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D3 - Lights Headlights, xenons, foglights. Everything outside the car that glows

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Old 20th December 2017, 08:04 AM
mannyo mannyo is offline
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Default D3 Xenon headlight performance

So

I used the D3 at night for the first time in ages yesterday, and it was quiet apparent the light output of the headlights is poor. I'll take a stab and say the 14 year old Xenon bulbs are beyond their best and maybe shifting colour temperature.

I thing they will be D2S bulbs, perhaps someone can confirm. I am also guessing its a major ballache to change them?

I have no workshop faclilities and only a muddy driveway to work on, anyone fancy changing the bulbs if I get replacements.

The headlights are not clouded over, as I had them sorted last year to get through the MOT as they had fogged up badly.
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Old 20th December 2017, 09:28 AM
snapdragon snapdragon is offline
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Mine are too, new bulbs didn't help so much. I polished the coating off the outsides due to aging but the inside optics are milky. It's not really the time of year for sticking some microfibre in the back on some wire as I have sene on youtube. Were yours cloudy inside or outside?
If you do change the bulbs, just do one first and then see what the difference is, otherwise you will never be able to decide if it is placebo effect. To change them you really have to remove the front wheel arch liner and this is easier when it's warmed up a bit rather than stiff and cold.
Once the liner is moved you can steer the wheel out of the way and access is very easy if, not the airbox and power steering reservoir may need temporarily moving.. Doing from under the wheelarch is much easier even if it sounds difficult.
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Old 20th December 2017, 10:11 AM
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Johnmed Johnmed is offline
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I bought some replacement LED headlights for mine, and realised as awkward as it was I didn’t need to remove the wheel arch, bumper or headlight. I did partially remove the power steering reservoir mount on the near side, and would have likely removed the air box on the far side.

It was a horrid job and ultimately pointless as the LEDs I’d bought didn’t fit my xenon (D2S) headlight enclosure. I’ll attach a few pics, don’t know if it will help.

It made me less likely to replace the bulbs TBH, just cos of how much of a pain access is.
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Last edited by Johnmed; 20th December 2017 at 10:13 AM.
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Old 20th December 2017, 11:06 AM
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Architex_mA8tey Architex_mA8tey is offline
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Mine were just changed for me by one of my mechanics. its a bit of a faff to do it - things like the air box have to come out on the offside one.

I bought these from Jawad Malik at Xenon Bulbs Ltd in Leeds - he supplies a lot of the car guys with bulbs and has his own Xenon bulbs made which keeps the price down. Pleased to say so far they are very good -
http://www.xenonbulbs.co.uk/Xenon-HI...S/OEM-D2S-PAIR

The only other thing you can do if that doesnt improve things is to either replace the Projectors themselves in the headlight units with new Morimoto ones (Trups does this at EM Tuning at a cost) or change the headlights for a new one
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Old 20th December 2017, 07:18 PM
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Worth bearing in mind that higher K bulbs will be all white and bright and all that, but just wait until your in rain or, heaven forbid, mist. You'll be driving blind.
IIRC the OEM is 4300k.
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Old 20th December 2017, 09:05 PM
H-M3 H-M3 is offline
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What does the ballast do then? Does that have any link with brightness?
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Old 20th December 2017, 09:25 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
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The ballast generates the high voltage that drives the bulb. Can be up to 20,000V to ignite and 85V to run.
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Old 21st December 2017, 08:36 PM
mannyo mannyo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tonupkid View Post
Worth bearing in mind that higher K bulbs will be all white and bright and all that, but just wait until your in rain or, heaven forbid, mist. You'll be driving blind.
IIRC the OEM is 4300k.
I think the shift in colour temperature is whats going on with my bulbs, I swear that with the slightly damp road with oncoming traffic it was literally like driving with the lights switched off.
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2004 A4 1.8T Sport Cabriolet, 89K Miles
Past
2004 D3 A8 3.7 Quattro, Xenon, Bose, Blinds, Solar Sunroof, TV, ACC, phone and almost every option. 168K miles rising slowly
with retrofit AMI and DVB-T in place of Analogue
2003 Volvo S60 D5 SE Manual, 197K miles.
2001 D2 A8 3.7 QS, Bi-Xenon, Bose, Blinds, Electric Everything, retrofitted RNS-D, 191K Miles
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  #9  
Old 21st December 2017, 10:28 PM
neeldub neeldub is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mannyo View Post
So

I used the D3 at night for the first time in ages yesterday, and it was quiet apparent the light output of the headlights is poor. I'll take a stab and say the 14 year old Xenon bulbs are beyond their best and maybe shifting colour temperature.

I thing they will be D2S bulbs, perhaps someone can confirm. I am also guessing its a major ballache to change them?

I have no workshop faclilities and only a muddy driveway to work on, anyone fancy changing the bulbs if I get replacements.

The headlights are not clouded over, as I had them sorted last year to get through the MOT as they had fogged up badly.
I would have gladly helped if you were in London or the surrounding areas mate
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Old 22nd December 2017, 01:15 AM
H-M3 H-M3 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neeldub View Post
I would have gladly helped if you were in London or the surrounding areas mate
Good forum spirit
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