head lights on the continentals

[towncar95]

what are your thoughts on the headlight brightness and beam pattern on these cars. i have 2 new OEM headlights with silver star bulbs, they are aimed right too. it just never seems to really give a good light pattern dispersal. is that just the nature of these cars?
or was i so used to my 1995 towncar? thats about the only thing i dont like on my ESSEX :)

[ekooke]

SilverStar bulbs are just a marketing gimmick, nothing more. If you like Sylvania bulbs, get the XtraVision ones or even the cheapest Sylvania bulbs. Then, install headlight relays or just buy a ready-made relayed harness that will ensure full system voltage to the bulbs of your choice.

[98TC-Cartier]

They are shitty headlamps no matter what bulbs you put in them. Maybe even a worse design that the iron block/al head 3.8.

[Steve Moran]

I really like mine, really.
The only thing I did do was change style of bulbs from a 9004 to a 9007 it took about 1/2 hour to do it and I have been more then happy with the results.
The only things you need to do is.
1. Remove the odd tabs that guide the bulb in the headlight assy socket.
2. looking at the face of the connector socket you will notice a red plastic retainer, remove it and then with the wires in a premed shape, slide out the center wire and the most right hand wire and swap them around.
Replace the red retainer and install the bulb in the assy and you will notice the extra 10 watts more light on the dim side.
I have done this mod to all my vehicles that use 9004 bulbs with pleasing results.

If my instructions seem unclear just say something I have a un modded assy not in my car and the equipment to do the job, I can get pictures of it and post them today if you would like. It will give me a nice little indoor project today for the 100 degree day we will have today.

[pro-five-oh]

I have the same lights (same part number) on my 1988 Mercury Cougar, and they are great! Trash the silverstars and go with Sylvania Xtravisions...if your 'stars are about a year old there's a good chance they are fading fast. That's the dirty little secret they tell you, they burn blue (retarded) but they also burn hotter and shorter.

Xtravisions and new assemblies work well.

If your center lights don't flash with the turn signals, do what I did: put 55w driving lights in them.

http://www.coolcats.net/cotm/images/88sajeevx16.jpg

Looks cool and works well as fog lights and light cannons for rural areas.

[towncar95]

interesting stuff guys. im going print this out to save and do.
steve so the 9007 is higher watts?

[Steve Moran]

Yes they do.
I never thought about it untill I thought , "Why do the Ford Pickups seem to be brighter." So I pulled up the specs and found that they where. I then grabed a 9004 and a 9007 off the shelf and looked them over, that is how I seen the differance in wiring and the tabs.

[ekooke]

Not only are the 9007 bulbs higher wattage, the filament layout is axial (long ways) rather than transverse as in the 9004; the axial layout exposes the filament set better to the reflector, putting out more light. The 9007 reflector sees this on the sides ==== instead of ºº as in the 9004. When the 9004 bulb was designed, all they really did was take the old sealed beam filament layout and put it in a replaceable capsule. The 9004 bulb was the worst design ever made for a replaceable headlight bulb.

[towncar95]

wow ekooke thats really neat . thanks :)

[98TC-Cartier]

The 9004 bulb was the worst design ever made for a replaceable headlight bulb.

At least the old seal beam units had usable reflectors above and below the filaments, even other 9004 headlamp units do as well, but the Conti's nawww, just a flat piece of plastic.

There are possiblely unobtanium "E1" euro lamp units for the Conti if it was sold in any western european countries. They would be a great upgrade.

[v8_dave]

I am bumping this back up because I think it is really Important. I am going to try it on my Town Car tonight because I just realized it has the 9004 bulbs (Silverstars, they lasted about 1000 miles driving with them on)

So I am upgrading to the 9007 Extra Vision's!

I'll take nite shots of the old silverstar on low and an XV on low to compare.

[v8_dave]

So I decided to rework my headlight relay harness as well but before tearing wires out of my car like mad, I installed a 9007 XV (cut the tabs in the headlight, grounded the old low beam wire on the harness. It seems the same brightness high beam as my Silverstar. Except I really love that cleaner whiter light from the silvers. 20% extra light output huh for the XV's??? Well they look the exact same as the standard bulbs but cost $7 more a pack. Well, the site says the light output for the silvers and XV is the same. But how could the silvers burn out faster? Ill have to compare my xv's to the standard then.

Well now I cant wait to get my lows working and try them out. :D

9004 65/45W
9007 65/55W

http://www.sylvania.com/ConsumerProducts/AutomotiveLighting/Products/ProductComparison/DownroadComparison.htm

1000/1350 lumens, 80/107 MSCD's for ALL SYLVANIAS 9007's
700/1200 lumens for 58/100 MSCD's for regular sylvanias and only 56/96 MSCD's for all the more expensive sylvanias!

So....there is no more light output for any more expensive Sylvania products. Allthough their pictures show differently.

Just go with any of their 9007's. Oh, extra $7 wont kill me.


9004 specs: http://www.sylvaniaautocatalog.com/sylvania/ProductBrowse_halog.asp?Batchid=46&FigNumber=136
9007 specs: http://www.sylvaniaautocatalog.com/sylvania/ProductBrowse_halog.asp?Batchid=46&FigNumber=137
*note the lifespan differences though.

[98TC-Cartier]

You have a hard time finding legal brighter bulbs as the DOT specs limit the usable lumen output, not just the wattage.
If you are not careful and buy some long life bulbs, the output of those is even lower although they are rated at the same wattage.

[towncar95]

funny thing dave, i too did the light switch on my car last nite.
i can tell right away. the light pattern from the 9007's is better as the filament is different and now the reflector in the headlight gets more light fromt the bulb. only thing is i still like my silver stars as the light is whiter. my friend had some 9007s from his pontiac.
they seem yellow looking to me.
p.s. dave dont ask when im going to get my towncar fixed :)

[v8_dave]

funny thing dave, i too did the light switch on my car last nite.
i can tell right away. the light pattern from the 9007's is better as the filament is different and now the reflector in the headlight gets more light fromt the bulb. only thing is i still like my silver stars as the light is whiter. my friend had some 9007s from his pontiac.
they seem yellow looking to me.
p.s. dave dont ask when im going to get my towncar fixed :)

Ha, thats funny. I wish I could have compared it to something but the 9007 XV's seem good. I think I am going to try to comapare the XV to a base bulb to see. But I really want my Silverstar white back, but I dont have the money to be replacing them every 6 months.

Wierd though, I did do the upgraded 12 guage wiring harness for the LOW's and they seem as bright as the HIGH's which I left stock for now (in a hurry) Allthough they do shine farther down the road/higher.

Your 95 TC wouldnt even need this conversion ya know ;)

I seriosuly suggest this upgrade for EVERYONE with 9004 bulbs!

[v8_dave]

You have a hard time finding legal brighter bulbs as the DOT specs limit the usable lumen output, not just the wattage.
If you are not careful and buy some long life bulbs, the output of those is even lower although they are rated at the same wattage.

Interesting, Ill stick with the 9007's, lets just hope they last about 2 years...but I am putting about 14 volts to them instead of 13 with the new, direct from battery, harness. That may really kill em quick.

[Steve Moran]

I knew you'd like it. :D
Another little thing I did was I rewired everything with two relays and a wire from the battery so I have the high side as my dim and both filliments for bright.

On high at night I can brightly light up reflectors for 1/2 to 3/4 mile.
I do not use my brights very often.

[towncar95]

i forgot to say i had to adjust the aim of the headlights though.
this is one of the best and easiest upgrades. STEVE can you put it in the tech section?

[v8_dave]

Re aim, should I?

You didnt mean put the actual 9007 high as being your low right? Then how would you drive in fog?

I sometimes hold the "pass to flash" feature but Im worried about the bulbs exploding or burning my headlight plastic lenses with the extreme heat. Ideas?

[Steve Moran]

Re aim, should I?

You didnt mean put the actual 9007 high as being your low right? Then how would you drive in fog?

I sometimes hold the "pass to flash" feature but Im worried about the bulbs exploding or burning my headlight plastic lenses with the extreme heat. Ideas?

yup exactily.
and ya I wondered that too so I do not use highs often. I have good eye sight and I have rarly used my high beems.

as far as fog around here fog is rare so I guess I never considered it.

[Steve Moran]

i forgot to say i had to adjust the aim of the headlights though.
this is one of the best and easiest upgrades. STEVE can you put it in the tech section?

I will use my old headlight as a demo and snap some pictures.

[towncar95]

dave
im not sure i understand what you mean. as the conti has only 2 bulbs. but when the 9004's was in the light was different. and with the 9007's i had to adjust the aim as the light pattern changed.

i do like the other idea the pro said too that he did in his cougar.
put 55w driving lights in the center parking lights.

good stuff in this headlight posts :)

[v8_dave]

Hmm I am just debating weather to rea-aim them. I didnt try to observe a diffence. Ill look into it, I dont want to be blinding people, those jerks agrivate me.

I will look into if its OK to run high and low together for a period of time. I like/use my auto-lamp feature so my HI's are on as much as my LOW's.

[DustyLBottoms]

I really like mine, really.
The only thing I did do was change style of bulbs from a 9004 to a 9007 it took about 1/2 hour to do it and I have been more then happy with the results.
The only things you need to do is.
1. Remove the odd tabs that guide the bulb in the headlight assy socket.
2. looking at the face of the connector socket you will notice a red plastic retainer, remove it and then with the wires in a premed shape, slide out the center wire and the most right hand wire and swap them around.
Replace the red retainer and install the bulb in the assy and you will notice the extra 10 watts more light on the dim side.
I have done this mod to all my vehicles that use 9004 bulbs with pleasing results.

If my instructions seem unclear just say something I have a un modded assy not in my car and the equipment to do the job, I can get pictures of it and post them today if you would like. It will give me a nice little indoor project today for the 100 degree day we will have today.


Do you mean the right-hand while looking at the face of the connector? Or right-hand as in the wires that are on the right-hand (passenger) side of the vehicle?

[Steve Moran]

I don't remember the wires for sure.
I am not able to check it out this evening, My Daughter Brandi Had the tonsils removed the other day and she has been fighting off dehydration. We had her back in the ER so they could pump fluids in her, her throat looks loke burnt shreded meat, she can't swollow much but it is getting better.
I will take a camera out tomorrow and get the photos I said I would.

[Steve Moran]

IIRC it is the right side of rhe connector as it faces you.


I will go out now and snap a picture of the wires.

[Steve Moran]

Ok this is how it should be wired.

[ekooke]

Drawings showing wiring and other differences between the 9004 & 9007 bulbs and connectors: http://www.candlepowerinc.com/pdfs/9004_9007.pdf

[v8_dave]

That article says its unsafe...hmmm...maybe I should atleast try to re-aim mine now that I am using the 9007's. They are damn bright with the XV's and a harness supplying 14.25 volts at idle.

[ekooke]

That article says its unsafe...hmmm...maybe I should atleast try to re-aim mine now that I am using the 9007's. They are damn bright with the XV's and a harness supplying 14.25 volts at idle.

It does change the beam pattern, but the old 9004 was the worst bulb design ever, so the 9007 in a 9004 fixture could still be an improvement. :)

[DustyLBottoms]

Ok this is how it should be wired.

Ha! NOW you reply! ;)

I just spent the last half hour out there trying it one way (of course the wrong one - doh!) then swapping it to the correct way.

thanks though!

-Dustin

[Steve Moran]

So Dustin, what are your thoughts?

[pro-five-oh]

So Dustin, what are your thoughts?

I'm sure he's finding the right words to say how much he loves you. :)

[Steve Moran]

Well I love him too,,,,,,a lot! But that is another story.


I just wondered how he liked the lighting?

[DustyLBottoms]

Well I love him too,,,,,,a lot! But that is another story.


I just wondered how he liked the lighting?

Lighting is great! I also took to the time to polish the yellow off of the Headlights. WalMart actually had a great product in their Automotive section. It was a $10 "Optical Polish" kit. It came with a Plastic wheel that you attach to your drill - with 6 foanm pads (kinda like the sanding pads you can buy) that are impregnated with a optical polish, just add water & crank her up.

[pro-five-oh]

I should probably put the 2007s in my Cougar too, since they are the same light and all.

Too bad I just put new bulbs in them!

[DustyLBottoms]

I should probably put the 2007s in my Cougar too, since they are the same light and all.

Too bad I just put new bulbs in them!

2007?

[pro-five-oh]

Its Tuesday, my brain's not working! :)

9007s. :)

[DustyLBottoms]

Its Tuesday, my brain's not working! :)

9007s. :)

Oh - I thought you had an even better bulb!

[Matt]

that's weird, the 9007 STs on my SHO have lasted 20K and I drive with them on 50% of the time.

My conti has plain sylvanias like my other SHO, and there's a noticable difference between those and the silverstars. But everyone is correct about the xtravisions. They are just silverstars without the blue tint. But, I like my slightly less bright but also less yellow lights.

[zogltc]

After reading this thread I opted to install a pair of 9007's in my 94 Town Car....I had a lot of trouble changing the wiring around, as I could not get the connectors to release from the sockets...

So I took the alternate route and cut the wires are rewired the bulb sockets....I did a very nice and neat job and it works perfectly.

I have not have a chance to drive at night yet, but they do seem brighter....they also seem to aim a little higher than the 9004's did, but I was parked on a sllight hill when I tried them.

Do you think I'll have to re-aim the headlights??? It also seemed that the high beams pointed lower than the low beams...is this normal???

thanks;)

[v8_dave]

I havnt bother to check yet on the aiming, I really should have before I suggested this to other Town Car guys. Hmmmm, Ill have to check.

[zogltc]

My understanding is that the 9007 power is not that much greater than the 9004 output, but it is rather the bulb design that increased the lumination...correct??

What I am getting to is whether or not I need to add relays to the bulbs....will they draw so much juice that it will fry the light switch or???

thanks

[v8_dave]

No, but relays are a great addition to the brightness! The lows do draw 5 more watts IIRC so alittle more, but insignificant. But the MF switch is crappy anyway so if you went this far, why not toss in some relays. I still will have to check aim though.

[zogltc]

Thanks...I'll add the relays this weekend....