Koito H4 kits CHEAP!!!!!

['76mintgrün'02]

Here are links to Daniel Stern's articles on wiring and aiming lights.

 

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

WWW.DANIELSTERNLIGHTING.COM

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Detailed technical information: Fix dim headlamps!

 

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

WWW.DANIELSTERNLIGHTING.COM

 

Tom

[Buckeye]

Joined Koito headlamp club for BMW 2002 regardless it has round or square taillights. It looks lot better to me than Hella H4 which had installed several years ago.

 

[JohnS]

I just reread the article and see that there's two lights in each set.  Oops.  You can never have too many headlights eh? 😌 Thank you Rocco!  I owe you a beer or three at Brisbane!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Edited March 17 by JohnS

[JohnS]

I plan to bring the extra two sets of Koitos that I ordered to Brisbane and will sell them at cost.  I will not hoard, I will not hoard...

😇

 

[bmw_e30]

On 3/7/2024 at 3:33 PM, wingswheelshulls said:

If Toyota is effectively subsidizing the cost of good eCodes to roughly equate the cost of sealed beams on their older vehicles, then they have more of my respect.  👍

 

toyota takes better care of its customers than any other major automaker i have ever seen

 

they really really care about their reputation for quality/reliability/durability

[Mike Self]

Scarfed up a pair for me and one for a friend at my local Toyota dealer.  Think I'll install 'em on my '73 to save my Cibie lamps from damage as they're getting hard to find and increasingly expensive...

 

mike

[wingswheelshulls]

5 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

Scarfed up a pair for me and one for a friend at my local Toyota dealer.  Think I'll install 'em on my '73 to save my Cibie lamps from damage as they're getting hard to find and increasingly expensive...

 

mike

I think Cibie are done, at least the 7" ers.   I had read somewhere that the fixtures were worn and Valeo just e/o/l'd the product line.   I can believe that as last set I purchased were still very good, but had some odd dark spots in the pattern, guessing the tooling was showing its' age by then.

Edited March 20 by wingswheelshulls

[mgben]

@bob02 and @'76mintgrün'02 interesting to hear about the install and removed bulb comparison, better pattern etc. 
I already have a relay harness but got my 2 sets (hoarder) for my other sports cars. 

The Koiotos are really nice quality and a cool bulb reflector look.   Just prefer a rounded front vs flat front but you can't quibble at the price.  I don;t know how Toyota can market as sealed beam replacement without DOT approval unless I missed the labelling.

Just curious how the group feels, comparing the beam pattern to the Hella H4 and Cibie's

I have Lucas H4s in one of mg MG's but not much drive time in the dark with those to recall how good or bad they are pattern wise, but they are definitely curved face on them. All this good talk makes me want a 3rd set lol though I have told my local car buddies who also bought some. 

[Mike Self]

4 minutes ago, mgben said:

Just prefer a rounded front vs flat front

What are really cool (and sooooo French) are the old (60s vintage) tungsten (not halogen) Cibies with a concave lens.  There's a valid reason for concave lenses, borne out by my experience ( once had 'em on my 2002, still have 'em on my Renault 4CV):  airflow over the concave lenses keep bugs from smashing into 'em.  I've driven through bug-infested areas (think Florida love bugs) and the car's front end would be covered with squashed bugs--except for the headlight lenses.  Wish they were still around...

 

mike

[Son of Marty]

17 minutes ago, mgben said:

Toyota can market as sealed beam replacement without DOT approval

The DOT whiffed on approving headlights long ago, which explains the new look headlights that put out way to much light with no beam control or focus. 

[wingswheelshulls]

4 hours ago, mgben said:

@bob02 and @'76mintgrün'02 interesting to hear about the install and removed bulb comparison, better pattern etc. 
I already have a relay harness but got my 2 sets (hoarder) for my other sports cars. 

The Koiotos are really nice quality and a cool bulb reflector look.   Just prefer a rounded front vs flat front but you can't quibble at the price.  I don;t know how Toyota can market as sealed beam replacement without DOT approval unless I missed the labelling.

Just curious how the group feels, comparing the beam pattern to the Hella H4 and Cibie's

I have Lucas H4s in one of mg MG's but not much drive time in the dark with those to recall how good or bad they are pattern wise, but they are definitely curved face on them. All this good talk makes me want a 3rd set lol though I have told my local car buddies who also bought some. 

The Koitos are at least as good as the Hellas.  The Hellas were my go-to's and I prefer them to the eCode Cibies which had the reputation of being the gold standard.  I also have both sets of the Lucas lamps on cars, the Lucas H4 and the Lucas European and while the European's are actually a decent light, the Lucas H4's are OK but probably best used by the rivet counters (which I am proudly one).

[Buckeye]

6 hours ago, bmw_e30 said:

 

toyota takes better care of its customers than any other major automaker i have ever seen

 

they really really care about their reputation for quality/reliability/durability

I experienced that 1st hand. My 2007 Camry with 100K start using 1 qt oil every 1K miles. Took it to Toyota dealer and they said is normal. A few months later received a letter from Toyota saying that customers have reported similar issue as mine. For that reason they started a CCP in which filled the engine to proper level sealed it and said drive it 1100 miles and brining back. It was low 1.4 qts. They opened the engine replaced pistons and put it back together. The bill was $5,500 but cost me $160 because I told them to change the water pump while in there. Apparently oil return holes in the pistons were undersize and would not let oil return to sump quick enough and start burning. BMW does good too but sometimes they need arm twisting. I know on N63 engines they made CCP and took care of customers well. 

[popovm]

18 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

The DOT whiffed on approving headlights long ago, which explains the new look headlights that put out way to much light with no beam control or focus. 

Oh man, don't get me started. Driving at night is aggravating, especially in Seattle where there aren't many flat roads and you are often at just the right angle to have your retinas obliterated by white hot LED headlights. And apparently Teslas (and I am sure others) are misadjusted from the factory and you can easily readjust them in the menus on your ipad/dash. Makes me want to scream... https://service.tesla.com/docs/Model3/ServiceManual/2024/en-us/GUID-146B0F42-7379-409B-AC8B-E8DBD2065CFA.html

 

[JohnS]

My first truck was one of the original 1980 Toyota 4x4's with the 4 speed manual transmission and the 20R engine.  I drove the crap out of that thing.  It never stranded me, ever.  I ended up giving it to a friend because the roof was all rusted out.  It still runs today, the guy sawed the roof off of it and uses it on his ranch for pig hunting.  I want to get a Tacoma before gas powered ones aren't available in CA.  I love their trucks.

 

[Mike Self]

On 3/20/2024 at 9:59 PM, Buckeye said:

I experienced that 1st hand. My 2007 Camry with 100K start using 1 qt oil every 1K miles. Took it to Toyota dealer and they said is normal.

Is your Camry a 4 or a V6?  We have an 07 V6 RAV4 with 144k miles and it burns no oil between changes (done with conventional oil at about 5k miles).  I have heard that Toyota engines don't tolerate dirty oil very well and will clog up if the oil isn't changed frequently, but that may go back to the 90s or early 00s. 

 

mike