2000 Eldo Headlights

[blownki]

I have been doing some reading on upgrading my stock headlights. As I understand it HID projection headlights are the way to go if upgrading to HID. Before I do that there is much more research to do. In the mean time I wanted to see if there were any other things you can do to the head lights. On one of my old Chevy trucks it had two head lights one for lows and one for highs. There was a jumper of some sort you could buy and install that would turn on both lows and highs when you turned the highs on.

Is there one for my car?

Or do they already do this?

I haven't had this car very long and I am learning as much as I can as fast as I can. I haven't even used the highs for night driving yet, mainly because I haven't driven at night very much yet.

I have seen the mods using BMW projectors on the Eldo and similar. I have found projectors of various sizes on the net for purchase, but that will require a time consuming mod of the existing light fixtures and I am not in the position to do so at the moment.

In respect to modding the existing fixture, Is there a clear flat lense with no contours that can be used to replace current contoured lense?

I have also read about the after market bulbs that have coatings on them producing excessive heat. Would the PIAA 9000 Series Intense White's be one of those hot bulbs?

If the PIAA's get too hot any suggestions.

I am not into the retarded blue and purple lights, I would prefer to see things lit up like day light not like looking through blue or purple lenses.

[submariner409]

I use PIAA 4100K Intense White halogens, #9006 and #9005, for high speed rural country road driving and have absolutely no complaints. The bulbs are diamond white and very hard to over drive (go too fast for the light output, as in: hit something before you see it - at 100+.) I polished my lenses with a www.customchemicalpkg.com headlight kit. No problems in 3 1/2 years.

[Playdrv4me]

The '92 to '97 headlights will briefly turn on both high and low beam filaments when you are flicking the switch to go from lows to highs. This is to prevent you from having a blind spot for a moment as the filaments switch back and forth. They do NOT stay on together in high beam mode but it does make for quite a light show if you hold the switch back before releasing... gets REAL bright until you let go.

Sub, doesn't your car have Xenon headlights? Do you mean your highbeams?

[Necrosan]

Not all 2002's had HIDs.
The majority IIRC had regular bulbs.

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by Necrosan

Not all 2002's had HIDs.
The majority IIRC had regular bulbs.

This is true, however I know for a fact that Sub has a car with Luxury Performance and the F55 suspension. These had obligatory HIDs on them.

After seeing another thread about headlights though it looks like 9006s are the high beams.

[submariner409]

My STS does not have HID's (thank God), but came with the stock OEM Sylvania ~3500K halogens, #9006 (low projector lens), #9005 (high reflector lens). I polished the polycarbonate lens covers and first installed GE Nighthawk bulbs and was impressed. Then picked up PIAA Intense White 4100K's and am a happy camper. While I was in there I cleaned the headlight grounds and everything inside the fender housings.

The highs are normally used for DRL's, so they are placed in series by a relay to run on reduced voltage - about 9.8 volts. When you turn on the headlamp switch (or twilight sentinel) the relay drops out allowing the high to run in parallel (full voltage) on demand. HID's are only low beams, not high. You can't run low voltage DRL's and HID's in the same reflector.

(Also, the left headlight housing removal coincided with my changing the airbox intake location to the area behind the lower grille.)

From the RPO sticker you'll notice that there's no HID option specified, but the F55 is there. Also, running the wheel/tire RPO shows a set of chrome 16" wheels with H-rated tires, but my car came with 17" wheels and H-rated Eagles. Go figure. (One of the codes is some sort of dealer specified promo package, so that may hold the answer........) You have to look real hard in the truck/car pic, but you can see the purplish projector low beam lenses.

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by submariner409

My STS does not have HID's (thank God), but came with the stock OEM Sylvania ~3500K halogens, #9006 (low projector lens), #9005 (high reflector lens). I polished the polycarbonate lens covers and first installed GE Nighthawk bulbs and was impressed. Then picked up PIAA Intense White 4100K's and am a happy camper. While I was in there I cleaned the headlight grounds and everything inside the fender housings.

The highs are normally used for DRL's, so they are placed in series by a relay to run on reduced voltage - about 9.8 volts. When you turn on the headlamp switch (or twilight sentinel) the relay drops out allowing the high to run in parallel (full voltage) on demand. HID's are only low beams, not high. You can't run low voltage DRL's and HID's in the same reflector.

(Also, the left headlight housing removal coincided with my changing the airbox intake location to the area behind the lower grille.)

From the RPO sticker you'll notice that there's no HID option specified, but the F55 is there. Also, running the wheel/tire RPO shows a set of chrome 16" wheels with H-rated tires, but my car came with 17" wheels and H-rated Eagles. Go figure. (One of the codes is some sort of dealer specified promo package, so that may hold the answer........) You have to look real hard in the truck/car pic, but you can see the purplish projector low beam lenses.

Wow! That's the only STS I've ever seen that has 17" Wheels and F55 but does -NOT- have HIDs.

Did you buy her new with those wheels Sub or do you think the previous owner added the larger wheels at some point?

Yea, definitely can not run HIDs as a low voltage DRL, but the HID equipped cars DO have HIDs in the projector section and use the High Beam reflectors as the DRL same as the non-HID cars. Volkswagen is the worst of all worlds, they use the Xenon lights AS the DRLs in some vehicles, or at least they used to. DRASTICALLY reduced the life of the HID burner by being on ALL the time.

I thought Jason was the one who mentioned F55 only came with Lux/performance which by default, would also have HIDs. I guess ALL late '02 and '03 STS cars had F55 by default.

[submariner409]

Yes, all STS after mid-Jan. 02 came with F55. Either my car was dealer-optioned with some odd wheel/tire package or the original Staten Island owner made the dealer (Marin Cadillac) "an offer he couldn't refuse......". I would be willing to bet even money that the dealer did an on-lot swap of wheels/tires in order to close the deal, because the car was floorplanned in Feb. 02 and sold in June 02 - four months of GM interest on a $56,000 item. 99% of Cadillac new car buyers would never know the difference. Put the money on the table and run. Most CF members have no idea of their car's RPO list - why would Joe Public be any different ???

I found the car after an extensive search by an old sailing crony who works as a used Cadillac/VW sales(person) - she did a slew of homework, threw out the chaff, and discovered this creampuff. We trucked it here from the trade-in on Staten Island via Pennsylvania. Had an "8" badge in the grille.

[Playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by submariner409

Yes, all STS after mid-Jan. 02 came with F55. Either my car was dealer-optioned with some odd wheel/tire package or the original Staten Island owner made the dealer (Marin Cadillac) "an offer he couldn't refuse......". I would be willing to bet even money that the dealer did an on-lot swap of wheels/tires in order to close the deal, because the car was floorplanned in Feb. 02 and sold in June 02 - four months of GM interest on a $56,000 item. 99% of Cadillac new car buyers would never know the difference. Put the money on the table and run. Most CF members have no idea of their car's RPO list - why would Joe Public be any different ???

I found the car after an extensive search by an old sailing crony who works as a used Cadillac/VW sales(person) - she did a slew of homework, threw out the chaff, and discovered this creampuff. We trucked it here from the trade-in on Staten Island via Pennsylvania. Had an "8" badge in the grille.

What a neat find that car was, and in my favorite color.

I'm a little sad that some of my Seville knowledge has gotten rusty over the years from my on again, off again relationships with them.