lhpdiver

2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport - 109,000 miles. We are the original owners. Very seldom drive at night but when we do - and since our eyes are getting older - I have some trouble seeing what is in front of me.

Do headlights lose brilliance over over time or is it just that they either work or don't work ? I'm not looking into having the prettiest headlights, they don't have to dance around, change colors etc. All I want is more light. I'd rather not have to re-harness anything.I'd prefer someone looking at the front grill and not even knowing I made any changes.

Is there a high quality bright 'stock-like' bulb I can replace the current 17 year old bulbs with ?

Thanks

cruiser54

It's not your imagination.

Can be remedied in 30 minutes by installing this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CERAMIC-H4-H...-/330997592807

mschi772

Yes. This is due to voltage drop over insufficient wiring. Every XJ has this from the day it left the factory, and as the wire aged, it only got worse.

Adding a relay harness is extremely easy, and is your only true solution.

You'd never know that my headlights weren't original but are a bajillion times better than stock by looking at the front of my Jeep. Relay harness, Cibie H4 housings, and quality H4 bulbs.


See this post to learn more. https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/headlights-203245/

cruiser54

Harness is easy to install. Plug and play.

Your current bulbs will shine about 35% brighter.

If you don't install the harness, you run the risk of the headlight switch overheating and tripping the circuit breaker inside it.

It will only happen at night though.

Fred/N0AZZ

The harness will help a lot but myself like you have noticed with age (69) vision at night has decreased and have installed better headlights in all my cars, trucks, Jeeps, motorhome that helped a lot. Much better bulbs, and headlight assy. are available for most all older cars.


Last year had eye lens replacement surgery that helped the most of all even inside my home lol.

lhpdiver

Thanks - just had them pit out my prostrate this week (TURP). Think I'll stay away from doctors for a while :-)

extrashaky

Mine got so dim that when driving around town under streetlights, I couldn't even tell when the headlights were on or off. I installed a relay harness and saw immediate, noticeable improvement. Then I upgraded the lamps themselves to European "e-code" spec H4 housings with 100/55W bulbs and saw an even bigger improvement. I wish I had done it years earlier.

cruiser54

typical.....

Harness is a hafta.

BlueRidgeMark

Yes they do. The old ones do, anyway. Even given perfect voltage, they fade over time. What happens is that the filament gradually vaporizes and deposits itself on the inside of the lens, blocking the light from exiting. It's basically turning the inside of the lens into a partial mirror.

Do the harness, and if you don't want to go with the H4 bulb route, get some Sylvania Silver Stars.

But do the harness first.




Oh, in case nobody mentioned it yet, there's an excellent harness upgrade that you should do before you do anything else. It's easy.