The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I guess the thinking (right or wrong) is that LED bulbs produce less heat and so would be less likely to burn/melt the reflector housing which is an issue on the Gen 2 Tacomas.

 

Remember, power consumption (watts) is not the same as heat generation (degrees). It's the heat that caused problems with melting lenses. Running LED bulbs in that location should (theoretically) solve the heat problem.

 

Big thanks to crashnburn for providing detailed instructions, photos, and up-to-date links! Just ordered the recommended harness and bulbs for my '15.

 

i have the v3 and yes, best aftermarket LED ever

 

Thats a good point. I may have mistook the way it was worded.

In the 05-11 Tacoma's that was an issue melting the inner lens piece. I suppose I wasn't looking at it from that perspective. I thought that Toyota revised the light's because of that?

 

Yes they did. But the revised light is no longer available, so now they are selling only the original ones with the melting DRL issue.

 

Ok crash how do we avoid the melting issue?

 

Short of finding a pair of the updated lights without the melting issue or not running DRLs, run an LED instead. The optic that melts is immediately in-front of the DRL bulb. The incandescent bulbs are hottest at the filament in-front of the bulb. An LED still produces heat, though less, but the heat is at the base/back of the LED bulb safely away from the meltable optic, at least in theory.

 

So the 2nd gen part numbers you have listed on page 1 are the updated ones correct?
And thanks for all the effort on keeping this thread going.

 

Correct. But when you put in those part numbers now, Toyota sites may take you to the old part number because the old part number now replaces the updated one since there are no updated lamps available. It will still show it is the old part number, but you just need to be extra observant. All the part numbers for both smoked and chrome, original and updated units are available in the TSB here.

 

Ok for all of us novice light guys, bottom line, how do I correct the lense burning issue on the DRL's so I don't mess up my new OEM lights? I see some say replace the DRL bulbs with LED bulbs. But then you get hyperflash, so you have to install special resistors or grind down something or other. Is there a video somewhere on how to do this?
I mean that is like my wife telling me to go cook dinner, I am completely lost on how to do that. Not that I am unwilling but I don't know what a dash of salt is or what temp to set the oven. Where do you get these resistors and how do you install them? What about this grinding down the flasher or whatever? If you said rebuild the motor at least I would know what to do but this light business has me completely in the dark. I finally figured out a few minutes ago what a DRL was (who knew?).
Any links to videos or clear instructions and links to the correct LED bulb replacements would be appreciated. FYI there is no way I am dropping $150 on some DRL bulbs after dropping $450 on new headlights. Momma won't go for it...

 

Link to how-to on modifying/grinding the TS module resistor.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...th-stock-drl-flasher-and-no-resistors.176904/

 

WHy not just disable the DRL. There are a few threads that talked about doing it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dtrl-toggle-switch-mod-stealth-mode.85326/

 

All you need is the non drl module, no need to wire up a seperate switch for it

 

some people like to switch it on/off. I traded my DRL & harness for non DRL relay & cap

 

If disabling the DRL, the Diode Dynamics non-DRL LED TS flasher module might work. You'd need to verify.
https://www.diodedynamics.com/smarttap-led-flasher-for-2005-2015-toyota-tacoma.html

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diode-dynamics-smart-tap-cf18-relay.471753/page-5#post-15090076

PN# 82671-30360 is needed to use DD Smart Tap

Those 2 items is needed to convert DRL to Non DRL

 

On my ‘05 I replaced the flasher with a DD flasher. I like it.

At some point I intend to add DRL with a stalk swap.

 

Actually, this is silly. If swapping to a non-DRL, you'll be unlikely to melt the lens because the light won't constantly be on. Only flash intermittently with the signals. So if swapping to non-DRL I'd stick with standard incandescent bulbs.

 

But tap to turn is badass.

if DD could give me one swipe windshield washers too, I’d be happy.