Xenon Highlights For 1990 Ls400?

[harjp]

Does anyone know if it's possible to get xenon hightlights for the 1990 LS400? Thanks.

[VMF]

it is possible, there are plenty of kits avail;able on ebay but remember that street use of those aftermarket hid kits is illegal

[1990LS400]

The poor headlights of the early LS like the 90 I had for many years was mainly related to the design of the lens which produces a "blob" of light instead of a focused beam with a sharp cutoff. The design was required by the US DOT and was not Toyota's fault.

I suspect that HID with your standard "blob" lens would be dangerous for other drivers - even if you could fit a beam control switch or somehow adapt the complex auto leveling mechanism from a 98-up LS. The best I could do was to use non-coated bulbs that used a halogen and a tiny amount of xenon gas. GE used to label them as "HO" (high output) and include the words "whiter light" on the package. Wagner's "Brite-Lites" seem to work just as well. Neither of these bulbs exploded like the 80/100W bulbs I once tried in my 90 LS.

The headlights on the early LS400's sold outside North America used the European code lens design (with H4 bulbs) and most (maybe all) had a manual beam control on the dash like the current Toyota Sienna XLE with HID.

At some point in early 90's (1993?), headhights similar but not identical to the Euro code were allowed in the U.S. Later the US DOT apparently caved in and allowed the same headlights as in Europe although the DOT did not require beam controls on HID like in Europe.

[harjp]

The poor headlights of the early LS like the 90 I had for many years was mainly related to the design of the lens which produces a "blob" of light instead of a focused beam with a sharp cutoff.  The design was required by the US DOT and was not Toyota's fault.

I suspect that HID with your standard "blob" lens would be dangerous for other drivers - even if you could fit a beam control switch or somehow adapt the complex auto leveling mechanism from a 98-up LS.  The best I could do was to use non-coated bulbs that used a halogen and a tiny amount of xenon gas.  GE used to label them as "HO" (high output) and include the words "whiter light" on the package.  Wagner's "Brite-Lites" seem to work just as well.  Neither of these bulbs exploded like the 80/100W bulbs I once tried in my 90 LS.

The headlights on the early LS400's sold outside North America used the European code lens design (with H4 bulbs) and most (maybe all) had a manual beam control on the dash like the current Toyota Sienna XLE with HID.

At some point in early 90's (1993?), headhights similar but not identical to the Euro code were allowed in the U.S.  Later the US DOT apparently caved in and allowed the same headlights as in Europe although the DOT did not require beam controls on HID like in Europe.

←

Thanks for your thoughtful and informative reply. I certainly experience the headlights on my 90 as being "poor".

I infer from what you say that no one makes a complete headlight assembly replacement, lens and all. I'll give the GE or Wagner bulbs a try.

Thanks again.

Harry

[akewlguy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...&category=33710

This seams to be a good deal.. I have talked to others who state these are a big improvement from the standard lights....

If anyone has an opinion let me know..

[1990LS400]

Like I said in previous posts, there is little you can do to improve headlight effectiveness in the early U.S. spec LS400. I tried for over 13 years and mainly wasted money on "miracle bulbs" except for the inexpensive ($8 - $10) zenon/halogen bulbs which really did provide somewhat whiter light and filled in the "blob" beam pattern a little. All you will get with more watts or an HID kit is a brighter blob of light (and maybe some bulb explosions) that will blind oncoming drivers. Unlike the headlights on the 98-00 LS400 and the LS430, the beam pattern of the earlier LS400 was controlled by the external headlight lens.

The lens is what is the problem on the early LS!

The only way I know to really improve lighting on an early LS400 is to install headlight units from European market LS400s - not easy to do since there are lots of extra electrical bits, including bumper mounted fog lights and a dash mounted beam control, that would be very difficult to adapt to an early U.S. spec LS400.

I priced Euro code LS headlight units in the early 90's but could not swallow the thousands of $$$ it would have cost to obtain and install them. At this point, the cost of installing Euro code LS headlights might exceed the value of your car.

Attached is a pic of a former U.K. business associate's early LS400 - sorry Steve for the artwork I did on your face and number plate! His car was right hand drive but, if you look closely, you can see the sharp beam cutoff in the left headlight lens which was similar but reversed to the lens on the left hand drive LS400s sold in Europe.

I'd recommend "suffering through" with the OEM headlights until you can buy a 95 or newer LS which has much better headlights.

[1990LS400]

Like I said in previous posts, there is little you can do to improve headlight effectiveness in the early U.S. spec LS400. I tried for over 13 years and mainly wasted money on "miracle bulbs" except for the inexpensive ($8 - $10) zenon/halogen bulbs which really did provide somewhat whiter light and filled in the "blob" beam pattern a little. All you will get with more watts or an HID kit is a brighter blob of light (and maybe some bulb explosions) that will blind oncoming drivers. Unlike the headlights on the 98-00 LS400 and the LS430, the beam pattern of the earlier LS400 was controlled by the external headlight lens.

The external lens is the problem on the early LS!

The only way I know to really improve lighting on an early LS400 is to install headlight units from European market LS400s - not easy to do since there are lots of extra electrical bits (bumper mounted fog lights, dash mounted beam control, additional and different wiring harness and connector differences) that would be very difficult to adapt to an early U.S. spec LS400.

I priced Euro code LS headlight units in the early 90's but could not swallow the thousands of $$$ it would have cost to obtain and install them. At this point, the cost of installing Euro code LS headlights might exceed the value of your car.

Attached is a pic of a former U.K. business associate's early LS400 - sorry Steve for the artwork I did on your face and number plate! His car was right hand drive but, if you look closely, you can see the sharp beam cutoff in the left headlight lens which was similar but reversed to the lens on the left hand drive LS400s sold in Europe.

I'd recommend "suffering through" with the OEM headlights until you can buy a 95 or newer LS which has much better headlights.

UK_LS400.bmp

[1990LS400]

Sorry about the double post (don't know how that happened) and that it does not seem possible to attach to photo of my friends U.K. LS400.