lhpdiver

We do not drive our 2001 Sport much at night. Within the last year we started having problems seeing at night (when we did). So - we asked our mechanic if he could replace the bulbs with something brighter. He replaced them with something that can accommodate 'Hella' bulbs (Not sure if that means the housings and the bulbs are Hella - but at the moment the bulbs are. Their first solution was yellow bulbs - which did not work for us at all - they were worse than what we started with. When we made that comment they replaced the yellow bulbs with white bulbs. So - last week was the first time since that I had to drive in the early morning hours and I might as well have had my lights turned off.

I was searching the internet and came across these :

Any comments appreciated - or is it that we simply need a better quality Hella bulb ? Thanks

BlueRidgeMark

Well, since Hella is a brand name (and a good one), it's hard to know what your mechanic installed.

Your problem is probably twofold:

1. Grounds. These vehicles aren't new. It's very likely that your headlight ground connections are a bit corroded and are impeding current flow to your lights, thus making them dimmer than they should be. IIRC, the headlight ground are on the driver's side fenderwell, hiding under the air box.
2. The headlight wiring on these was marginal from the factory. The best cure for this is to install an aftermarket headlight harness, which takes the load off of your original wiring (extending its life) and giving you a lot more voltage to your headlights, making them much brighter.

I suggest you take care of these two things BEFORE spending any more money on headlights.

XJlimitedx99

Just about everybody on this forum will recommend a H4 headlight conversion with this wiring harness:


This harness redirects the power pulled by the headlights through relays instead of sending the full amperage through the switch inside the cabin. What this does is cause much less voltage drop between the battery and the headlights and thus, brighter headlights.

The "H4 conversion" part of my original statement refers to replacing the OEM sealed-beam style headlight housings with housings that can have H4 style bulbs swapped into them. From your post, it sounds like your mechanic possible has already done this. Hella makes a housing that accept H4 style bulbs.

The bulbs will only be as good as the wiring allows them to be. IMO many of the bulbs that are marketed to be better are gimmicks. Don't buy bulbs that are tinted blue. They just look dumb and filter out usable light.

My suggestion: Install the harness and love every second of it. It is very easy to install. The hardest part is grounding a couple wires and mounting the relays. Pair that with some decent H4 style bulbs and you'll be a happy camper.

FWIW, I have the Putco harness, Cibie headlight housings, and Osram 55/60W bulbs.

BlueRidgeMark

All of what he said, especially this!


Here's a good thread to read on the topic:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/hea...oblems-238152/

lhpdiver

Thank you all for your responses.

I truly trust the mechanic (and his shop) so I'm sure he would only do what he thinks is right.

Having said that - and leading up to my speaking with him this week - did they need to replace the wiring harness already from what came from the factory to get us to where we are today ? I know we have Hella H4 bulbs today - I saw them pull them from the boxes.Did they need to replace the factory harness to enable us to use H4 bulbs - or is that an additional step ? Is it that the factory harness can not handle H4 bulbs ? Thanks.

Edit : ahh - so perhaps the fact that the lighting on the dash dims when we turn on the headlights has something to do with this.

BlueRidgeMark

Okay, so he's honest. That doesn't mean he knows what he's doing.

Even if he's a competent mechanic, that doesn't mean he knows the particular quirks of these older vehicles.


That's correct. Sometimes it can't even handle standard bulbs. It was marginal with factory bulbs. Putting in H4s without the harness upgrade is asking for a burnt out headlight switch, or worse.

By the way, it's not replacing the factory harness. It's an add-on, that takes the load off the factory harness and provides full voltage to the headlights. The nice thing is, it's very easy to convert it back to stock if you ever choose to do that. No part of the stock setup is removed or altered.

Don't forget the grounds.

Yep.

lhpdiver

Ordered the harness from Amazon.com.mx. Should have it by Sept 5th.

EEVEE

tbh i would spend a little more and get some led headlights. While the h4 are enough to get you by and will of course work. The led imo throw out more and now the prices are finally dropping.

EEVEE

https://www.ledfactorymart.com/produ...UaAggDEALw_wcB

http://www.raneystruckparts.com/5-x-...0aAlpEEALw_wcB

My friend with his jeep uses the ones in the first link.

Martlor13

I don't like either one...the pricey led lights are best because their light is more controlled. The second link especially is known to throw light all over and blind other drivers. I myself don't like any led headlights.

Martlor13

love this writeup on lights.

extrashaky

You will see an immediate and noticeable improvement. Mine were so bad you couldn't tell the lights were even on under streetlights. The harness made them shine like new.

He could be a fine mechanic and not have any experience with the headlight issue. We know about it because we're a community of enthusiasts who share information about issues and fixes specific to these vehicles. He's more likely to have general knowledge that helps him work on a wider range of vehicles without knowing the little details.

What you want is what works. The headlight harness will work. If your mechanic is as good as you believe, he'll appreciate learning about it.

Let's separate out what the relay harness does from what the H4 conversion does.

In a nutshell, the problem with the headlights is that the full current to run the lights goes through the switch on your dash, and over time that circuit "wears out" by building up corrosion and resistance. The resistance prevents the full current from reaching the headlights, so they get dimmer and dimmer over time until they're barely working. It also makes the circuit heat up, so that it can damage your headlight switch.

If it helps, think of it like a hose with water running through it in place of electricity, and the headlight switch is a valve. The water has to go all the way through that valve to get back to your headlights. If the hoses get gunked up over time, not enough water gets through.

The headlight harness bypasses your headlight switch and gets the current for the lights directly from the battery. It's like having a shorter, thicker hose running directly from the source that's less likely to get gunked up. The switch on the dash still controls the lights, but it uses relays near the battery instead of controlling them directly. It's like relocating the valve to the source and controlling it remotely.

This is the case with any incandescent light, and that goes for both the sealed beam lamps you had in it originally and the H4 conversion your mechanic installed. They both make light the same way, just in a different bulb configuration. If you just install H4 housings and lamps without the harness, they won't be any brighter than stock. If you had installed the relay harness without the H4 conversion, your original sealed beam lamps would have been a lot brighter on their own.

The H4 conversion is still a good idea, because you have a wider selection of bulbs to choose from, and the quality of light from the housings is generally better. But you need that relay harness to address your primary concern that the lights are too dim. Your mechanic was thinking that he could just put brighter H4 bulbs into the existing circuit, but that didn't work because there simply wasn't enough electricity running through it to power them.

No, that's normal. The designers figured you would be turning your lights on mostly at night, so the lights on the dash dim automatically when you turn the headlights on to avoid impairing your night vision and make it easier to see outside in the dark. Dash lights brighten when you turn the lights off so that they're easier to see in daylight. If they stayed dim all the time, you wouldn't be able to see them in direct sunlight.

BlueRidgeMark

Excellent post, shaky!


I misunderstood what he meant about the dash lights dimming. Glad you caught that.

lhpdiver

I started this thread about a year ago now. I would venture that we have only used the headlights about 10 hours or so. We installed the Putco harness mentioned above. The lighting is/was ok - I wouldn't call them brilliant. Even though we have hardly used the lights a bulb recently blew out.

The description for the harness says it is H4 - and I know that the shop installed Hella bulbs. Is every Hella H4 bulb the same (excepting the color) ? Do I have to look up on some chart for a specific bulb for the Jeep?

I have purchased H4XE-TLL bulbs and was disappointed when I found they were blue. Apparently they throw off 20 % light than halogens.

I know the bulbs installed in the Jeep currently are clear - and it seems that there is a "high wattage" Hella H4 bulb that throws off 'double' the light of halogens. Can I use them with the putco harness ? Physically the bulbs in the Jeep don't look like Hella H4 bulbs I mention.

The guy who installed all this stuff a year ago says I may have H7 bulbs (I'll see him tomorrow) - Is that possible ? Would an H7 bulb work in a H4 harness ?

Finally is a Hella H4XE-TLL bulb any good or should I return them ?

Thanks - sorry for the rambling.

Oswalla

H7 and H4 are different bulbs, h7 (low beam) single filament, H4 (high/low beam) double filament. H4 is what you need. H4 come in all colors and wattages and a xenon type also. I read the posts twice and you never said what light housing you have besides Hella, might be some difference if you have xenon h4 setup I don't know never fell for the xenon setup. If you have a simple h4 conversion setup The bulbs I have been good to me for 2 years so far. I have the 100w/55w white bulb in the links below or some run the 100w/90w white but thats 90w low beam so headlight aiming is crucial to not blind others. If you need to junk the setup you have go with the autopal conversion E-CODE housing and keep the wiring harness.

Side note: don't touch the bulb with bare hands, skin oils will shorten bulb life. If you do, clean bulb with rubbing alcohol.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-9003-HB2...IAAOSwu4BV05eS

https://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-9003-HB2...QAAOSw9N1VtrBu

https://www.ebay.com/itm/79-01-JEEP-...sAAOSwhilbXb8o