Halogen bulbs have a gas inside them that keeps the tungsten from evaporating from the filament and eventually blacking the envelope. Xenon does one better. Not only does it prevent the tungsten evaporation, but it gives off extra light when excited with electricity. Xenon almost triples the life of the bulbs as well.

The reason fingerprint oils are a bad thing on the glass is because it causes hot spots to form in the glass that may make the envelope shatter from temperature differences.

I bought a pair of Chinese fog lights that came with H2 bulbs already installed. They lasted 2 nights before they burnt out! I replaced them with Hella H2 bulbs and they lasted over a year being used about 4 hours a night and 4 nights a week. Hella is a German company that has been making automotive lighting for a very long time and are expensive because they insist on producing a quality product.

 

Disclaimer: I'm a bit of a headlight ****, can't stand zenon in reflector housings, and used to bash on LEDs as well. That said, when it came time to upgrade the lights in the Barracuda, I didn't want to get into installing extra harnesses and I wanted it to look outwardly stock. So I bought Hella H4 e-code conversion housings, ~100 and a well rated set of LED H4 bulbs off Amazon. I'm pretty impressed with the cutoff line of this combo and the lack of glare to oncoming traffic. The low beam output has to be a 300% improvement and the high beam output is perfect.

I'd say this is the easiest route.



Of course your best headlight is still a xenon projector, which I did for my XJ, but that's a lot of work (see thread in signature for pics of that)

 

We went to the shop this morning and we now have working headlights. We had previously installed Hella H4 100/80 watt bulbs. The passenger side light was very very dim. First we swapped the two bulbs and the bulb that had been working did not light at all, the other dim bulb was still dim on the driver's side. We attributed this to the circuitry was serialized (if that is the right word). Which seems a little scary because if the driver side bulb goes out you have NO headlights !

Part of our problem was that the ground wire for the new harness on the passenger side was having an issue (not working).

Turns out the Xenon bulbs I purchased last week are 65/50 watt and I'm returning them.

Next thing I want to do is attempt aligning the headlights myself. Anyone have any technique tips ?

 

The headlights are not wired in serial, so that wasn't it. Likely all due to the grounding issue you mentioned.

90/100W bulbs aren't going to last very long, Hella or otherwise. Its just physics.

Aiming: https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

 

You know, not too many years ago anything other that a sealed beam 55/55 watt bulb was illegal on an American vehicle. My 76 Datsun B210 came from Japan with 55/65 watt bulbs in it and that additional wattage on the high beam was astounding! I got stopped by the cops a couple of times just to be checked out. Now it seems anything goes and you won't be hassled unless you blind a cop! They don't check alignment on inspection anymore because it takes too much time with all the different lighting types. What really burns my butt is people who drive with LED light bars on and not properly aimed! Also, have you noticed the turn signals are installed so close to the headlights that you sometimes can't see that one is on? Add to that LED brake lights that will blind you!I put a pair of 550 lumen LED bulbs in my reverse lights and it's the best thing I've ever done.

Rant over.

 

Thank you BooGTS for the link. I'll print it off and read it.

dave1123 : WE live in a world with no street lights (actually very very few traffic lights for that matter), but there is enough opposing traffic that I can't drive around with my high beams on all the time. Ok so I am in my mid-sixties but over that life span I have never really enjoyed driving at night. Maybe it is as simple as our nearly 20 year old Jeep's lighting/electrical system is aging a little worse than me...

 

I think the whole answer is the lack of headlight relays in the XJ. My WJ has them installed from the factory inside the PDC and uses 2 bulbs, one for high and one for low, both of them being on on high beam. It's about the best lighting on any car I've owned so far. I just bought a 2000 XJ Sport and haven't had the time to do anything with it yet so I don't know what it's like. I'm getting the feeling it's just like the older ones.

Thinking back to my younger days, I had a 37 Dodge (the old 6v system) and the headlights were like candles! A trucker friend of mine suggested I install relays. What a difference that made! Some of my friends thought I installed a 12v system!

 

For the time and money you invested, it would have been better to go "all in" and use something high end.

Knock off LEDs have a spotty and non-even pattern. Genuine Truck Lite, or JW Speaker is a good option.
A better option is Bi Xenon Projectors like those found on modern luxury cars. Crazy awesome light output.

Absolute game changer. Even the JW Speakers offer inferior light output, and halogens aren't even in the same league.

Rugged Retrofits

 

[QUOTE=lhpdiver;3415564]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.
QUOTE]

The older couple I bought my 130K mile 1999 Cherokee from trusted their mechanic too and placed their Cherokee for sale for about half of its value. Upper radiator hose was old and cracked and spraying coolant in places and the temperatures rode higher than usual. They were told it needed a new head gasket. I replaced radiator, hoses, and coolant. no more leaks, no more overheating events.