Headlamp lights

[Cito]

Hi,

yesterday I discovered that if I turn the switch on the "auto" position, the lights go on as you would expect but if I move the switch on the next position (low beam I think it is called), the light simply would switch off.

 

I gues this is the switcher fault, what do you think?

 

Also, how did you improve the light? The headlamps light is better than my old 987 but still, quite apalling.

 

Cheers,

Andrea

[andygo]

I swapped the

38 minutes ago, Cito said:

Hi,

yesterday I discovered that if I turn the switch on the "auto" position, the lights go on as you would expect but if I move the switch on the next position (low beam I think it is called), the light simply would switch off.

 

I gues this is the switcher fault, what do you think?

 

Also, how did you improve the light? The headlamps light is better than my old 987 but still, quite apalling.

 

Cheers,

Andrea

 On my old 981 Cayman S I fitted upgraded the Xenon bulbs and ballasts, made a huge difference. Takes about 30 mins, plug and play. I removed them when I sold the car and have them available, only 6 months use, so absolutely mint condition.

[Neil_jdmr]

As i came from a 94 rx7 i was here think my 981 headlights were amazing 🤣

[Windymiller]

For info, the standard lights on a brand new 718 are no better… 🤨☹️
 

I’m too tight to spec £1700 worth of PDLS+ LEDs or £900 of PDLS bi-xenon (+ too much tech in both to go wrong eventually outside of warranty) and thought the standard headlamps would be good enough for the limited amount of dark-hours driving I do, especially as the standard lights are bi-xenon too (but only 25W).  But they arent even as good as the Twenty-20 LED bulbs I’d fitted to the 987. 🤷‍♂️
 

once I’m out of warranty I’ll upgrade to 35W bulbs and ballasts (same as in the PDLS headlamps), which I think is about £300-£400 to do DIY.  

 

Why Porsche can’t just fit good quality lights as standard is shameful on these cars. My wife’s 2018 MINI has the best lights I’ve ever experienced on a car and they’re just standard bi-xenon; no fancy auto-dipping / washer / steering direction link - just simply damn good clear bright white light that projects well up the road with a clear cut off that doesn’t dazzle oncoming drivers. 
 

middle-aged soapbox rant over now… 😜

[Cito]

14 minutes ago, Windymiller said:

For info, the standard lights on a brand new 718 are no better… 🤨☹️
 

I’m too tight to spec £1700 worth of PDLS+ LEDs or £900 of PDLS bi-xenon (+ too much tech in both to go wrong eventually outside of warranty) and thought the standard headlamps would be good enough for the limited amount of dark-hours driving I do, especially as the standard lights are bi-xenon too (but only 25W).  But they arent even as good as the Twenty-20 LED bulbs I’d fitted to the 987. 🤷‍♂️
 

once I’m out of warranty I’ll upgrade to 35W bulbs and ballasts (same as in the PDLS headlamps), which I think is about £300-£400 to do DIY.  

 

Why Porsche can’t just fit good quality lights as standard is shameful on these cars. My wife’s 2018 MINI has the best lights I’ve ever experienced on a car and they’re just standard bi-xenon; no fancy auto-dipping / washer / steering direction link - just simply damn good clear bright white light that projects well up the road with a clear cut off that doesn’t dazzle oncoming drivers. 
 

middle-aged soapbox rant over now… 😜

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I agree with you, it is very apalling due to the cost of these cars.  I think that the standard lights are not even safe if/when you drive in completely black pitched roads. I can't see a thing and some times happened I thought I got the lights off...

 

Anyway, I guess the answer to your "rant" is that they want the buyer to spend a thousand (or so) more to buy the car.

 

Cheers,

Andrea

[Cito]

Hi,

finally I got the Osram xenon bulbs and the ballasts. I was trying to put them on but a little problem appeared. 
Because I’ve got halogen bulbs on, there is no ballast so there a cable is missing (from ballast to bulb).

also, the bulb connection is different. 
see the pictures. 
 

Has anybody done the conversion from halogen to xenon?

I suppose the conversion is feasible buying the cable missing and drilling a hole in the headlights (!!!) to get the cable inside. 
but the bulb connector has to be changed. 
 

any inputs?

 

thanks

[jakeb]

Hi

 

I am rebuilding some crash damaged basic xenon lights and was missing a few bits. I bought some cheap halogen lights (with damaged lens) as the casing was the same as the xenon ones and, having cut away the lenses, it is possible to transplant the guts and wiring loom into the halogen casing (the case part numbers are identical). I need to use the standard light lower beam as mine was damaged and the full beam bulb is slightly different as it uses an H9 rather than H7 bulb but i can get around that.

 

I did however find some of my damaged parts on the upper xenon light needed replacing and found the Audi A1 8XA seems to have very similar internals which includes the xenon bulb holder, self levelling mechanism, xenon lens and holder. The ebay link below is a left hand drive unit for info

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125337048123?hash=item1d2eab943b%3Ag%3Ap5AAAOSwCG9agHZ9&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4GIGeFik62S5DUKf4fG8qQ99kWMCfwm9wBqcymsbA9ZbY4bzUAgZIGRVA9OMFq8QTzTp%2Bh%2B0iRh3%2Fd1eXofA%2BUDWhKkQqWDlyYFXtGpuFHQqc%2Fx3tKE25IS94mEGuMxjXTsSamz7tTSSS4xUhN7rzdGqCjR2y8aAHxbfPu%2BpW9469yiHOno1uXFqBeS%2BSUg%2FOTklwZoNRyAPJ8CbqfNhsLaRMosk7TYNtiv46Rg1qD07IEvrFheOjq%2BhvuJkErtVUSoRL2r%2FsQjLDMyG3ylKJkV1iv9KNFARdt4tUIhZZbxz|tkp%3ABk9SR56MvuyvYQ&LH_ItemCondition=4

 

You will be missing the self levelling wiring (and i imagine the mechanism on the passenger coffin arm). I will compare the bits on the audi unit (it hasn't arrived yet) to see if any of it is transplantable

[Cito]

10 hours ago, jakeb said:

Hi

 

I am rebuilding some crash damaged basic xenon lights and was missing a few bits. I bought some cheap halogen lights (with damaged lens) as the casing was the same as the xenon ones and, having cut away the lenses, it is possible to transplant the guts and wiring loom into the halogen casing (the case part numbers are identical). I need to use the standard light lower beam as mine was damaged and the full beam bulb is slightly different as it uses an H9 rather than H7 bulb but i can get around that.

 

I did however find some of my damaged parts on the upper xenon light needed replacing and found the Audi A1 8XA seems to have very similar internals which includes the xenon bulb holder, self levelling mechanism, xenon lens and holder. The ebay link below is a left hand drive unit for info

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125337048123?hash=item1d2eab943b%3Ag%3Ap5AAAOSwCG9agHZ9&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4GIGeFik62S5DUKf4fG8qQ99kWMCfwm9wBqcymsbA9ZbY4bzUAgZIGRVA9OMFq8QTzTp%2Bh%2B0iRh3%2Fd1eXofA%2BUDWhKkQqWDlyYFXtGpuFHQqc%2Fx3tKE25IS94mEGuMxjXTsSamz7tTSSS4xUhN7rzdGqCjR2y8aAHxbfPu%2BpW9469yiHOno1uXFqBeS%2BSUg%2FOTklwZoNRyAPJ8CbqfNhsLaRMosk7TYNtiv46Rg1qD07IEvrFheOjq%2BhvuJkErtVUSoRL2r%2FsQjLDMyG3ylKJkV1iv9KNFARdt4tUIhZZbxz|tkp%3ABk9SR56MvuyvYQ&LH_ItemCondition=4

 

You will be missing the self levelling wiring (and i imagine the mechanism on the passenger coffin arm). I will compare the bits on the audi unit (it hasn't arrived yet) to see if any of it is transplantable

 

Hi,

thanks for this! It it really interesting.

So, If I understand well, I have to get the two Audi A1 8XA to replace my bulbs holder and in theory I am good to go!?

I will try to find these parts, but please, keep me informed how you are gettin on 🙂

It seems an interesting project.

 

Good luck,

Andrea

 

[jakeb]

yes, pretty much if you want to make it work properly with the correct xenon lenses rather than through a set of halogen lenses. The Audi light arrived yesterday so going to cut it up to see what is what!

 

i actually have 2 sets of 981 lights, a xenon pair (which i am repairing) and a complete xenon PDLS pair which EVRI "lost" for 6 weeks but then turned up after i bought the halogen set. I was going to sell on the standard xenon set when fixed

[Cito]

On 06/01/2023 at 07:19, jakeb said:

yes, pretty much if you want to make it work properly with the correct xenon lenses rather than through a set of halogen lenses. The Audi light arrived yesterday so going to cut it up to see what is what!

 

i actually have 2 sets of 981 lights, a xenon pair (which i am repairing) and a complete xenon PDLS pair which EVRI "lost" for 6 weeks but then turned up after i bought the halogen set. I was going to sell on the standard xenon set when fixed

thanks for this,

I thought about it and I decided to put on some LED bulbs instead. The reason is the rules with mot test. 
mid you have got xenon headlamps you have to have headlight wash otherwise the mot fails. 
Unfortunately now I have a pair of osram xenon bulbs and ballast which I don’t use, so if someone is in need of those…

 

cheers,

andrea

[jakeb]

So, after stripping down the audi headlight, this is a comparison of the bulb carriers.

 

Top is standard porsche xenon (PDLS is very different)

Middle is the Audi (I believe it is the same on both 1st gen A1s)

Bottom is the halogen porsche unit

 

There is no difference between the Porsche Xenon and VW unit (the angle of picture makes the audi one look smaller but it is not). Additionally the lens is the same which means you can add 35W bulbs to a 25W unit - the audi has a 35W bulb.

 

The lens on the halogen is slightly different to the xenon ones.

Edited January 14, 2023 by jakeb

[jakeb]

wiring loom differences below - comparison between xenon and halogen

 

Also audi wiring loom - it has all the extra plugs you would need for the ballasts and the self levelling

[jakeb]

audi headlight execution. You cut the lens off and then disassemble from the front. Same as changing the lens on the 981 lights

 

 

[jakeb]

having a play with black paint - going to do the top outer ring as well although it is difficult to disassemble it without breaking clips

 

 

[jakeb]

On 07/01/2023 at 10:49, Cito said:

thanks for this,

I thought about it and I decided to put on some LED bulbs instead. The reason is the rules with mot test. 
mid you have got xenon headlamps you have to have headlight wash otherwise the mot fails. 
Unfortunately now I have a pair of osram xenon bulbs and ballast which I don’t use, so if someone is in need of those…

 

cheers,

andrea

sent you a pm re bulbs

[Yarlsberg]

I need a left hand (passenger side) rear smoked/tinted brake light for a 2016 Spyder. Anyone know where I can source one for a reasonable price? 

 

Thks