TheDeacon

I've got a question on a 951 that I've had for a few months ... this is one of those "little mysteries" the PO left that I never spent much time on, but it's bugging me and I'm hoping someone can help me figure it out.

Does anyone know what the little blue bulb at the bottom of the headlight lens is for? Has anyone seen anything like it elsewhere? It appears to be a bulb (it has a filament, as you can see in the close-up picture), but it doesn't appear to be connected to the H/L beam or the driving light circuits. I've not torn anything apart yet to see what it's wired up to. It's just weird ... I can't see what use something like this would be, but obviously somebody went to the effort to put this in for both headlights.

Any ideas what this would be used for? How about what it ought to be wired up to?

Spidey944

I just removed a set of these from a customers car 2 weeks ago. These are an ebay special headlamp assy that has absolute crap night vision according to the customer. his were not wired up either, but he likes them a lot better now that they are in a box.

zoltan944

They are 'driving lights'. We have a common size for our headlights so they fit many models. For say like a 240z that has its headlights up all the time, as opposed to our pop-ups, you can turn your parking lights on and this LED will come on. This is a Euro type deal that some light has to be on all the time or on the autobahn or something? In any event pretty dumb idea in our cars, and obviously an ebay purchase. You can see that there is basically a clear lense for the headlight and no lines to diffuse anything.

Darwantae951

Those headlights are dirty...I say get rid of them and buy some E-code H4s.

FRporscheman

The little blue light is to make the whole assembly glow a faint blue, for a "cool" effect.

The fluting on traditional headlight lenses might not look fashionable but it's needed to guide the light into the right direction. And polygonal reflectors aren't as good as smooth ones, though they do look way cooler! These lights are good for a show car.

krystar

yea ebay special. $30. i got em too :P light pattern is crappy but it lights up the road decently.

the blue lights are actually called "city lights" by the ricer crowd. cause we all know ricers like blue hehe

TheDeacon

That makes sense ... I agree that these have pretty poor night vision. I'm actually relieved to hear that they're eBay specials -- makes me feel justified for thinking they were wimpy.

Thanks for clarifying the purpose of those little bulbs. That's exactly the sort of info I was looking for. And yeah, that doesn't make too much sense for US cars, unless somebody's looking for the "bling" factor, I guess.

Yet another mini-project to drain my cash. I was thinking of that anyway since the lenses are already cracked, and rallylights.com has some good prices on Hella E-codes. Now with the consensus that the current lights suck, I think the priority has been moved up a few notches. Of course I'll probably have to pair this upgrade with my headlight harness upgrade...

Thanks for the info, guys!

Darwantae951

I saw rallylights.com's website, too. If you buy from them, shoot me a PM and tell me how it went. They want 78 bucks for a set of two 7" Hella e-code housings with bulbs.

-Darwin

TheDeacon

Will do, Darwin. Might have to wait a bit, as I'm just finishing up some work on rebuilding the A-arms, replacing the rack & boots, replacing hoses & hard parts all over, and a few other things. Kinda emptied my piggie bank for a while. And now I'm really pissed at the PO -- not so much for the big things (which I knew would need work), but the little details which were butchered or neglected. But that's a whole other conversation...

Darwantae951

You should throw up some pics of your car!

951_for_John

The little bulbs in the lights are for the city lights they are supposed to be white.

in europe at night you do not drive with your headlights on in some citys, you only run what we call parking lights, the little bulbs are wired to turn on with the marker lights to just let the headlamps glow, that is to be to be seen not to see. most E code lamps for the euro market have them.

The E codes for my MBZ, A2 Jetta, and for my Westy all had them and I just wired them into the side marker lights. looks cool when you are parked with just the marker lights on.

The lamps you have are aftermarket lights, that I would throw in the trash, and get some real Hella E code H4 lights. you'll love them. I've been running them for 20 years in my cars, and now it's the first thing I change when I get a car. can't drive without them now.

you can run 55/60 w lights with the stock harness no problem, that is what it was designed for. more wattage and you need to upgrade

upgrading the stock harness is a good idea and will give some more light, even with 55/60w bulbs.

John

Toran

I had the same ebay lights on my car. The lighting was terrible at night. I removed them after a year.

Anyone know what size screw fits into the plastic bracket for the headlights?

T.I.A

TheDeacon

Yeah, I should ... she's not looking too pretty right now, all up on jackstands and with a lot of engine stuff pulled apart. But maybe when I get home I'll snap a picture or two. That ought to hold me over until I can get her back together and on the ground.

By the way, anybody know of some good prices on gauge/sender kits? I'm thinking VDO Vision for EGT, Boost/Vac, and Oil Temp, probably down the road a few weeks, but I may as well start looking now. I tend to like the VDO look since it's more "stock" than most of the other options out there.