To get started, you need to take off the headlights. There’s two #27 torq screws holding the headlight in, one at each end. They’re pretty easy to find, probably even covered in the manual (but I assume that if you’re playing with HIDs, you probably have already taken these out before). Unplug the wires in the back and it will be free to move to wherever work station you have set up. First thing you need to do is remove the ballasts. #10 (I think) torq bit, 3 screws on the bottom holding it to the housing. Next you can remove the black rubber cover on the back side of the housing behind the HID bulb. Now you have access to all that you need.

So go get the stock bulb out of the housing, you need to turn the little plastic retainer ring. I will say that this thing makes it a total ***** to get out the bulb out the first time, but it gets easier after you do it a few times. Your fingers will hurt, and it’s not easy to get your fingers in there for proper leverage, but work it back and forth a bit and it will rotate open. Remove the bulb and put to the side. Hard to see the ring itself, but it's straddling the little metallic looking ridge in the middle of these shots.

Here’s a side by side of the bulbs. The one on the left is the factory D8S. The only difference you’ll see is the little notch around the 7:30 position, right by the little metal support holding the bulb. That’s the only difference. Add that little notch and the bulb fits just like the factory bulb. I took the little roto-zip attachment on my Dremel and had it done with one cut through the plastic. Might take a couple test fits to make sure it’s wide and deep enough, but doesn’t take much. Just be sure to blow off the plastic remnants before putting the bulb in the housing.

To get the new bulb to stay in the housing, you’ll need to remove that little plastic ring. The key is to rotate it so it’s kind of in the middle of it’s rotation, and then push it back and it comes right off. Put the ring onto the new bulb with the same orientation and it’s ready to be installed.

 

Now comes time for the part I was really unsure about: The ballasts. As you can see here, I knew the hole pattern wouldn’t line up, but I didn’t realize how much bigger the new one was going to be over the stock one.

By the way, these are the specs on the ballasts I got. Don't know which numbers here a relevant, but just in case...

I sent a message to the guy I got the bulbs from, seeing if I could just use the stocker to seal up the opening on the housing and then zip tie the new ballast somewhere nearby. He chuckled, and showed me a trick. Turns out the screws in the 4 corners take out the guts of the ballast and you can just swap housings – awesome!

I also asked him about the polarity of the ballasts. They were both Osram ballasts, and they used the exact same plug, but didn’t really have a sure way to test. He said that they were the same and to plug them in and go. I wasn’t so sure, but did what I was told and plugged them in just like stock. I wasn’t so lucky on the ballast to bulb cable, but that was a simple enough swap that it didn’t really matter. The only modification I made was to change the angle of the new plug going into the ballast to more of a 45deg angle instead of a 90 because I couldn’t get it to go back together with the angle staying how it came.

After I figured out the steps to replace one system and get the first headlight done (modify bulb, swap ballast housing, swap plastic retainer ring, install) I was able to do the second one in less than 15 minutes. It's really as simple as it sounds (provided you use the same Osram system).

 

Now the part you're probably waiting for, the results. I'd say I'll just let the pictures do the talking, but unfortunately I only had my cell phone camera with auto adjusting settings so it's hard to show a true comparison. I will say that the amount of light being sent down the road is a HUGE improvement. I actually have been catching myself getting distracted by watching the cutoff bounce around down the block as I'm driving. My foglights (which I just finished installing new projectors) are now almost completely washed out when seeing them from the driver's seat. I am more than happy with the upgrade!

I did get a few pics which I'll share. I am going to be working with photoshop to adjust the "after" picture brightness to see if I can get the yellows to match and get a similar reflection off the driveway just to show how much the headlight beam has improved, but here's a few shots (both unedited and edited). I will update with some more output pics as I take them.

Stock bulbs with HDR setting enabled (Galaxy Note 3)

Drivers Side bulb swapped, passenger still stock. Notice whiter color and larger "hot spot" on drivers side

After (unedited)

After (edited - yellow is still too dark, but has been lightened a little to get closer to driveway reflection)

After (unedited)

After, from drivers seat

And a temporary Before/After shot until I can get some better shots:

 

The 11-14 Explorer with the HID heads has Osram parts in it ... I wonder if that OEM ballast would work. Part # 8A5Z-13C170-A. It looks like it has the same housing as what you acquired.

Edit: appears a whole mess of other Ford and Lincoln cars have the same ballasts and bulbs.

 

Yup - if you search for the bulbs, there's like 7 or so different models they came in, about 3 or 4 audi's, some murcury and a lincoln or two. Makes them a lot more available than trying to find a replacement D8S bulb somewhere. Plus that line of bulbs is very popular within the retrofit community which is always a plus.

 

That looks pretty good, Muddy. I wish you could throw a clear lens on the projector without having to take the lights apart (it's a huge PITA), as they would really benefit from it. I saw you post on Headlight Junkies. Saw the foglight post and was like wait a second.../no stalker.

I like it!

 

I wish I could too, as well as throw some high temp paint on the cutoff shields to see how that cleans up the line but I really don't want to risk taking the lenses apart at this point. Like I mentioned in the first post, I've been in talks with a retrofit company about doing some upgrades, but this deal popped up and figured as one of the lighting guys on here, I might as well run with the idea and see what happens.

I've been on the headlight junkies page for about a month now and have been drooling over some of their projects. Wanted to see what I could do with my lights and get my feet wet. HIDs for the fogs is the next logical step I think.

 

Very nice write up. That set up looks like a very promising upgrade for the ST3 guys.

 

I will definitely be doing this thanks for the great write up!!

 

Great work!

 

Turns out the older GT500's had 35w ballasts and bulbs

 

Where would I be able to buy a set of those bulbs? All I can find is eBay and there are a lot of people on the forums saying those are most likely Chinese knockoffs...

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk

 

ebay isn't bad if you can find a reputable seller, but I would hop on to HIDplanet.com and start looking around on there. They are ALWAYS selling stuff. This is a little more rare as the bulb combination isn't as popular as a D2 or D1 bulb, but they're out there (heck, I found these by accident really, I haven't even searched on there yet). The other place is to look on the "Headlight Junkies" page on facebook. They usually have a few things pop up for sale every few days and if you join up on there, I can get you in touch with the guy I got mine from and see what else he might have.

 

There are some on TRS, but they're the top of the line ones, and they're pricey new. CBIs are baller though.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/components/bulbs.html

 

There are some on TRS, but they're the top of the line ones, and they're pricey new. CBIs are baller though.

The Retrofit Source | Innovative Headlight Upgrades

These bulbs I picked up are actually the HBI's which are the OEM equipment bulb, CBI's being the after market equivalent (Both made by the same brand). I'm happy with them!

 

ive been waiting for this!


becuz tapatalk

 

Nice improvement! The CBI/HBI bulb is very nice, I use the CBI in D2S. You'll notice it color-shift a bit after about 20 hours of use, becomes closer to a 5500k or so. Its gorgeous.

Swap to a clear lens next!

 

Here's some more output shots for you guys. Distance is a approximate (walked it off so its based on paces) to the base of the grass hill. Keep in mind that these have not been height adjusted completely nor have they had any attention paid to their width. The narrowness of the beam is due to the stock projectors which are designed to throw more light out forward rather than to the sides (which is why we have the cornering lights. Still, the beam on the sides still isn't too bad. All of these shots were taken through the windshield from the driver's seat with my Galaxy Note 3 so no fancy photos here yet.

Here's about 15 paces (45ft)

30 paces (90ft)

50 paces (150ft)

 

i have d3s bulbs... but no ballast. ****! muddy you're a ****ing legend. post up a thread on the fogs!

 

Check my signature for info on the fogs up to this point.

What is the deal with the cut plug on the ballast?

When the guy shipped then to me, he included that plug in case I needed to adapt the stock plug to work with the new ballast. Since the stocker worked with the new ballast, it wasn't needed.

 

What is the deal with the cut plug on the ballast?

 

I have thought about doing this swap because my wifes edge limited has the D3S hids and it looks a lot better than our D8S bulbs. But its so dang expensive

 

I have to say "yes" and "no" to this statement. Mainly it depends on your budget. If you're intending to upgrade your headlights and improve the HID system that comes with it, the $180 that I spent isn't too bad considering the other options. Now if you're used to buying replacement headlight bulbs (halogens) then "new bulbs" like I spent are a heck of a lot more.

The beauty of the D3S system (that I've found) is that people aren't too excited about having them. The retrofit guys like to stick with D2S systems because they're much more universal. The guy that I got mine from was really looking to get rid of them because he didn't have a use for them. If you're really serious about it, hop on HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum and start poking around the "For Sale" section, you might be surprised. Plus, getting it from those guys will basically eliminate the eBay knockoff's that are out there.

 

I haven't started rounding up the parts yet. Plus I haven't looked around on hidplanet either. So is it PnP besides having to notch
the d3s bulb?

 

Basically yes. With the Osram Microballast that I got, I was able to swap the housings and it bolted right up. As long as you can find ballasts that look similar to the ones that I posted, you should be golden. However, I don't know all the ins and outs of HID lighting so it would be beneficial to confirm the polarity of the ballast before hooking up, but other than that it's as simple as my directions indicated. Did the entire second headlight in 15 minutes (while also filling a pot to boil some water for dinner and adding the resisters to my turn signal LED bulbs).

 

In US you have D8S?

In europe we have D3S @ stock

So perhaps you only have to change bulbs and nothing else?

I changed the Osram D3S stock bulbs against really better D3S Philips Xtreme vision


Osram D3S stock vs. Philips Xtreme Vision:

 

In US you have D8S?

In europe we have D3S @ stock

So perhaps you only have to change bulbs and nothing else?

I changed the Osram D3S stock bulbs against really better D3S Philips Xtreme vision


Osram D3S stock vs. Philips Xtreme Vision:
View attachment 74807 View attachment 74808

Thanks for that picture, now I really want to do this.

Does the euro spec ST headlight bulbs/ballasts share a part number with any other cars in NA?

 

^^^ CBI's are a great way to go! I'm excited to see someone else try it. You'll have to make sure you give us updates on how it goes for ya!

 

Will do! I expect to have everything and put it together after Thanksgiving. I'm also getting some different high beam and fog light bulbs. Still halogen, just Philips X-Treme Visions.

 

Check out the Osram Rallye 65W bulbs for the highs. I was seeing a lot of good things about them on the HID forum and I took note of them to replace them in my highs when the time comes.

I've also had good luck with my Hoen bulbs for my fogs. I'll eventually be upgrading them to HIDs, but if you're sticking with halogen might be another route to explore.

 

I'll look into it! Trying different bulbs is a lot quicker/cheaper/easier than going the full retrofit route (which I'd like to do eventually), so I don't mind experimenting for now.

 

Hey Muddy! I checked my wifes edge limited ballast and they are like audi ones you got. I thought they had the same mounting points as ours but they dont so I would have to swap in internals over to mine if I can find some. I would like to do this swap so they will match the LED fog lights I got from the retrofitsource.com.

 

Found a place on ebay that has the factory Osram Ballasts and D3S bulbs for $319.98. Or you can get just the ballast's for $249.98.
Muddy. What did you mean by you had to change the angle a plug! Which plug? And do you have a picture?

 

He means the plug that goes into the ballast (orange one).

If you haven't bought yet, check this listing out. It's sure to go up over the next few hours though.

2X New OEM OSRAM Xenarc 66340 HBI D3S Xenon Bulbs with Two Ballasts Genuine | eBay

 

Thanks for the link