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Posted

I want to know if anyone has ever gotten their HID lights done on a 90 - 94 and also still have their yellow fog lights working along with it.

If so how is it done?

I want HIDS but everyone I asked says that they cant do it along with the fog lights....

Please give any info if any of you guys know anything


Posted

I wonder why someone would tell you that. The foglights are separate and operate with the low beams.

One thing you will lose is your high beam headlights -- unless you get one of the fancier and more expensive bi-xenon HID kits.

IMO, a bigger issue is the glare to oncoming drivers that will likely be created by an HID kit in a gen 1 LS400. The headlight pattern in the U.S. spec gen 1 LS400 is very diffused -- lots of light scatter. I had a 1990 LS400 for 13 1/2 years and I thought that the headlights were absolutely the worst feature of the car -- the headlights were the reason I finally sold the car.

I think your money would be better spent in obtaining a set of aftermarket headlights like the ones from Eagle Eyes -- look at this thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=49397

Someone over on ClubLexus bought and installed a set and he seemed satisfied; I think he reported that the low beams had a sharp cutoff instead of the "blob" of the OEM gen 1 LS400 headlights: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400-foru...eagle-eyes.html

I "stole" and attached his photo of the installed Eagle Eye headlights and foglights -- they look great to me.

post-2157-1232558770_thumb.jpg

Posted

ive had a quite a few people that I ran into at my lexus mechanic that say that the fogs dont run when the HIDS are installed...

I saw ONLY one person with them running and he says that the person who did it knew a lot about them and a relay had to be put in or something like that.... but the person that does the installation doesnt like to do it because its " dangerous"

maybe something is disconnected when the hids have to be put in i guess and thats why it doesnt cut on with the fogs

Posted
ive had a quite a few people that I ran into at my lexus mechanic that say that the fogs dont run when the HIDS are installed...

I saw ONLY one person with them running and he says that the person who did it knew a lot about them and a relay had to be put in or something like that.... but the person that does the installation doesnt like to do it because its " dangerous"

maybe something is disconnected when the hids have to be put in i guess and thats why it doesnt cut on with the fogs

The person you spoke to doesn't like to use relays with HID kits? I suggest you speak to somebody else and do some - no a lot of - reading on the subject. The power for HID kits generally comes from the battery; a relay is used to turn the headlights on when the headlight switch inside the car is turned to the ON position.

Here is a web page with basic information about HID installs: http://orca.st.usm.edu/~jmneal/tiburon/hids.htm

Gen 1 LS400s OEM headlights do not have sharp low beam cutoffs or an automatic or manual beam control. An HID kit in a gen 1 LS400 can provide dangerous glare for oncoming drivers and you might have to have your headlights aimed so low that they won't be all that useful.

Most U.S. spec cars made after about the mid 1990s had headlights with a sharp or at least sharper low beam cutoff -- HID kits work better on them but can still blind oncoming drivers since they don't have an adjustable beam control and if you are carrying a full load that causes the headlights to point upward.

Posted
ive had a quite a few people that I ran into at my lexus mechanic that say that the fogs dont run when the HIDS are installed...

I saw ONLY one person with them running and he says that the person who did it knew a lot about them and a relay had to be put in or something like that.... but the person that does the installation doesnt like to do it because its " dangerous"

maybe something is disconnected when the hids have to be put in i guess and thats why it doesnt cut on with the fogs

The person you spoke to doesn't like to use relays with HID kits? I suggest you speak to somebody else and do some - no a lot of - reading on the subject. The power for HID kits generally comes from the battery; a relay is used to turn the headlights on when the headlight switch inside the car is turned to the ON position.

Here is a web page with basic information about HID installs: http://orca.st.usm.edu/~jmneal/tiburon/hids.htm

Gen 1 LS400s OEM headlights do not have sharp low beam cutoffs or an automatic or manual beam control. An HID kit in a gen 1 LS400 can provide dangerous glare for oncoming drivers and you might have to have your headlights aimed so low that they won't be all that useful.

Most U.S. spec cars made after about the mid 1990s had headlights with a sharp or at least sharper low beam cutoff -- HID kits work better on them but can still blind oncoming drivers since they don't have an adjustable beam control and if you are carrying a full load that causes the headlights to point upward.

fogs will not work on 93+ USDM LS400s since they used H4 (9003) low beams, you can work around this by using a relay kit for the headlights.

Posted

wait so because they used a certain type of low beams, the Fogs wont work?

do you know where you can get a relay? or how much it usually costs?

Posted
wait so because they used a certain type of low beams, the Fogs wont work?

do you know where you can get a relay? or how much it usually costs?

Well, maybe Pure has some information I am not aware of. As he said, the 93-up LS400 uses H4 headlight bulbs. The 90-92 LS400 used lower wattage 9004 bulbs. The 90-94 LS400 may all look mostly the same but there were a lot of differences between the 90-92 and the 93-94. The wiring harness connectors for the headlight bulbs are different between the 90-92 and 93-94 LS400. The bulb bases on an H4 bulb and a 9004 bulb are very different. The same HID kit is not going to fit both a 90-92 and a 93-94 LS.

The relays should come with a good HID kit -- not necessary to purchase them separately.

Posted

okay would it be necessary to purchase a lexus HID kit so that it can work?

because I just remembered the guy who had his yellow lights running said he had a Lexus HID kit. or could I get any ole HID kit and it should work fine without any problem?

Posted

If you've ever been to Club Lexus you'd know PD knows everything about the LS...

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.

.

.

.

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...... EVERYTHING :D

Posted
If you've ever been to Club Lexus you'd know PD knows everything about the LS...

I don't know, Jeremy. I think we could still teach PD a few tricks.

Kid, Lexus doesn't sell HID kits. There are big differences in quality among HID kits just like there are with other products. If you are intent on HID kit, search the forums including on Clublexus and read about what others have done in the past and which kits people have been satisfied with.

I'm sure you've noticed that HID kit prices have dropped a lot -- almost looks like companies are just trying to get rid of their inventories. I'm even thinking about installing a "low-K" HID kit in the bumper mounted foglights on my 00 LS since they are some of the most worthless foglights I've seen on a car.

Are there auto specialty shops in New York where you could go to discuss the HID kit options for an older car with headlights that use 9004 bulbs?

What are you looking for? Are you looking only for the "HID look" or are you looking for better lighting? If you just want the HID look, you could just put a couple of those cheap blue tinted bulbs in your headlights. If you have to have real HID and mainly want more light output, get a kit with 4300K bulbs. If you mainly want the "blue" look with less light output, get one of the higher-K kits -- 6000K or higher.

I have to tell you ... if the Eagle Eyes replacement headlights for the gen 1 LS400 had been available back in 2003, I might still be driving my old 90 LS today. I suspect that a bi-xenon kit in Eagle Eyes headlights might be as good as it could ever get on a gen 1 LS400.

Posted

I have HID lights fitted to my 1994 LS400 and the yellow fogs still work as they did before as they are separate lights with their own switch.

The wiring with the kit did have to be modified to connect to the existing loom but apart from that they work.

Regarding beam alignment I had them adjusted during the yearly safety test and they passed.

I haven't been "flashed" by oncoming drivers.

3vJeW

post-26370-1232636973_thumb.jpg

post-26370-1232637023_thumb.jpg

Posted
I have HID lights fitted to my 1994 LS400 and the yellow fogs still work as they did before as they are separate lights with their own switch.

The wiring with the kit did have to be modified to connect to the existing loom but apart from that they work.

Regarding beam alignment I had them adjusted during the yearly safety test and they passed.

I haven't been "flashed" by oncoming drivers.

Steve, does your UK-spec 1994 LS400 have the "beam level control switch" next to the mirror control switch on your dashboard? If it does have it, does the low beam level control still work with your HID kit?

Since the UK spec models have high beam headlights where the US spec models have foglights, am I correct in assuming that you did not use a bi-xenon kit? The US specification generation 1 LS400 do not not have their foglights below the turn signals like the UK cars do.

Another reason you might not get flashed is that the beam pattern for the UK spec 1994 LS400 has a sharp cutoff and is very different than the low beam pattern we got on the U.S. spec 90-94 LS400. I can see even see the sharp cutoff on the headlight lens in a photo of an LS400 owned by a former coworker I visited down in Portsmouth on the south coast. I don't think my friend would appreciate his face and number plate being splashed on the Internet so I'll attach a "sanitized" photo of him posing with the car he called "his love".

The headlights on U.S. spec 90-94 LS400 cars put out an awful "blob" of light -- you have to experience it to believe what U.S. regulators did to us here in the U.S. before they finally adopted a beam pattern standard similar to that of the rest of the world.

Back when I had a 1990 LS400, I was very jealous of what you guys in the UK got -- we were kind of screwed over here!

EDIT: Sorry, steve2006, I didn't pay attention to your photos. Your "LS400" is really an import Japanese market Celsior isn't it?

UK_LS400.bmp

Posted

Hi,

Yes it's a JDM Celsior so that's why I may have got away with the conversion.

It still retains the hi/lo beams but the hi beam is just a "normal" headlight bulb integrated into the HID bulb but there again I don't need to use the hi beam as the lo beam HID is better.

The fog lights are also integrated into the headlight units unlike the US spec where they are separate units I believe.

The rear lights are also an improvement on the UK/US spec having 3 bulbs per cluster, wider inner clusters and the license plate is not standard UK shape but legal over here as it's an import.

post-26370-1232651567_thumb.jpg

Posted
Hi,

Yes it's a JDM Celsior so that's why I may have got away with the conversion.

It still retains the hi/lo beams but the hi beam is just a "normal" headlight bulb integrated into the HID bulb but there again I don't need to use the hi beam as the lo beam HID is better.

The fog lights are also integrated into the headlight units unlike the US spec where they are separate units I believe.

The rear lights are also an improvement on the UK/US spec having 3 bulbs per cluster, wider inner clusters and the license plate is not standard UK shape but legal over here as it's an import.

Actually, Steve, the rear lights of your Celsior work about the same as the U.S. spec 90-94 LS400 -- we have 3 bulbs on each side too. I assume somebody had to do some cobbling to get a rear foglight on your Celsior so it would pass inspection. Yes, our foglights are in the same place as on your Celsior but look like the separate high beam units on the U.K. spec LS400.

People here in the states and Canada seem to think it's "cool" to get the JDM Celsior lights with the one piece lens. I can't figure out why someone would want to drive a LHD car with RHD headlights -- weird?

Your Celsior looks very nice. Which spec is it? A, B, or C?

Posted
Hi,

Yes it's a JDM Celsior so that's why I may have got away with the conversion.

It still retains the hi/lo beams but the hi beam is just a "normal" headlight bulb integrated into the HID bulb but there again I don't need to use the hi beam as the lo beam HID is better.

The fog lights are also integrated into the headlight units unlike the US spec where they are separate units I believe.

The rear lights are also an improvement on the UK/US spec having 3 bulbs per cluster, wider inner clusters and the license plate is not standard UK shape but legal over here as it's an import.

Actually, Steve, the rear lights of your Celsior work about the same as the U.S. spec 90-94 LS400 -- we have 3 bulbs on each side too. I assume somebody had to do some cobbling to get a rear foglight on your Celsior so it would pass inspection. Yes, our foglights are in the same place as on your Celsior but look like the separate high beam units on the U.K. spec LS400.

People here in the states and Canada seem to think it's "cool" to get the JDM Celsior lights with the one piece lens. I can't figure out why someone would want to drive a LHD car with RHD headlights -- weird?

Your Celsior looks very nice. Which spec is it? A, B, or C?

Dang 1990LS...your depth of knowledge on all things Lexus is intimidating.

10 minutes ago I didn't know there was a "Celsior". :huh:

Sorry for the distraction...back to shutting up and learning for me! :lol:

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