Continuing Sealed Beam Headlight problems

[lostmarbles]

Also don't forget Cibie....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cibie-7-Dia...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5ae28d7ea6

Thanks.

But I don't want the sidelamp fixtures attached to them and I can't yet seem to locate any Cibie sets available without them. Edit a few days later- I'm talking rubbish here... Proper searching and I can find Cibie units available WITHOUT sidelamp/parklamp

But at least the UK suppliers do have 178mm/7inch Cibie semi-sealed units available for RH-drives and at least they appear to have real glass lenses because I don't think I want to go with plastic/polycarbonate (such as supplied with Narva units.)

Of all of the 40s and 60s ive had over the last few years I haven't had to replace lights on the first one. By the looks of mine they all appear to be originals with koito markings. maybe next time I part another truck i'll try to keep the lights for back ups.

The lack-of-quality problem I'm experiencing may be simply related to RH-drive sealed-beams. But no matter which, I certainly wouldn't be throwing away working Koito units. (So long as they are in pairs because I have a thing against mismatched headlights and I always replace mine as a pair.)

I have never geeked out on headlights, so I don't know the pros and cons of all options, but since you're looking at non-sealed options, I remember my Roundeyes headlights being plug and play. No wiring modifications.

Trouble is ... I think Roundeyes are sold in "LH-drive only" so I don't think they're an option for me. But with the competitive price, features like "hardened glass", and with the absence of a park/sidelamp feature .... I wish the heck I could go for them

Who knew?
I had no idea that sealed beam lamps could be so problematic. ...... In all the trucks and cars I have owned over the years, I have probably replaced only two. You do have to adjust them correctly though.

I never used to have trouble with sealed beams either. But "times, they are a changing".

...These days the lowest-cost manufacturer tends to be the survivor because the general public seem to lack either the time or ability to discern quality in their purchasing.

Not only that, but the new pace of life means only old-farts like me can afford the time to keep thorough maintenance records that'll reveal these quality issues...

When buying taillight and indicator bulbs I never used to have a problem until recently either...
I expect one of those to fail on average say once every one or two years. But recently I began to find I was changing the SAME ones! And I was finding that the frequency had increased to 6 months/yearly so I knew I had a quality issue there too.

Finding these good GERLUX 21/5 and 21W bulbs has put me back to one failure every 2 years (or probably even less frequently) and I'm certainly not replacing the same bulb in succession anymore:

PS. So I think Hella could still be my best bet for when I go "semi-sealed" because they are "real glass" and I think their side/park bulb assy can be completely left out of the installation (leaving just a circular gap in the reflective coating where the bulb would shine through ... although I'd prefer not even that. And those Bosch units belonging to Rudi look soooo nice right now!.

 

[lostmarbles]

Tom,

I picked up some Halogen bulbs from a 60 series Sahara that was in a U-Pull-It here in OZ, cost me $20 for both.

They were a great improvement on the original sealed beams - much better light output, better spread of light too.

Am happy to send them across the ditch for you if you like, mine are not going to get much use over the next however long, and when mine does get back out on the road, I'll upgrade to the HIDs.

Dan

Sorry I missed this post of yours Dan..

That's a very kind offer indeed and thankyou so much for it.

When I started the thread I was determined to stick with sealed-beams but now that's it's running (with it's own life) the information I've gained has changed my mind.

I've now decided that the unbranded Halogen sealed-beams I just bought from Oz will be the last sealed-beams I ever run because I can readily buy quality H4 bulbs for a semi-sealed unit (insert) and I don't want headlight failure to be an issue for me again in the foreseeable future.

Narva is the dominant brand for bulbs in this country and the quality of their bulbs is acceptable from my experience so I shouldn't have any problem finding reliable H4 bulbs (until H4 bulbs start to become obsolete just like 178mm sealed-beams are doing now).

So thanks again but I won't take you up on your kind offer.

If I had been more sensible, I would have looked at wreckers rather than spending 112 hard-earned-dollars on my recent "no-name sealed-beams".

PS. They are halogen sealed beams that you're offering? Right? But I just had a thought that perhaps they are "semisealed with separate bulbs" and in that case I would be/am interested, especially if they are in top condition (incl the rubber boots) with glass lenses and not polycarbonate!

 

[bj40green]

I realize this is regulated differently in each country. I was just curious when different lenses started anywhere. All my parts books/microfiche are early. Nothing newer than 67. Mainly because if it's newer than 6/69 local Toyota dealer can look up a local market part. All my info does not show anything as far as RHD/LHD lenses. Only thing that comes to mind is my 65 microfiche shows Australia having their own tail lights with both red and amber lenses. My FJ25 parts book show two headlamps with the same spec and notes use either. Early years the a model on the VIN plate didn't show if it was hard top/soft top much less which style door it had or which market it was for. All that came years later. If I had one of the world catalogs I probably spent to much time studying it.

As far as I have figured it out it's locked up in the market specification.
Sealed beams don't have the triangle that directs the light a bit more to the right and up to better read signs along the side of the roads.

Here is what I did: I compared the head lights for a 1978 BJ40 for ARL (Australia RHD), General Market (mostly LHD), Europe (mostly LHD except the UK) and JDM (RHD)
NOTE: The EPC will show pictures of both sealed and non sealed but only part numbers for one or the other in ARL and JDM market. It's a bit confusing.

- You'll find that on the ARL model are only part numbers for sealed beams 12V and 24V.
- JDM only part number for sealed beam 24V.
- Europe and General market; part numbers for sealed and non sealed beams in white and yellow and 12V and 24V.
This leads me to believe that the non sealed beams where used in countries with LHD and that the sealed beams were used in countries with RHD.

So same model, same year but different destination (country) is different head lights.

Rudi

 

[dancar]

Sorry I missed this post of yours Dan..

That's a very kind offer indeed and thankyou so much for it.

When I started the thread I was determined to stick with sealed-beams but now that's it's running (with it's own life) the information I've gained has changed my mind.

I've now decided that the unbranded Halogen sealed-beams I just bought from Oz will be the last sealed-beams I ever run because I can readily buy quality H4 bulbs for a semi-sealed unit (insert) and I don't want headlight failure to be an issue for me again in the foreseeable future.

Narva is the dominant brand for bulbs in this country and the quality of their bulbs is acceptable from my experience so I shouldn't have any problem finding reliable H4 bulbs (until H4 bulbs start to become obsolete just like 178mm sealed-beams are doing now).

So thanks again but I won't take you up on your kind offer.

If I had been more sensible, I would have looked at wreckers rather than spending 112 hard-earned-dollars on my recent "no-name sealed-beams".

PS. They are halogen sealed beams that you're offering? Right? But I just had a thought that perhaps they are "semisealed with separate bulbs" and in that case I would be/am interested, especially if they are in top condition (incl the rubber boots) with glass lenses and not polycarbonate!

No problems Tom,
They are sealed halogen. As I said, my LX is not going anywhere soon, but I'll pull the lights and put them on the shelf.
Dan

 

[lostmarbles]

It occurred to me last night that I've been sloppy so I should try to clear up any confusion I may have caused by this sloppiness.

Firstly the LH/RH design-difference I've been talking about only relates to single lights that have both high-beam and low-beam filaments inside them. (So the headlights on an FJ40 are affected but not the headlights on a vehicle where low beam and high beam are achieved with completely separate lights/lenses.)

Secondly, within these "two-filament lights", when you're driving on the left-hand side of the road (as we do here) you need the low beam filament to dip the beam down to the left whereas when you're driving on the right-hand side of the road you need it to dip down to the right.

I should not have said that it relates to whether your vehicle is LH-drive or RH-drive because we have a few (mainly collectable) LH-drive cars on our roads and all vehicles on our roads must have headlights compliant with driving on the left-hand side of the road.

(In other words.......... I obviously should have said "it depends on which side of the road you drive on" rather than "it depends on whether your vehicle is LH-drive or RH-drive".)



PS. I'm rather ignorant about the little triangles Rudi refers to (but I do recall seeing them on some lights and I guess they are "special refinements")

 

[lostmarbles]

A new development today....

I've taken to driving with headlights on all the time (when I remember that is) in a bid to hasten the demise of those cr@ppy Revolution-brand sealed beams. And sure enough, yesterday I noticed only one had a working low-beam and today neither have a working low-beam..

So as a first step I thought I'd double-check the voltage I'm feeding them. (You never know, perhaps my dash-mounted aftermarket voltmeter is inaccurate and I'm really cooking them with excessive voltage.)

But no...

Here's the voltage to a sealed-beam high-beam filament (because none of my low-beam filaments are left intact and I wanted to show the voltage "on load") with the engine off:

And here's the voltage with the engine running at a very fast idle:

(You can see this headlight is on because of the amber glow coming through the reflector.)

And here's the voltage across the battery at that same fast idle:

Obviously no problem there ....

Just a couple of volts lost in the wiring...which is to be expected


And this again makes me conclude that the sealed beams being sold in New Zealand these days are absolute RUBBISH!

 

[lostmarbles]

So then it was off with the bezel:

Off with the triple-spade-connector:

Loosening the three screws on each retaining ring (making sure NOT to touch the alignment-adjusting screws):

Twist each retaining ring anticlockwise a tad and out comes each sealed-beam:

 

[bj40green]

You're loosing 14% of your voltage and thus also 14% of the current. That makes 28% of the wattage.

Time for....... relays!

Rudi

 

[lostmarbles]

And I'm always one for getting prepared early....

Also don't forget Cibie. ....

Thanks for your help White Stripe. I've followed your advice and ended up buying a pair of Cibie H4 units.. These will be fitted permanently once my last sealed-beams are used up (which I'll continue to try and hasten by running with my lights on all the time).

To get the right Cibies from an international seller I had to make sure I got ones that were made for a country where cars drive on the same side of the road as I do, that is, the left-hand side .... And the UK fits the bill:

PS. I didn't buy from this seller. I bought from another seller off UK eBay on the assumption that buying from someone in the UK would automatically give me lights suitable for driving in on the left-hand side of the road (which is of course the side they drive on in the UK). And then I suddenly realised how making assumptions regularly has dire consequences when buying on the Internet. So I frantically searched and stumbled on this site that offers all FOUR Cibie H4 options. It was able to allay my fears when I saw the same Cibie Part Number (CIB082441) for "the UK version without sidelight" that I had already ordered.


And here's what each one looks like now they've arrived:

Very nice ... and no park lights either (which is exactly what I wanted to match the OEM sealed beams).

So right now I have a good opportunity to compare a Cibie H4 unit (running a 60/55W halogen bulb) with an unbranded 75/50W Halogen sealed-beam. And I'll do that next....

 

[lostmarbles]

You're loosing 14% of your voltage and thus also 14% of the current. That makes 28% of the wattage.

Time for....... relays!

Rudi

You've got a good point Rudi.. But I don't need my lights to be any brighter and I like to keep my wiring original if at all possible...

 

[JohnnyC]

Tom

Are you now just going to drive with no lights?

You can use the holes for an air intake

 

[JohnnyC]

Disregard my last post... You got some Cibie to use in there now

 

[lostmarbles]

Here's some more pics of the Cibies first:

And time for a coffee break...

 

[lostmarbles]

Disregard my last post... You got some Cibie to use in there now

Trouble is, my nature is such that I must first use up the halogen sealed-beams (that I bought from Oz before I realised that I'd be much better off converting to "H4 inserts/semi-sealed-units")....Which annoys me .. because I'd much prefer to be running the Cibies without any waiting period ...

 

[JohnnyC]

For what it's worth .... I checked and the bulbs I run are 55/60 H4's with my hella copy flat headlights... My problems were cracking sealed beams... Three times in a month I had to replace lights... I didn't think I was following to close to have pebbles keep cracking the sealed beams...

A buddy had Hellas and he raved how thick and durable they were... So I went and got the copies LOL

Never cracked another headlight

As for dimming at idle... It does happen.... But.... It's slight and used to do it with the sealed beams as well ... I have no relays

 

[lostmarbles]

Thanks Johnny.

I certainly hope I never crack the lenses on my new Cibies once I start running them (but it would be kind of nice to smash a sealed beam meanwhile because that'll give me an excuse to fit the Cibies earlier).

And I took your advice over the Osram/Sylvania brand of bulb..

It turns out I could buy 10 of them overseas off the Internet (and get them delivered too) for less than cost of 2 lesser-brand bulbs bought locally:

Oh... And another thing I had to learn before buying these bulbs was that not all H4 bulbs are the same..

Modern lights require bulbs with a P43T base as shown on the right here (in comparison with the older P45T on the left):

Note: It appears to go against common sense that a bulb with a P43T base could be "newer" than one with a P45T base because of the number sequence (with 45 occurring later than 43). In fact because of this I had inadvertently swapped the labelling around... until Rudi thankfully corrected me. (I obviously didn't notice the "P43T" written on the packaging of the Osram bulbs I bought either until now.)

Apparently the P45T base evolved from the older pre-halogen bulb-base(s) so perhaps it is slightly different from them and perhaps this "evolution" occurred AFTER the P43T base was invented for the H4 bulb??? I really don't know..

(I've got to go and do other things now so I'll resume adding posts sometime later...)

 

[White Stripe]

Thanks Johnny.

I certainly hope I never crack the lenses on my new Cibies once I start running them (but it would be kind of nice to smash a sealed beam meanwhile because that'll give me an excuse to fit the Cibies earlier).

And I took your advice over the Osram/Sylvania brand of bulb..

It turns out I could buy 10 of them overseas off the Internet (and get them delivered too) for less than cost of 2 lesser-brand bulbs bought locally:
View attachment 939763

Oh... And another thing I had to learn before buying these bulbs was that not all H4 bulbs are the same..

Modern lights require bulbs with a P45T base as shown on the right here (in comparison with the older P43T on the left):
View attachment 939764

(I've got to go and do other things now so I'll resume adding posts sometime later...)

Well I hope they work out for you. Cibies use to be of good quality. Hope that they still are. I run 80/100w hella bulbs and just point the beam a little low so it doesn't blind people. I have been thinking of getting these protectors for mine:
http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/HEADLIGH..._Parts_Accessories&hash=item25905dd0f0&_uhb=1
I like em because a relative had something similar on his cruiser when I was a kid and I always thought they looked cool. I think it would look vintage and still have a function too. But this is the only place on earth I can find em is from this trucking depot in australia. I can't find them anywhere else.

 

[lostmarbles]

Well I hope they work out for you. Cibies use to be of good quality. Hope that they still are. I run 80/100w hella bulbs and just point the beam a little low so it doesn't blind people. I have been thinking of getting these protectors for mine:
http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/HEADLIGH..._Parts_Accessories&hash=item25905dd0f0&_uhb=1
I like em because a relative had something similar on his cruiser when I was a kid and I always thought they looked cool. I think it would look vintage and still have a function too. But this is the only place on earth I can find em is from this trucking depot in australia. I can't find them anywhere else.

Thanks White Stripe

These Cibies still appear to me to be pretty good quality.

Let us know how you feel about those protective covers if you do end up buying them..

(You could maybe add the information into this thread.)

 

[hotpoker01]

Nice thread Tom! Where did you get those Cibies from and how was the shipping cost to Nz?


...via IH8MUD app

 

[fj401978]

Great write up and pics, Tom! Thanks for the detail you provide, too!!