So I recently completed an HID projector retrofit on my 2000. As we all know HID bulbs produce a crap load of heat at the bulb, however the beam does not "project" very much heat like a halogen beam does.

For those of us in the North this can lead to a huge problem as the headlights are much more likely to ice/slush over. It's not so bad in western Canada where it's only dry and cold, but as soon as you hit Ontario where ice melting agents are applied to the road, it makes things a lot worst when the weather is crap.

This is probably why headlight washer are mandatory in much of the UK and Europe on HID equipped vehicles.

I took a wander through my local pick 'n pull and found a 97 Mitsubishi Pajero with a simple headlight washer system.


The profile of these should sit pretty well on the top of my fat lip bumper!





It looks like a very simple system! Shouldn't have many clearance issues.




This truck had a dedicated tank for the headlight washers stuffed in the passenger side inner fender, so I pulled everything out including the motor and tubing. The biggest problem I see right now is to find a solution for the reservoir. I don't really want to mess with the current reservoir in the truck, and there isn't much space under the hood to cram in a dedicated reservoir... hmm

I plan to wire in a dedicated switch to use these independently of the windshield washer. When I got home I tested everything out with a battery. The pump is leaking, but I should be able to source another no problem.

The best part is that I walked out of the scrap yard with this complete system, the rear fascia surrounding the license plate, and a bunch of odds and ends for only $37!

Even worse with the add on bulbs in halogen housing. The system is not designed for the bulbs, so the extra air just eats up any heat produced. We see the same thing down in the lower 48. Especially tail lights....total block out from snow off the roads. Freaking insanely unsafe!

This was my projector retrofit. Nothing fancy..didnt want anything super ricey. I do A LOT of driving, so this is by far the most beneficial mod IMO.







My only gripe is the shadow that is produced behind the shroud makes it look a little bug eyed.

That's a pretty awesome find! Those couldn't have a better mounting system, and look to be super easy to retrofit. Cool project

I drive to Nevada from SoCal a lot and going through the mountain passes in the winter my projector-equipped headlights get glazed over with salt, dirt and road film easily and become almost completely ineffective. I carry a spray bottle of windshield wiper fluid and pull over to host them off.

I will be looking to do a similar project soon. Thanks for posting this. Subscribed!

I go on a lot of snowboarding trips come winter here in Colorado. My headlights get so covered in dirty water and dirty road slush that it's like I don't have any at all! Very excited to see what you're doing here!

Yeah, in my experience when HID ice over they are much worse than dirty halogens....especially when its snowing. Worse than high beams. Just illuminates all the snow and is very blinding.

Ive done a fair bit of searching and have never seen a retrofit done on a vehicle that hasn't had the option of being equipped with them. Most people just complain that they waste washer fluid, and turn dust to mud and make their vehicles dirty.

Gotta brain storm some ideas on where I can add a second reservoir, as I don't really want to modify the current one with a third pump although it might come to that.

Following!

It's actually law here for all HID vehicles to have self levelling and lens cleaning.

I also like the retrofit kit with the old reflector still "Chrome" - it looks more factory.

This may be a long shot but you could tap into the rear washer reservoir. It's in the driver side rear panel. Or there might be room to mount on between your grill and core support. Or maybe inside the fat lip bumper itself?

I was looking at this on Amazon for my other truck

ACI 99300 Windshield Washer Pump https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00495UQT2..._GurFybBESN022

That looks like a pretty complete kit. I was juggling the idea of using a system like that, however I suspect headlight washer system produce a lot more pressure and flow than the windshield washer pumps....this is simply judging by the size of the pump and lines. Id guesstimate the lines have an I.D. of nearly 7/16 and the pump appears to be about twice the size of a normal washer pump.

The way I see it is, headlight washer systems in vehicles without headlight wipers need to be designed powerful enough to actually blast off the grime and slush, not just wet it down and let a wiper do the work.

All this interest has definitely motivated me to figure this out! Will post updates as I go.

On the Pajero the reservoir was mounted inside the passenger inner fender, and the tank is nicely formed to fit in there. The filler neck is actually a second piece formed at a right angle which protrudes into the engine bay through the side wall. It's bolted to the main tank with a O ring to seal.

Im thinking it might work to mount it in the same spot on the 4runner. All that should be in the inner fender is the intake elbow at the front and the motorized antenna at the rear. I'll rip out the antenna motor if I need to as she don't work anyways. lol Can hopefully find a spot in between the cruise control and abs module to drill out a spot for the filler "elbow".

Photo of the tank for reference.

Have any of you with this problem tried to use Rain-X on your headlight lens? I haven't had this problem in the US but I have in Brazil, unfortunately I didn't have Rain-X there. Always wanted to try it...seems to me it would help the crud not stick.