The last time I blew a headlight, I removed just the bulb from the headlight(sealed beam) housing. It looks like a pretty standard bulb. In my opinion the factory lighting on these cars is borderline dangerous, especially on the roads I'm on. I was wondering if anyone has replaced just the bulb in their sealed beam with a brighter one, and if so, where I can buy this bulb. I prefer something I can get locally, because I have a light out, and need to get it replaced today.

Thanks
John

 

Errr, sealed beam = no removable bulb.

Composite headlight = housing plus a bulb.

You can convert your sealed beam headlights to round little driving lights, but the results I've seen mainly improved the looks, not the light. YMMV.

 

Actually, the sealed beam I had I did take the bulb out of it. I know you are not supposed to be able to, but you can. It looks like a standard bulb you can buy, but it is glued to the housing so you can't take it out. With a little extra force you can twist the bulb out of the housing. I know this is not a common thing for people to do, but I need more light!

 

You sound adventursesome. Good luck retrofiting a bulb in there.

I gave up looking for a better oem appearance lighting solution several years ago. It seems no one is making a decent aftermarket "upgrade" sealed beam light for our cars. Maybe something has come on the market since then.

I just purchased some of those Sylvania SilverStar bulbs for my PU Truck and my wife's Lexus. Amazingly they were the same type bulb (9006). They were a nice improvement over the stock bulbs and the white light appears much clearer over the Halogan yellow light.

 

Gos2Slo- I did a pretty crappy job of explaining what I was trying to do, here are some pictures.

Before

After

 

Wow, that is kinda cool! What kind of bulb did you fit in there, and how did it attach (glue, springs, etc...?)

Just goes to show you, you learn something new everyday!

I should stop reading for the rest of the day, as I'm apparently at my quota for knowledge now.

 

Here is all the info you need to upgrade the stock lights with out changing anything else.

http://performanceworks1.com/headlightmod.htm

I did it a while back the difference is noticable especially on the back roads with the high beams on.

Do a search in the "appearance" section for "Sylvania Silverstar" and you will find all kinds of info.

 

i did it about 6 months ago with Sylvania SilverStar bulbs.. made might night driving a bit nicer very easy to do.. pop the old bulb out and silicone the new one in! let dry for a few hrs and put er back in! done and done

 

I haven't really done anything yet except for taking the sealed beam apart I was hoping someone else had "finished the job and could tell me what to do!!

Joe, thank you for the link, that helps me alot!

93Z286Speed- Where can I find those bulbs? I have heard of them, but I'm hoping they aren't one of those "order over the internet only" type of deals.

 

You should be able to pick up the SilverStar bulbs and sealed beam assemblies at AutoZone, and Advance Autoparts.

Shoot, Pep Boys might even carry them.

They run like $25 each for the sealed beam assemblies.

 

The Silverstars are street legal and available at Advance Auto. In fact they are on sale right now and also have a rebate of $3.00 per bulb. AutoZone has then too but they are not specially priced. Retail they are about $19 per bulb!!

BTW, the blub you show in your pics looks like a common 9006 (LB) or 9005 (HB)

 

If you really want some super bright lights at night buy a set of these while you are at autozone/advanced auto (where ever)
http://www.pilotautomotive.com/pilot2eg.htm

then do the mod where you cut a wire in the fuse box and ground it so fog lights stay on with the bright lights.

http://www.tcnet.net/~dstorer/jf/fog.html

1. Open the hood
2. Disconnect the negative (-) battery cable.
3. Open the black box that contains fuses and relays on the driver's side.
4. Twist off the plastic screw and take the cover off.
5. Find the fog-light relay, labeled in block H. There is a list of labels for the
wires inside the box cover.
6. The Black box is held down by 6 plastic retainers connected to the frame,
push them in with a flathead screw driver and pop off the bottom piece.
7. Look at the bottom where the wires go into the box, and locate where the
fog light relay is. You should see the following wires:
orange - yellow - purple - light green
8. Cut the light green wire. Then get some extra wire (e.g. speaker wire) and attach
it to the end of the wire coming out of the relay box. This gives you enough length to
ground it. Use one of the hex-head screws holding the left fender piece as the ground.
Even though the fender is fiberglass the screw still touches the frame. Unscrew it a little
bit and wrap the wire around and retighten the screw.
9. Put electrical tape around the end of the (dead end) light green wire coming out of the
harness.
10. Put the Box back on its mounting, it should snap into place.
11. Put the cover back on.
12. Reattach the negative battery cable.
13. Check the fog lights, low beam, hi-beam, and then fog+hi beam.
*** Notice: The amber light on the fog light switch which lights up when they
are on, WILL still go out when HI-BEAM is activated. Its no big deal.
The circuitry inside the light selection switch still turns it off.

 

I did this mod over the summer and it really makes a difference. Its really easy to do also. Just be careful removing the old bulbs, then place the new ones in and use some RTV sealant, and you are good to go. But you might want to go to one of the how to sites just to make sure you do everything right. Plus, they usually have pix to show you what to do. Have fun, plus, it makes your car look better from the outside and better vision from the inside.

 

I also did this mod. It was piece of cake.

 

Replacing a bulb in the sealed housing isn't a big deal. Just requires some muscle and then some sealant

Another Sylvania Silverstar happy customer here too.. big improvement