My old 1989 Ford Tempo had the same problem.I use the high beam setting most of the time to drive at night even with new clear lenses.It didn’t seem to bother incoming drivers.
Forget EBAY , talk to a shop near you and see if they have a solution . If you can’t see at night you might hit something that will more expensive then solving this problem .
I’ll play devil’s advocate and suggest perhaps it’s not impossible to design an LED bulb that works well in a halogen headlamp housing.
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I would, and I would choose a halogen bulb that’s rated for high brightness. Note that it won’t last as long as a regular bulb would be
if you do it yourself, the assemblies are $250 and $252 on Rock Auto if you have the 3.5 L V6 or $284 and $285 if you have the 3.7L V6
I personally don’t buy parts from E-Bay
I bought mid-priced assemblies from Rock Auto for my 1999 Honda and 2007 Chrysler, after I had polished them with some improvement. The new ones were like night and day. They had a bit of stray light projection that had not been present with the factory originals, but with their great price advantage I accepted that. Rock Auto replaced one under warranty that started to leak just under a year. No more problems, except the Honda was totalled and I fixed it, including another new assembly from Rock.
Silverstar halogen bulbs are sold in most parts places, Walmart, etc. and I bought those locally. Have used them for many years.
I like working on cars but am no pro. I use Haynes manuals and recently also youtube videos (although there’s lots of bad practices and workmanship on some.) There’s some amount of disassembly needed, but take it step by step. That’s how the pros do it.
You may have something there on that point!
Good advice -Thank you!
First things first: are the headlights aimed properly?
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With very few exceptions, the low beams are outboard and the high beams are inboard. Further, when an assembly has one projector and one simple reflector (like the one shown), the projector is the low beam. For those two reasons, I would bet $ that the low beam is on the right.
I had the reflector bowls behind the projectors in a 2004 BMW literally turn brown from heat and age. Almost no light came out. I was able to buy a kit with just the reflectors from an Acura and with a little dremmel tool work, make them fit.
Does it date me to say I remember a time when headlamp fogging was unheard of because they used glass instead of plastic? Fancy shapes and mandates created the fogging problem.
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Precisely. The DOT’s rescinding of the rule requiring sealed beam headlights caused all this.
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With vehicle/pedestrian impact standards the manufactures can’t go back to using glass for headlamps.
Why can’t they make a plastic light that look’s like and install’s like the sealed beam it seem’s to me that would bring the cost down and would make it DIY friendly to change it out?
TO ALL WHO WERE HELPING ME.
THANK YOU!
Problem solved. I switched out from halogen bulb to a good led bulb. Big difference, at least on my vehicle.
Like night and day!
Bye - leaving forum
If the car hits the pedestrians hard enough that the glass breaks I don’t think plastic lenses would make a difference in them walking off. What’s the concept there?
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Out of curiosity, what was the brand of the LED lights that worked for you?
Ed B.
But, the problem is not universal.
My observation–which is admittedly anecdotal–is that Mercedes sedans seem to suffer this problem to a greater extent than most other marques.
My 2011 Outback–which is garaged most of the time–has not suffered this problem, but–then again–neither has my friend’s 2008 Rav, which is not garaged. I have seen slightly newer Ravs with this problem, so I have no explanation for why my friend’s Rav hasn’t suffered this problem after 12 years.
Probably different plastic formulation makes for variation in their sensitivity to UV from sunlight, which is what degrades the lenses. Keeping them garaged should help.