Xenon lights or not?

[nicky900]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and to VW's my last 4 cars have been Volvos. I have just bought a Passat TDI 170 SEL which was a demonstrator. I was so taken by the engine and DSG gearbox I did not really focus on anything else. My question is do I have xenon lights? From looking at pictures it would appear not. The main beam has a normal halogen bulb and the dipped beam so kind of domed front section. The brightness from the dipped beam does appear brighter than a normal halogen but I am not convinced. Did contact the dealer got through to sales. 20 mins of being messed around with 'well sir we are not sure' wasn't convincing. If it does not have xenons can it be converted using genuine VW parts or is the cost prohibative? I have ran a search but can only find posts relating to fitting HID kits and in the first instance I am not sure what I actually have!

Regards

Nick Jones

[simfin]

there are two ways to tell.

1 - Does it have a headlight wash function - There will be a cutout below each light, which will 'jet-spray' the headlight lense when you use the wash wipe - If you have this then you have Xenons

2 - On the Dash board in the car, do you have a manual headlight adjustment dial? This adjusts the beam manually so as not to dazzle other road users if the boot is loaded. If you do not have this manual adjustment. then you have Xenons, as they adjust automatically.



Have I read it correctly that the dealer can't work this out? If so, I find that shocking - but then again my 10 year old son knows more about cars than many VW 'experts' I have come across.

[sathound]

I have HIDs on my 170PS SEL 6 speed Estate. Basically the outer lamp looks like a projector lens and is housed in a reflector assembly which is marked with adjustment graticules. The "whiteness" of the light is in stark contrast to the inner sidelight lamp. The outer lamp is responsible for both dipped and full beam. there is also a separate QI lamp mounted at 45 degrees outwards which illuminates a wider view of the road when turning corners etc.

When the car is started the levelling routine is quite a performance as the lights move outwards and then inwards and down and then up until they find their centre datum point. It seems like the car is going cross-eyed!!

http://www.supercarnews.net/volkswagen/picture/2005-volkswagen-passat-b6-50-3095/

[JontraK]

there are two ways to tell.

1 - Does it have a headlight wash function - There will be a cutout below each light, which will 'jet-spray' the headlight lense when you use the wash wipe - If you have this then you have Xenons


Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there are aftermarket headlight washers available?

[domestos]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there are aftermarket headlight washers available?

Not sure if you can get them or not...

How about a sponge and bucket - £2.99 from Tesco ... lol :biglaugh: sorry !!!

not very helpful but I coundn't resist...

[gazza007]

While we are on lighting, has anybody upgraded the standard bulbs & is it an easy job?. Not sure what the standard H7's are but I've had better. I have always upgraded my bulbs on other vehicles with much better results. The Philips X-treme Power +80% seem to be the best out there at the moment.

[claranet]

I fitted a new set of the 30% brighter bulbs from Halfords to my B5. This was a very fiddly job but worth it ? I did the same to my wife's 04 Focus Estate - now that REALLY was a pain in Harris I can tell you ! The Ford Guys say it is quicker to take the Headlamp out which in turn means removing the front wheels and remove the front wheel arch liner screws to get access to the outer Headlamp fixing screws...and to think that it is a requirement in France to carry a bulb kit !.........If I was you, and there ain't anything wrong with the Headlights that you've got, to forget about upgrading the Headlights and enjoy driving the car !!!
claranet

[gazza007]

Cheers I'll have a look how it can be done first then go from there.

[steve46]

Hi there. Well i am a newcomer to this forum & my passat 2006 tdi sport estste 140. I have already ordered 2 sets of xenon lights & choke units from e-bay. Not that the lights are poor now, in fact the projector lens does give a good sharp beam. I guess it will be a while before i get round to fitting them as i have a few warranty issues to try & sort out first. Will post the results when finished.

[gstewar1]

I changed the bulbs on my 1.9tdi when we got it and what a job it was.

I dont no if with yours being the 2.0 if there would be space to move but i did lose a fair wee bit of skin off my knuckles.:(

There is a Rubber cap that goes over the lighting unit, remove this and then feel for the cable on the bulb and remove that. It just clips off.

Now here is the trick, get and old CD and use it as a mirror and you can look right inside the headlamp and see how everything goes in etc.:AR15firin

The total time it took me to do this was about 25-30 mins i think if i remeber correctly.

And i didnt have to remove any panels or anyting.


hope this helps

[steve46]

Hey thanks for that. My grand cherokee jeep has a 8mm bolt that is a long pin 400mm long that you unscrew & the whole headlamp unit comes out. Thought the germans were supposed to be better at this sort of thing. Looks like my best pink floyd cd & elastoplast at the ready. Cheers

[gazza007]

I changed the bulbs on my 1.9tdi when we got it and what a job it was.

I dont no if with yours being the 2.0 if there would be space to move but i did lose a fair wee bit of skin off my knuckles.:(

There is a Rubber cap that goes over the lighting unit, remove this and then feel for the cable on the bulb and remove that. It just clips off.

Now here is the trick, get and old CD and use it as a mirror and you can look right inside the headlamp and see how everything goes in etc.:AR15firin

The total time it took me to do this was about 25-30 mins i think if i remeber correctly.

And i didnt have to remove any panels or anyting.


hope this helps

What bulbs did you use & was it an improvement?

[gstewar1]

I used Philips Blue Vision +30% Xenon Bulbs as they were being recommended at the time by Auto express. They are brilliant bulbs but tbh I cannot really say what the old ones were like because I just upgrade the bulbs automatically, but these ones are really good and give a nice crisp white light.:biglaugh:

[Frelon]

I managed to obtain some 100 watt H7s on eBay for my Golf Plus, and what a difference they make. Of course you can only legally use these "off road" ;)

[Crasher]

Your headlight switch will burn out very quickly, the headlight feeds should have relays fitted to do this.

[Frelon]

Well Crasher you may not realise this but the headlights on the Golf Plus (and probably all late VW's) are switched by a relay!

[Crasher]

Painfully aware, the very expensive to replace J519 onboard supply control unit (3C0 937 049 AL, £201.74 inc. VAT) that cannot take a near 45% increase in loading.

[gazza007]

I used Philips Blue Vision +30% Xenon Bulbs as they were being recommended at the time by Auto express. They are brilliant bulbs but tbh I cannot really say what the old ones were like because I just upgrade the bulbs automatically, but these ones are really good and give a nice crisp white light.:biglaugh:

I'm gonna change mine after Xmas, I think the light is poor from the std bulbs

happy Xmas

[Frelon]

Well Crasher, I wonder what Autobulbs Direct have to say about your warnings?

They indicate on their website..


3) Do I need to modify my car in any way to use these bulbs?
No. These bulbs work on the same power ratings as your existing bulbs so will require no modifications. The exception is the high wattage bulbs which may require you to upgrade the fuse to a higher rating.

...so just a fuse upgrade then.

[Crasher]

The fuse requiring upgrading would also mean the switch as well, that is common sense but they are looking at this subject from the perspective of car manufactures from A to Z where they may have found you can get away with this on most, I only work on VAG. I have seen numerous instances of switch failure due to 80/100 bulbs over the years and in fact it happened to me back in December 1991 when I put 80/100 bulbs in my Golf 1 GTI and then drove to Carlisle from Nottingham. On the way back I turned the lights on and had no dipped beam as the steering column dip/main switch had burnt out. On the Golf 2, the main light switch fails first as on the Golf 3 and 4. My wife’s Golf 2 has a relay (five) for each filament (except the grill spots which are one relay between two) and these are mounted above the fuse box and I have done the same to my Golf 1 and 2 but not my Octavia, yet! Yesterday on the way back down the motorway the lights on my Octavia were so bad the wife had to slow down as she could not see where she was going. An interesting effect of the relays is that some people may be happy with the improvement these alone give and so you would remain legal. A voltage drop test between the powered bulb connection and the battery positive terminal shows a volt drop of around 3 volts without relays and this reduces to around 0.1v with relays, even using the original wiring. In fact I don’t usually bother to upgrade the wiring as it makes so little difference. The exception is my Golf 1 which I am currently fettling and I rebuilt the harness with 2.5-mm core wire instead of the original 1.5-mm.

[gazza007]

Have ordered the Philips X-treme + 80% for £26.99 from Autobulbsonline, best price I could find.
http://www.autobulbsonline.co.uk/#Anchor_Philips_Xtreme

You also get a set of sidelight bulbs, so quite a good deal.
http://www.autobulbsonline.co.uk/#Anchor_Philips_W5W__Blue_Vision

I will report back when fitted

[steve46]

Well if anyone is interested i fitted the xenon units from ebay today. They are the ones made by bosch assembled guess where. Went out tonight & they are amazing. I had already fitted brighter lamps before christmas but these are now in the main beam. The light output is very blue almost ultra violet. Its funny as when i was coming up the main street where i live all the kids white trainers lit up like a white shirt in a night club. Ace. The beam cut off is still very sharp so i don,t think they will dazzle but on the mirky dark roads near me it was like driving at daytime. Warning though if anyone decides to buy them you have to remove the steel clip from the plastic lampholder that you hold to remove them from the shell with. Then try & force it over the rear of the xenon lamp. The worst bit is then refitting them in the shell. But overall worth the effort. The control gear i just tywrapped near the shell rears. Not the prettiest job but safe & functional. Highly recommended mod. :biglaugh::beerchug:

[gazza007]

I fitted my Philips X-treme bulbs yesterday, a little tricky but not too bad.
Def improvement over Std Philips Long Life H7's.

Steve, have you any pics of your upgrade & ebay link?

[steve46]

I tried to take some photo,s just now in the dark 4:40pm sunday but it is impossible to see the light properly. The only thing i can say is now my side lights look like p-- holes in the snow, they are so yellow in contrast. The 55w hue blue lamps i have put in the main beam even look crap in comparison. The xenons are only 35w & i have load teated the input to them & the controllers are only drawing 42w so there should be no issues with fuses or light sw failure. I don,t know how to put a link to e-bay but just search for HID & there is loads. The ones i have bought this time are the Bosch units but assembled in china. They cost £14.99 But delevery is £35. But £50 for a set of xenons is cheap. So far so good. I bought a set for my 996 carrera last july & never fitted them. This is the set i fitted yesterday as the lamps that came from china were H4 instead of H7, My fault when ordering. But after fitting when i put main beam on with engine running the xenons turned into flashing strobe lights, with engine not running they were fine, Can only think the passat alternator charges higher when main beam is on & the ballasts did,nt like it. So i fitted the bosch ballasts & all is ok now so if anyone buys any from ebay etc they ought to go for the bosch units. The other box just said HID on the front so i would leave them alone. I bought 2 sets of the bosch units but realise now you cannot fit them to main beam as they have to strike up each time you put them on so my mate has put them on his shogun, Now hes like a dog with 2 thingy,s. Only wants to drive at night. P.S i have not had to readjust the lights the standard bulb settings work fine.
Warning::::: The VW bulb holders have to be parted from their plastic holders & they are a bitch to put back in & twist to lock in, took me ages. Good luck to anyone trying this mod, But 100% worth it.