One of the low beams on my 98 Mark VIII just went out. I’ve been looking around and discovered that the HID 9500 bulb is no longer in production, and is out of stock everywhere. I do not intend to give Ford $1,600 for a kit to convert to hologen, so if anyone can suggest how I might replace the original equipment HID 9500 with some other type of bulb I will be very happy.
Thanks in advance.
Michael
I suspect most of the Lincolns came with standard halogen headlights. The HID were a rare option…Locate a standard model in a salvage yard (you can do this online) and pull the parts needed to convert to standard headlights.
Perhaps “most”, but the Mark VIII had the HID 9500 standard. I would not mind converting to something else, or perhaps to an HID that is still in production, but I’m not sure what is involved.
You suspect wrong in this case.
You may get more help here.
here is one…How bad do you want it??
A Dremel tool and a voltmeter and I would have some standard bulbs mounted in there pretty quickly…
Halogen bulbs will not work correctly with the reflectors that are in there now for the HIDs. He would get very little usable light out that way.
Spacers could be made to find the correct (same) focal point. Not a problem.
Sorry, but I have to say it. Why do we drivers put up with the junk fancy designer headlamps they put on so many cars when the old sealed beam lamps cost about three dollars and take five minutes to replace and re-aim.
Thank you, Joseph. I was waiting for you to say this.
You’re absolutely right.
No,it is a problem. A spacer would not fix this. Go and do some research before you give advice on something you know nothing about. The way that light comes out of a HID bulb is very different than the way that light comes out of a halogen.
For $1600, I would have a pair of Sealed Beams in there so fast your head would spin.
tardis, I have forgotten more about cars than you will ever know…When junk yards can sell used bulbs for $150 and 36 hours to go, it’s time to do something different. If one bucket is unsuitable, use another bucket…It’s just plastic junk…
And you know me and what I do or don’t know how?
You may want to check this out. http://hid-solutions.com/products/Lincoln-Mark-VIII-HID-Conversion-Kit.html
Tester
Tardis is quite correct in his comments. One cannot simply throw in a set of whatever bulbs and trust them to even work, much less work properly, on this car.
Difference in reflective backing design, wire harness differences including resistor segments, and the tie in to the Lamp Module which is tied into the Message Center means that the adaptation of an oddball bulb (assuming the lights come on with more than a dull glow and they even lay most of the light beam on the roadway) means the car owner could be staring at a “Lamp Out” warning all of the time.
The earlier non-HID Mark lamps are not really an option because they are the one really weak area in design on these cars and a kit as referenced by Tester is likely the best option.
In all seriousness (and currently the owner of my 2nd Mark VIII with a no-HID option) at times I’ve actually gotten out of the car after startup at night to visually make sure the low beams are even on. And no, hazing of the external lens is not the only part of this problem.
If you want more input and lots more help keeping your '98 going, you should know about www.lincolnsonline.com.