Cleaning the inside of headlights????

[Jason B]

OK, this did the job. I filled the lamp off with warm water and windex 2-3 times and added some ice cubes to help scrub the inside while shaking, then rinsed 2 times with tap water, THEN final rinse with distilled water so there wouldn’t be spots, then used hairdryer about a foot away for 10 minutes. Looks perfect.

 

[ibilintuc]

Dawn Dish Soap

Did this, too. I used Dawn in lieu of Windex along with small ice cubes and gently sloshed. Final rinse with DI water. While they did not turn out factory-new looking, they're exponentially more clear. Thanks for the tip, Jason B.

 

[The Cold War Kid]

1999 2000 2001 2002 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER HEADLIGHTS+CORNER | eBay

Merry Christmas!

 

[Pyral]

I'm thinking of washing my headlights since they are a bit dim. I'm trying to decide whether to remove the lens or leave it in.

On cold mornings there is always a bit of condensation in the headlights, and the seal does look a little rough. I don't see condensation it other cars headlights, it's only mine, so I'm wondering is this because the seals are bad.


Does washing the headlight housing have a noticeable improvement in light output?

 

[prybar]

I'm thinking of washing my headlights since they are a bit dim. I'm trying to decide whether to remove the lens or leave it in.

On cold mornings there is always a bit of condensation in the headlights, and the seal does look a little rough. I don't see condensation it other cars headlights, it's only mine, so I'm wondering is this because the seals are bad.


Does washing the headlight housing have a noticeable improvement in light output?

I had similar issues to what you're having. Dim headlights, lots of dust in the housings, and fogging in the morning. I washed out my housings with windex, ice, and distilled water. The cleaning removed all the dust and restored a small amount of brightness, but for a real difference in brightness, I did the 80/100W bulb swap. As for fogging, I picked up some headlight boots from Pick-n-Pull for a couple bucks.

 

[Pyral]

I had similar issues to what you're having. Dim headlights, lots of dust in the housings, and fogging in the morning. I washed out my housings with windex, ice, and distilled water. The cleaning removed all the dust and restored a small amount of brightness, but for a real difference in brightness, I did the 80/100W bulb swap. As for fogging, I picked up some headlight boots from Pick-n-Pull for a couple bucks.

Did you have to upgrade the wiring to handle the higher watt bulbs?

 

[prybar]

Did you have to upgrade the wiring to handle the higher watt bulbs?

Yes, new harness for higher wattage, plus the bulbs have a different hot/ground pattern.

I followed the advice of [MENTION=115347]gamefreakgc[/MENTION] in the thread below:

Drop-in headlight upgrade?

 

[Pyral]

If the improvement from 99+ 4runners is the housing can I put a pre-99 lens and get the improvement?

My guess is no since the beam pattern of pre-99 4runners comes from the fresnel lens (which give them the opaque look) built into the glass.

 

[gamefreakgc]

If the improvement from 99+ 4runners is the housing can I put a pre-99 lens and get the improvement?

My guess is no since the beam pattern of pre-99 4runners comes from the fresnel lens (which give them the opaque look) built into the glass.

You guessed it right, no it doesn't work and will scatter light everywhere. In the 98s and older the housing is a smooth bowl with the beam pattern in the lens where the 99's the beam pattern is in the housing and the lens is smooth (mostly). If you put a 99 lens on a 98 housing it would look exactly like a Maglite flashlight zoomed out, a very round scattered light with no cut-off.

 

[Pyral]

Yes, new harness for higher wattage, plus the bulbs have a different hot/ground pattern.

I followed the advice of [MENTION=115347]gamefreakgc[/MENTION] in the thread below:

Drop-in headlight upgrade?

Didn't know they made after market housings with glass lenses, assumed they went with plastic. I've already done similar wiring work when I added a relay circuit to power my fog lights, I can make a harness. 100 watt requires at least 14 awg right?

I could be wrong but aren't the left and right headlights on separate fuses for redundancy? If I upgrade the wiring harness I'm going to include at least as much redundancy as the stock setup even if that means 2 relays and 2 runs of wire

The big problem with my current headlights what is illuminated by the low beams isn't bright, but the pattern is fine. The high beam performance is fine, and the Hella 450s do an excellent job when I can use them.