I just ordered a HID kit from Brightstar. http://importhookup.com/forums...d=106They were shipped today and will arrive at my house on the 20th. I can't wait to see how the beam pattern will be.
Does anyone know of any HID conversions in a 90-96 Q? Or will I be the first? I've searched these boards but found nothing.
Just ordered HID's
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docsmile71
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2003 4:16 am
Q451990 wrote:Have you decided how do deal with the "headlamp inoperative" message you'll get on the dash, since they pull less current?
Heath
Hmmmm...that's a good question. Maybe some resistors to fool the computer into thinking the headlight is working?
Right now, in my Sentra, I removed the close coupled cat and in order to prevent the ECU from reading that the first O2 sensor is getting a faulty reading, I bought one of those O2 simulators which is just a resistor and some wire which you splice in to fool the computer into reading the correct current. I have an engineer friend who tunes ECU's and I'll see if he can help me.
I'll post here as soon as I start the project and what I did (or couldn't do) to get around problems.
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Q451990
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- Car: 1990 Q45 - 118K, 2022 Toyota 4 Runner, 2004 Frontier M/T - 108K, 2012 Xterra (Mom's), 2023 Rogue (Inlaws)
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As far as adding resistors, that was one of my ideas... from what I understand, HIDs pull a lot of current right at first during ignition - but then pull much less after they're up and running. So even with the resistors you might get a "headlamp inoperative" message for a few seconds until the current draw gets down to what the sensor wants to see.
Just quickly looking at the service manual - it looks like the headlamp sensor puts out 12v when the bulbs are good, and about 2.2v when they're bad. It may be easier to just tap into the output wire and fool it with 12v in effect bypassing the whole sensor.
As far as these kits - do you know how much warranty they have? I've never heard of these guys before. Do you know what brand of ballast they're using (hopefully Philips?) or there was one other brand that's supposed to be good... In any case the kit looks good on the web site. I just hope they've been set up for the correct depth and keep a similar beam pattern to what's already there... The one I really looked at was http://www.hids4less.com Looks like they're out of business now...
I called them to ask a quick question, and they saved me from a $300 mistake buying a kit on eBay with standard DSR bulbs that I was supposed to rebase myself! I even tried to set up a group buy here, but didn't much response. That was a year or so ago.
Please keep us posted - this may be my Christmas-present-to-me this year since it looks like my Game****s won't be going to a bowl game this year!
Heath
Just quickly looking at the service manual - it looks like the headlamp sensor puts out 12v when the bulbs are good, and about 2.2v when they're bad. It may be easier to just tap into the output wire and fool it with 12v in effect bypassing the whole sensor.
As far as these kits - do you know how much warranty they have? I've never heard of these guys before. Do you know what brand of ballast they're using (hopefully Philips?) or there was one other brand that's supposed to be good... In any case the kit looks good on the web site. I just hope they've been set up for the correct depth and keep a similar beam pattern to what's already there... The one I really looked at was http://www.hids4less.com Looks like they're out of business now...
I called them to ask a quick question, and they saved me from a $300 mistake buying a kit on eBay with standard DSR bulbs that I was supposed to rebase myself! I even tried to set up a group buy here, but didn't much response. That was a year or so ago.
Please keep us posted - this may be my Christmas-present-to-me this year since it looks like my Game****s won't be going to a bowl game this year!
Heath
It's hard to say for sure how it will turn out, but unfortunately reflector headlights with fluting on the lens like a 95Q usually scatter a lot of light with a HID conversion. Oh the plus side, it is one of the few cars with H4 headlights that is a good candidate for a conversion since it also has a seperate high beam. H4s are a dual filament bulb that can't be replicated with HIDs, so you usually lose the high beams, but not in this case. I thought about doing a conversion myself, but just went with higher halogen wattage bulbs and a wiring harness. You'll probably get the "headlight inoperative" warning message, but I discovered that you can make it go away when the headlights are off by switching to the high beams before turning the headlights off. Also, I'd stick to philips brand stuff. The failure rate on no-name ballasts is pretty high.
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HeavyDuty
- Posts: 1281
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- Car: 1995 Infiniti Q45
95 Nissan 240SX S14
96 Nissan D21
06 Nissan 350Z Z33
I had the Sylvania Xenarc HID kit on my recently departed 98 F150 & they were the one mod I would do if I could only do one.
But, those included new headlamp assemblies made for the brighter system. I understand HID conversions in standard lenses will be incredibly bright & could blind oncoming traffic. I've also seen info on the conversions now being illegal.
http://forums.audiworld.com/mi...phtml
I hate not having my HID's anymore, but personally wouldn't want to get into a legal thing *if* I were involved in an accident.
But, those included new headlamp assemblies made for the brighter system. I understand HID conversions in standard lenses will be incredibly bright & could blind oncoming traffic. I've also seen info on the conversions now being illegal.
http://forums.audiworld.com/mi...phtml
I hate not having my HID's anymore, but personally wouldn't want to get into a legal thing *if* I were involved in an accident.
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docsmile71
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2003 4:16 am
Aftermarket HID's are going to be illegal to sell but those who already have it shouldn't have any problems. This kit is plug and play. It uses the stock headlight assembly and the bulb is placed in the same location as a stock H4 bulb to get the best beam pattern possible.
I know that the old S-class and E class MB used HID with the fluting on the lense and they worked very well. Nowadays, most cars use projector beams.
Like I said, I'm going to try these out and if they look like crap, I'm going to resell them to a Civic owner...I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.
I was looking for a kit with Philips ballasts but most of them are not selling them anymore to try to meet the new law. These were cheap so I picked one up.
I know that the old S-class and E class MB used HID with the fluting on the lense and they worked very well. Nowadays, most cars use projector beams.
Like I said, I'm going to try these out and if they look like crap, I'm going to resell them to a Civic owner...I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.
I was looking for a kit with Philips ballasts but most of them are not selling them anymore to try to meet the new law. These were cheap so I picked one up.
Q451990 wrote:I wouldn't be surprised to find Phillips ballasts under those pretty purple plastic cases. Does the 1995 not use 9006 for the low beams like the 90? Looking at the service manual it appears that it does...
Heath
Nope, they use H4s. It changed in 94. The high beams are really good as a result since you have the dual filament H4 high beam + the dedicated (9005?) seperate high beam. They are some of the best DOT spec reflector headlights I've seen.
The difference is that those headlights were designed to use a HID source and ours aren't. Projectors are a lot more forgiving for retrofits because they don't have fluted lenses and have a piece of metal that forces a sharp cutoff. You probably won't get an optimal dispersion of light, but they'll have a decent cutoff. You can approximate a halogen bulb, but you can't make it the same because a HID arc isn't optically the same as a halogen filament even if it's in about the same location.docsmile71 wrote:Aftermarket HID's are going to be illegal to sell but those who already have it shouldn't have any problems. This kit is plug and play. It uses the stock headlight assembly and the bulb is placed in the same location as a stock H4 bulb to get the best beam pattern possible.
I know that the old S-class and E class MB used HID with the fluting on the lense and they worked very well. Nowadays, most cars use projector beams.
Quote »Like I said, I'm going to try these out and if they look like crap, I'm going to resell them to a Civic owner...I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.[/quote]
Hopefully they'll work out. I might consider getting some too if you have a good experience with them.
Quote »I was looking for a kit with Philips ballasts but most of them are not selling them anymore to try to meet the new law. These were cheap so I picked one up. [/quote]
I picked some up for my other car right before the new law kicked in just so I could get a quality kit.
I've seen what is call 2nd generation HID replacement bulbs for the 90-95 Q45 headlight bulbs of 9005 & 9006. These 2nd generation bulbs do NOT have the ballast issues that 1st generation ones typically do. 2nd generation HID are a direct replacement of your stock headlamps, and require no additional wiring, heat problems, and will NOT cause your in-dash display to activate the "headlamp inoperative" message. You can find these units listed on Ebay.