Proper headlight upgrade

I feel like I have been living in the dark until now. All I can say is WOW! When I first turned on my lights I felt like a little kid and was giggling all the way home.

 

Hey I’m trying to find a way to get more light as I can’t see when driving at night. I’m gonna get some led pods for a little more light but I want to get some new headlights that will give more light than I have now without getting a new housing. Anybody have suggestions for a 03 Tacoma? I’m hoping for some leds if possible.

 

Just saw this now, sorry for the delayed response. Look at the original post here and @crashnburn80 thread. Lot of info. You can run slightly higher wattage bulbs and getter better output, add the harness and you’ll be in even better shape. I eventually added two hella 700s to supplement high beams because I do a lot of back road driving with a lot of deer. Gotta be careful using those hella floods on highway or around cops cause they’ll get you for it if they want to

 

So, I was PM-ing with a couple members about this but figured I'd post here to keep as much info available to others as possible on the thread. I should note that I am definitely far from an automotive electrical expert. I know just enough to be a danger to myself and others...ha ha. Anyway, so as described in goldentaco03's and crashnburn80's write ups, I tested the voltage of the headlight plug. The left side (outer most) vertical terminal had 0 VDC. Just to be thorough I tested in inner vertical terminal if the drivers side plug and also got 0 VDC. I tested the top, horizontal terminal and got 12+ VDC. I'm not sure if it matters to this test or the upgrade but I had previously cut the white w/green line DRL wire under the dash to disable the DRLs

So it seems I have conventionally switched headlights. Has everyone with a US Tacoma with headlight DRLs turned out to have conventional switching?

 

It is not 100% "conventional" switching. The on-off is also ground switching. DRL Relay No4 acts to turn on and off headlights.

When the engine is running the Dimmer Relay provides 12V to high beam filament and common is connected to the open DRL Relay No4 (the relay is open, so no current is running through the high beam filament).
When the headlights are turned to low beam position the Dimmer Relay provides 12V to low beam filament and common is grounded via now closed DRL Relay No4.
When headlight are switched to high beam position the Dimmer Relay provides 12V to high beam filament and common is grounded via now closed DRL Relay No4.

So with DRL disabled headlights are switched by relays on both positive and negative sides.

 

The general consensus in this thread seemed to be that if you have true DRLs you are gonna need the conventionally switched harness. If you don’t have DRLs then ground switched it is. I didn’t know 2001s had DRLs as an option I thought that was a mid year change?

 

i was on I24 between manchester and mounteagle tn. when mine went out, of course it was pitch black. had a spare bulb and change it out... got 1 working. next day pulled'em and both had melted in a blob of plastic. ordered ceramic terminals and led's off Amazon. watched a vid on "how to delete DRL's" cut the wire and was done with'em! been bout 3 mo ago, all good.

 

crashnburn80, these are these the bulbs you're talking about, correct? BTW, the bulbs in the package are not the Philips but the OEMs I removed.

 

Correct. The +200s are evaluated in post #3169 here.

 

Great, thanks. So far not super impressed with them in my first gen housings. They are whiter/brighter but don't seem to throw the light quite in the right place. I do need to verify proper aiming but I'm pretty sure if they're off it's not by much.

 

You using OEM housing that haven't yellowed?

 

Yes, new OEM from Toyota dealer only months ago

 

Plug the bulb in but don't lock it down and hold it in place adjusting slightly by hand to see if the beam improves. Could need adjusting.

 

I might try that but just thinking, If I find a better position how can I affix it there when there the 3 clocking tabs?

 

You can tape onto the blades to give it some space. I use HVAC aluminum tape.

 

You know, now that I think about it I don't remember the bulb terminals being rotated slightly out of vertical and horizontal but these Philips are. I'm not 100% sure but that's how I remember it. Maybe I'll throw the OEMs back in there and see.

 

Make sure they are clocked properly, never heard of this happening.

 

Make sure the bulbs are seated properly, there is no rotating of adjusting on an H4, the 3 tabs will fix the orientation and there will not be a 'better one'. Adding the harness will help boost output some, you may see ~10% more, but adding the Osram Superbrights and the harness will provide significantly more output.

 

I'll verify but I'm quite sure they are seated correctly. What I meant my rotated was that when installed, the bulb terminals are not exactly verical and horizontal by a few degrees or so and I don't remember seeing that before with previous bulbs.

 

Ah. I'd be surprised if Philips had a manufacturing defect, but things do happen. The low beam glare shield below the low beam filament should sit perfectly level when installed.