headlight bulb replacement

[titan12]

Originally Posted by hrb5711

Put up some pics. I wasn't going to change my fogs out, they looked good enough, let me see what they look like with new lights.

here ya go.. The pics from the iPhone aren't that great, but u get the idea..

[hrb5711]

Hmm I guess I am going to do my fogs to...off to checkers!

[titan12]

Originally Posted by hrb5711

Hmm I guess I am going to do my fogs to...off to checkers!

LOL.. yeah I'm glad I did mine.. The light at night is dang near pure white, and they are a heck of a lot easier to change than the headlights..

[hrb5711]

Yeah I have a few scars from changing my headlights.....that stuff sucked.

[hrb5711]

Alright I put the 9005 Ultra's in the headlights, 9175 ST ultras in the fogs, and 3157 "xenon" crap bulbs in the sides. The 3157 I will have to find better ones for, these were $8 at checkers and I just wanted to check the color of them.

I also added in some new LEDS to the interior.


P.S.

Sorry about the crappy camera. I need to get a new one sometime in the future.

[titan12]

Originally Posted by hrb5711

Alright I put the 9005 Ultra's in the headlights, 9175 ST ultras in the fogs, and 3157 "xenon" crap bulbs in the sides. The 3157 I will have to find better ones for, these were $8 at checkers and I just wanted to check the color of them.

I also added in some new LEDS to the interior.


P.S.

Sorry about the crappy camera. I need to get a new one sometime in the future.

Looks good.. Have to try that style bulb in mine too.. Hate that orange light it give off with the stock bulb..

[titan12]

Just finished mine.. I think it looks sharp and its still stock...

[SaturnRaycer]

Here are pics of the park and tail/stop/turn conversion to LED's that I did.

[titan12]

Originally Posted by SaturnRaycer

Here are pics of the park and tail/stop/turn conversion to LED's that I did.

looks great.. How involved was that?? Is it a kit??

[hrb5711]

Yeah I think I will go the LED route after seeing those, look great, and more the color I am looking for. And it would make me feel better than having some crappy bulbs with a blue filter in there .

If you could send me a how-to w/ the resistors and bulbs that would be great!

[SaturnRaycer]

Originally Posted by titan12

looks great.. How involved was that?? Is it a kit??

It's not too bad at all. I got my stuff from Autolumination http://autolumination.com/ and SuperBright LED's http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm. The tail lamps are "spider" lights and the parking lites are "tower" lights from Autolumination. I went to Superbright LED's and ordered 4 of their 6ohm 50w load resistors.

All the bulbs in the tail light assembly are equivalent to 1156. You'll need to splice in a load resistor between the stop/tail bulb (black w/yellow stripe) wire and the ground (brown IIRC). I did not change out the outer lamps, but I tried the Autolumination SMT Tower 30 High Powered Wide Angle SMT LEDS there. These work off the same resistor as the stop/turn/tails. I wasn't pleased with the "fill" in that segment of the lens.

If you want to use LED's in the backups, you'll need another pair of resistors. I don't recommend this, the LED's won't light much when you're backing up; they don't fill the reflector in the same way that a regular bulb does. This means that they won't project the light far enough to be useful, but it looks cool. Consider buying the SilverStar or xenon look bulbs if you want a blue-white light.

When you mount the load resistors, make sure they don't touch anything meltable or combustable. They get extremely hot - I have the blisters to prove it. I found a bracket that I could drill, then pop-riveted the load resistor to the metal bracket. It serves as an additional heat sink.

For the parking lamps, I used the Autolumination SMT Tower 30 High Powered Wide Angle SMT LEDS. Even though these are single purpose sockets, you need 3157 equivalents;3156's don't work. If you want to convert the turn signals, buy a pair in amber as well. In the front, you'll need to splice the load resistors into the wires that connect to the parking light sockets. You can try to use the same resistors for turn lights, by tapping into those wires - they run next to the parking light wires in the housing. I have not tried this. You might be better buying an extra pair of the load resistors.

In front, cut a slit in the lip of the collar for the parking lamp access and mount the resistors to a bracket just below the headlamp assembly with a pop rivet. You can access this bracket easily from under the car and it gets ambient air temp.

The job will take you about an hour with mounting the resistors, and doing the tail lamp disassembly. It's much easier to put the front of the car on jackstands and remove the front wheels. You can pull the fender liner down and get some working room.

[hrb5711]

Thanks for the write up. I guess I am going the LED route now, got pulled over by a cop on my way to work this morning. He let me know I had some crap that got caught underneath my car and he saw my side lights with the blue filter and said those are a no go in Hawaii (they don't past safety inspections). Something to do with when you change your light bulbs they have to be at least as bright as the stock and no brighter than 5000K HIDS basically. So my silverstars were all fine, just not the crap ones in the sides since they are not as bright as my stocks.

Luckily I carried the stock bulbs in my car because I really didn't trust those bulbs to last very long. So i popped them in real quick and he let me go without a ticket or telling me to get a new safety inspection.

So Titan if you have the blue filtered bulbs I would check your state laws and be sure those are legal and keep an extra set of bulbs in the car just to be safe.

[SaturnRaycer]

Many states specifically outlaw the blue filtered bulbs. FWIW, the local Checker Auto and Autozone both sell LED's to replace the 194's in side markers. Probably need to do a resistor for them, too. The BCM monitors every bulb except the dome lights - and maybe them, too.

Forget about buying the electronic or "LED" flashers - The Astra doesn't have a flasher; its part of the steering column instrument cluster module.

[titan12]

Originally Posted by hrb5711

Thanks for the write up. I guess I am going the LED route now, got pulled over by a cop on my way to work this morning. He let me know I had some crap that got caught underneath my car and he saw my side lights with the blue filter and said those are a no go in Hawaii (they don't past safety inspections). Something to do with when you change your light bulbs they have to be at least as bright as the stock and no brighter than 5000K HIDS basically. So my silverstars were all fine, just not the crap ones in the sides since they are not as bright as my stocks.

Luckily I carried the stock bulbs in my car because I really didn't trust those bulbs to last very long. So i popped them in real quick and he let me go without a ticket or telling me to get a new safety inspection.

So Titan if you have the blue filtered bulbs I would check your state laws and be sure those are legal and keep an extra set of bulbs in the car just to be safe.

Thanks for the heads up on that.. I will change them back... I don't need any more tickets..

I'm going with the LED route too.. Looks great!! Thanks for the write up racer!

[SaturnRaycer]

In my "how to" a couple posts back I suggested using the load balancing resistor that you wire for the parking lights to work with the turn signals too. Sorry. Doesn't work. You have to have a separate load balancer for the turns. If you try to pair them, the turn lights come on with the parking lights and don't flash. I now have LED's in the main stop/tail/turn location as well as the front parking lamps and the front turn signals.

[paulff3]

Just to double check - the correct bulb for the low beam is 9005?

[titan12]

Originally Posted by paulff3

Just to double check - the correct bulb for the low beam is 9005?

Yes 9005 is the correct bulb for the projector beams on the Astra..

[SaturnRaycer]

Originally Posted by paulff3

Just to double check - the correct bulb for the low beam is 9005?

There is only one bulb, but the projector changes a shutter to go from low to high beam. 9005 is the correct bulb.

[paulff3]

[QUOTE=hrb5711;1327886]Alright I put the 9005 Ultra's in the headlights, 9175 ST ultras in the fogs, and 3157 "xenon" crap bulbs in the sides. The 3157 I will have to find better ones for, these were $8 at checkers and I just wanted to check the color of them.

For the fogs, Sylvania has a Silver Star H10 equivalent 9145. Is that what you used? They do not make an "Ultra" H10.

[marx404]

Originally Posted by OPEL Blitz

Page 269
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/static/...raJuly2007.pdf

wish I could get to the link, it is expired. Can you repost it again or os there somewhere else I can get it? Thanks.