botoo

I am still confused after reading the posts on replacement of the headlamp bulb. What confuses me is sealed beam or H4 or H5. In some places I read you have to change the whole lens. Adrian's book says USA models are sealed beam. However, my manual shows how to replace the lamp only and it sure looks like It would fit right in. If that is so, what lamp to use? H4 9004 lamps are available here in a few varieties and it looks like it would fit right in. I don't find any H5 lamps around here.

Do those saying you have to change the whole lens mean that the light pattern will not be correct using H4 9004 lamps??

What about Sylvania SilverStar lamps? I would like to use those as they are readily available and promise a brighter, whiter light and no higher wattage. What problems would occur?

I do understand the higher wattage problem that you could run into with some lamps and I don't want to use them.

Ruairidh

Lamp = bulb, right? And either (H4 or H5) case you can replace the lamp/bulb without having to replace the whole unit.

US cars came with H5's as standard and you need to use the right H5 bulb to replace it. The H5 bulb is different from the H4 and, AFAIK, are not interchangeable.

That said a very common mod on our cars in the US is to switch out the H5s for H4's (both becuase the h4s are better performers and many think they look better) and maybe someone has already done this to your car if the bulbs look the same as a H4?

ckkrause

You'd know if you have H5's. The H5's, that I still have, are pretty bad...just a blob of light in front of the car. The only thing that makes them remotely passable is that I installed heavy duty wiring, relays, and 65/100 W bulbs. Still, they are only passable...

-CKKrause

botoo

My present lamps(bulbs) say Osram HB1 DOT 9004. I take this to be a H4? Or ins't it?

When you say H4's look better, do you mean the lens? Who would care what the bulb looks like? It's inside the lens out of sight anyway.

ckkrause

I believe the 9004 is an H5 bulb...

-CKKrause

Ruairidh

The H4's look better as a unit in the car (at least i think they do). Not surprising as they were the unitl that the car was designed for - here are before and after shots.

Before - with stock H5s



After - with H4s

botoo

Thanks, your car looks great!

Whatever the lamp, I bought the Osram (Sylvania) SilverStars. They have the same numbers on the lamp that the old ones had. I will post later about improvements, if any.

garrett376

I posted on here a year ago or so about the silverstars when I cleaned out my headlamps - they are great bulbs - a nice "color" change of the light which I like a lot. It is "bluer" than stock, and much brighter.

Ruairidh - I can't tell the difference in the lights! What is different between the two?

Ruairidh

Garrett

Side by side the H5's look one size smaller than the H4's - they seem to leave a gap between them and the metalwork - the H4's dont. Also the trim rim for the H4s doesn't have the 3 black rubber grommets for adjsuting them.

DerkBarrington

Now I'm confused (not a big surprise!)

Reading the previous posts indicate that you can remove the bulb on the american H5 units but you can't get replacement bulbs???? Therefore you have to purchase the entire headlight. I thought the H5's were sealed unit's..ie. u can't remove the bulb from the lens assembly.

After reading the previous posts I popped off one my headlights and immediately notrd that I can remove the bulb from the lens assembly...it's looks like a pretty standard halegen bulb that you could pick up at the local parts store. What am I missing here?

Ruairidh

[QUOTE=DerkBarrington]Now I'm confused (not a big surprise!)

Reading the previous posts indicate that you can remove the bulb on the american H5 units but you can't get replacement bulbs???? Therefore you have to purchase the entire headlight. I thought the H5's were sealed unit's..ie. u can't remove the bulb from the lens assembly.

[QUOTE]

Yes you can remove the bulb from the rest of the lens and only replace the bulb - just need to make sure you use the right bulb.

botoo

OK, I have determined that i do not have an H4. The replacement for my standard headlamp (I assume it is H5) is a 9004 bulb, readily available. These ARE NOT sealed beam units.
I replaced the bulbs with Osram (Sylvania) SilverStar 9004 and notice a real difference in the whitness of the light when you look at the car coming at you. On the other hand, I am not sure that I see much of a difference in the visability when driving at night, which is what I was hoping for. There may be a little.

Carl Muckenhirn

Rich,

Yes they are "sealed beam" in the terms of the NHSTA definition. If you get a set of H4's you'll note that there is a path for air (or water) into the headlamp (the seal is between the glass and the fender, behind that there is airflow within the bucket and the lamp). The H5 is "sealed" with the bulb installed.

The H5's are not the "floodlight" style of sealed beam installed in US cars in the 60's and 70's.

c.

botoo

OK, I see what you mean.

I was reading Adrian's book in which he writes.. "The US version of the 964 only uses Bosch H5 sealed beam headlights. A failure in these headlights requires COMPLETE REPLACEMENT."

I never bothered to investigate further but when I did I found they use 9004 lamps(bulbs).