I'm running the typical sealed beams on my 93 right now. I can hardly see anything. Lights are new.

Anybody done an upgrade? Was thinking of trying to tuck some E-Code lights in there or maybe something else. Don't know how I will get round lamps in there yet, though. Will probably be mounting a set of Lightforces on there that I've got laying around, but want to improve the headlights themselves.

 

How much are you looking to spend?

 

Isn't that always the question?....

Don't want to spend a fortune, the E-Code lamps cost about $80 or $90 apiece.

I'm not going to use HID's, if that's your thought. I have to drive in some very cold and remote places at times. I've had bad luck with HID's in the cold in the past, and don't want to go that route again. (I still have a few ballasts laying around)

I don't know how much I want to spend, but was planning on a couple Benjamins.

 

There are housings available which accept replacement bulbs. Some may be glass, some may be polycarbonate / plastic.

I have a set of "Pilot" replacement lights with Sylvania "SilverStar" bulbs on my 91 2wd and they light up street signs 1/4 mile away, on low beam.

 

More like $90 total for the Hellas. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ersion-272021/

But creating new threads like this are ridiculous. There's so much about lights on here if you use the search function...

http://bit.ly/1f2argu

 

the older 4runners/trucks are notorious for weak headlight wiring, not sure if that applies to 2nd gen and beyond.

if you haven't already done so, measure the voltage at the connector on the back of the bulbs, with the lights on bright, even with the engine just idling... then test the battery voltage with the engine running... the numbers should be the same.

one thing that made a difference for me was going with 140 amp alternator, because it provides a lot more current at idle and low rpm's.

 

Agree with Hella. Autopals are half the price but have dark spots in beam pattern.

Agree. Search for "H4 conversion", "H4 harness". There are serious flaws in headlight wiring design, present even in newer cars (i.e., Corolla). Upgrade/ more efficient bulbs merely mask the flaws. H4 conversion harness will fix that, I would do that first.
Flaws (explained in link in my sig):

• Wires are thin (AWG 18/20?)
• Ground circuit goes from bulbs, to cabin, to dash to dimmer switch, back to engine compartment to ground inside passenger-side fender (exactly a convoluted path as 4Crawler describes it), causing a lot of resistance, a lot of voltage drops and reducing voltage that ends up across the bulbs.
• Dimmer (combo) stalk switch contacts carry high current (10 Amps on 60-watt high beam, 17 Amps on 100-watt high beams). This will shorten contact life.

 

I'm using Sylvania SilverStar bulbs for my headlights. They are a big improvement over regular yellow halogens.

 

I wasn't impressed with the silverstars. I know a few guys that think they're awesome. I'm just not one of those.

I had no idea I could do an H4 conversion. Would have searched for it if I had known. Also had no idea that Hella mad a lamp for it. My searching produced nothing useful. Apologies if it's been brought up repeatedly.

I'll probably try out the Hella H4 assemblies, and add my lights, and then pick up some good fogs. I appreciate the input, even if it's been brought up too much.

 

Many newer vehicles, even our 2007 Corolla, still have high headlight current running back into cabin to dimmer-switch combo, meaning long, thin wires and subjecting dimmer switch contacts to high currents that would pit them. Still flawed.

On stock wiring there will be a lot of voltage drops, meaning power goes to heating up the wires instead of lighting up the bulb filaments. See actual readings on my headlight Retrofit Post

Yes, that would help, and so would newer, more efficient bulbs. However, those merely mask flaws of the stock circuit. H4 conversion harness, or whatever is compatible with OP's headlights is the clean, robust fix.

 

There's a couple good headlight harness writeups on here too. There's a link in the headlights thread to the one I used. Holding up nicely.

While there are voltage drops in the stock harness, provided your harness/grounds/connections are in good condition, you won't see a lot of gain from the external harness.

The external harness is a reliability mod -- and it allows you to upgrade to bulbs above stock wattage (wattage that would quickly destroy the stock harness otherwise). Bear in mind that higher wattage often isn't street legal, but if you live in a rural area, running standard low beams and extra wattage high beams is fairly safe...

 

Really?

Actual Voltage Drop Comparisons:
With Sealed Beam & Engine off

Stock Wiring After Retrofit:That and it reduces amount of power wasted on heating (fighting the resistance) of the long, thin wire of stock circuit.

 

Weird thing about low voltage to headlights is it's common for a lot of cars. I used the head light wires to activate two relays. One for high beam one for low beam. Wired the relays to headlight bulbs and presto. No voltage drop at all. Lights were wayyyyyy brighter. Then upgrade the lights them self and presto again, brighter yet.

 

Good job, IMA944T!
You just made yourself a conversion/upgrade harness. Now if you could reproduce that complete with H4 connectors so it's plug-n-play, people would prefer that, made in the U.S. of A., over the ones made in freakin', fakin' China.

Low voltage to headlights is not weird. It is to be expected with stock wiring even in newer model cars.. It's explained on headlight link on my sig. Harness minimizes voltage drop.

 

Absolutely. In the link I originally shared you can see in pictures that changing to better bulbs alone had at least 2 to 3 times the difference/gain of changing out the headlight harness. Further, everyone's harness drops will be different. I didn't compare mine until I cleaned all of my headlight grounds (ran external harness to same locations), so YMMV from what I saw. Point being, other than restrictions due to wire and distance, the switch wear and grounds themselves and wire corrosion account for most of the variance folks see in their wiring...

Also, the harness in the same link is a quality of product. Didn't see any made in statement on it, but for $30 it can't be beat (Mike's raised their prices but others still sell for $30).

 

Yes, $30-40 is definitely reasonable considering the time it takes to shop for parts plus parts cost, plus time it takes to assemble. I recommend a harness upgrade before even a bulb upgrade, especially to those planning on using off-road only high-beams. 100 Watts x 2 (meaning 17 Amps) will fry your stock wiring, and dimmer-combo switch.

 

Yes, any more powerful wattage/voltage above stock, upgrade your wiring first!