9004 headlight bulb to LED conversion

[VulcanRoman]

Hello all. This is my first post on this great forum.

The car is an '88 Carrera cabriolet with 9004 headlights. Yes, i know, they stink. The glass has been cleaned with the famous Pelican alcohol and rice technique. Thanks to all posters.

I bought the Auxbeam F16 9004 LED kit from Amazon. The heat sink and fan enclosure do not allow the bulb retaining ring enough room to pass and engage bulb base to headlight assembly.

So the big question is, is there an LED retrofit solution for this car?

[3Ddesigns911]

I don't know about just installing LED bulbs, but you can retrofit an LED 7" LED insert. You will need a few parts, but not hard to do. There have been several threads on it.

IMO it is really worth it. The difference is day and night (really - pun intended)

Here is mine

[old man neri]

Flat6illumination

I bought a pair of these. Not cheap but I drive at night a fair amount.

[famoroso]

Even if you find an LED bulb retrofit that fits, you'll just go from crappy / diffuse yellow beam pattern (really a "ball" of light thrown out and up-ish as opposed to any well defined pattern) to a brighter white crappy / diffuse beam pattern.

They are so utterly craptastic. I really feel your pain as I have two cars saddled, I mean equipped, with them. The cab doesn't get driven at night, but my coupe does see early morning and late evening work.

[Jesse16]

If your headlights have the good lenses vs. what we call the H5, then the light pattern should be OK at least. Your photo looks like what gets called the Euro with H4 bulb type. I don't know what a 9004 headlight means. You have to spend big $$ to get a modern car headlight output.

[darrin]

Originally Posted by Jesse16

If your headlights have the good lenses vs. what we call the H5, then the light pattern should be OK at least. Your photo looks like what gets called the Euro with H4 bulb type. I don't know what a 9004 headlight means. You have to spend big $$ to get a modern car headlight output.

Jesse -- '87 and later US carreras came with h5 light assemblies which look like the euro h4 assemblies but whose lenses lack the sharp upper cut-off that defines h4 headlights (and modern HID/LED headlight systems). I upgraded my '86 carrera's sealed beam headlights to an h4 setup (running higher wattage halogen bulbs too) and continue to be impressed with the light output of my properly aimed h4 setup. Relatively straightforward for the OP to convert to an h4 system -- swap out the assemblies, splice in h4 bulb sockets and add headlight relays (if not already in place) to handle the wattage and avoid burning out the turn signal/high beam switch.

[ADDvanced]

LED headlights are garbage. Don't do it. They will 'look' bright but they won't punch visible light very far down the road. They're all crap.

[Jesse16]

Yes, I have the Euro light assemblies with high wattage bulbs and the relay in my car and they are pretty acceptable for the amount of night driving I do. Had the crap H5's which thankfully someone else bought off me. I like to read Daniel Stern's lighting info. for all this.
Proper aiming is a challenge and doesn't help that our cars are low to the ground. I'm not interested in pursuing newer tech. light for the amount of night driving I do.

[shoooo32]

I agree with Jesse16, euro H4 assemblies with relays (if necessary) and 85 watt Osram halogen bulbs are awesome at night. And I'm by no means a purist, but LED light and the housings themselves don't seem right on 30-40 year old cars.

[cliyde]

Tried the “Plug n play” NOVSIGHT 9004 LED Headlight Bulbs on my ‘88, purchased from Amazon. Been running these for months now and they work great! They fit perfectly in the H5 assembly and plug directly with to the stock harness. Brightness is excellent!

Cheers!