Drilled holes in them, stuck them in the oven, pryed them apart and found was needs replacing. Cleaned them all up, shined them, put them back on. Nothing but Napa for 120 miles so they suggested Super Whites. Talked to a few people about them and decided to go for it.

 

Had to drive home in the dark last night, pretty nice lighting. Way better than what I had in there. Now to find a drivers side housing, and I'llb e good to go.

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