HID Bulb Replacement

[Robert Crain]

Greetings,
My 2003 LS has the HID headlamp system. I’d like to start the new year with a fresh set of bulbs. It doesn’t look like the headlamps have ever been touched and they seem a bit dim to me. Lots of vendors offer the low beam HID bulbs but I can’t find anything for the high beams. What recommendations can you make? Thank you and have a great day. Rob

 

[joegr]

The high beams are halogen, not HID. HIDs don't start fast enough to be useful for flash-to-pass, so they aren't used in the high beams.

For the low beams, the good HIDs are over $100 a bulb. Better to stay with the old factory ones than to go with the cheap ones.

 

[Robert Crain]

Thanks Joegr, Good to know and much appreciated. Does Ford Motorcraft still make the bulbs for this car? Rob

 

[xford]

I recently used these on my 2006 and am happy with them- I believe factory are Phillips
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bulb finder
philips

 

[joegr]

Thanks Joegr, Good to know and much appreciated. Does Ford Motorcraft still make the bulbs for this car? Rob

The original factory bulbs were Phillips. Ford parts does still sell HID bulbs for the LS. They add a pretty good markup.

Are you sure that the brightness decrease isn't due to the headlight lens clouding up?

 

[Robert Crain]

Although I keep the outside of the headlamps clean and polished, there is some moisture and haze on the inside of the lens and that is indeed part of the problem. I had both assemblies out of the car yesterday but there doesn't seem to be much I can do. There doesn't seem to be any obvious cracks or flaws in either headlamp assemblies. I don't know how to fix that problem so I should at least make sure the bulbs are as bright as they can be. Were the HID bulbs intended to last the life of the car? Rob

 

[joegr]

I think that the intent was for them to go at least 150K miles.

 

[xford]

I have 145k miles on my 2006 and the new HID bulbs made a noticeable improvement in light output. That said living in California I don't have interior lens issues to deal with.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

Robert,

I recently had to replace my original HID bulbs... after 220k miles.

DO NOT touch the bulb with your fingers... or you will be buying another one. Also... a little dielectric grease at the connection on the back of the bulb... and the connector plugs on the assemblies... is beneficial.

Advance Auto sells a Sylvania D2R bulb that is direct replacement. If you ask nicely, they might give you a discount.

As a regular... I got mine at 20% off... so around $80 apiece + tax.

As far as your lenses... I work with a guy that does headlight restorations... and conversion jobs using the proper reflectors.

He says his technique to get the lenses apart is to heat them up in the oven at 200 degrees until they pull apart.

Then he buffs the lenses inside... cleans up the seams... and uses fresh butyl tape... and heats them back up until the butyl tape gets soft... and then squeezes them back together.

 

[FDR]

As far as your lenses... I work with a guy that does headlight restorations... and conversion jobs using the proper reflectors.

He says his technique to get the lenses apart is to heat them up in the oven at 200 degrees until they pull apart.

Then he buffs the lenses inside... cleans up the seams... and uses fresh butyl tape... and heats them back up until the butyl tape gets soft... and then squeezes them back together.

That works for 95% of gen 1 housings with rubber butyl sealant. That does not apply to any gen 2 assemblies, as they are permaseal. There are some talented retrofitters that can bake/pull/bake/pull/bake/pull a dozen times to crack permaseal (with cold glue tools wedged in there), but that's not a task for a newbie. Butyl softens with heat and will stretch like silly putty. Perma has to have the adhesion broken and then you have to tediously clean out the channel. The inside of the lens is also notoriously easily scratched

 

[04_Sport_LS]

There are some talented retrofitters that can bake/pull/bake/pull/bake/pull a dozen times to crack permaseal (with cold glue tools wedged in there),

And that's what my coworker says he does... 7 minutes at a time.

Yeah... the butyl tape is usually only one 7 minute turn.