Hey everybody. How hard is it to change the low beams in my 2003 coupe to the Sylvania Silverstars?
Thanks.

 

Its not that hard. Raise the headlights, either by cutting them on and then turning to the parking lights or (as I do) turn the ***** on the assembly under the hood to raise them (see manual).
Take a phillips head screwdriver and remove the three screws holding the plastic bezel around the sides, top and bottom from the lights.
Note: when the screws are removed, pull the top of bezel forward and down - there is a clip that hold it to the top of the light (the bottom side of the painted fiberglass top piece. Pay attention how you got it off the clip and reverse it when you put them back on.
With the bezel off, you can reach behind the lens and access the wiring harness holding the bulbs to the back of the reflector. rotate the harness and it will come free and you can pull it out along with the bulb. Replace the bulbs without touching them; you can use rubber gloves or a paper towel. They go back in the same way they came out.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Pay attention to the light pattern you had before you changed the bulb. The easiest way would be to shine the lights on you garage wall or door. When you put the new bulbs in, make sure the pattern is basically the same. If your light are now aimed high or some other direction, you haven't seated the bulbs properly. Either you didn't rotate the harness all the to the stops when reinstalling or you have it 180 degrees reversed. Either way, play with it until you get it seated right. DO NOT try to adjust it with the headlight adjustment screws - you will just mess up the alignment of your high beams (or low beams if you are working on the highs).
I had this problem, as well as others on this forum, but I got them in right after screwing with them for about 15 minutes.
Once they are in right, Silverstars worked and looked great.

Good luck.

 

What Dan says .....

 

So you are saying that after installing my low beams, if the beam seems low, that I have the bulb in wrong or what? I noticed mine seem low but I haven't really been too concerned yet because the car is not being driven much if any right now.

So I need to rotate the bulb 180 degrees?????? I'm not following here!

 

You will easily be able to tell which is the high beam and which is the low beam just from the package. I believe the low beams have a cap in front of them. I also think the high beams are the inner lights and the low beams are the outer lights. Here is my writeup, but it is basically the same as above:

Headlight Change. Lift the hood and take off the 2 back torx screws (I think #15) that hold the top cover. I would then manually raise the lights and remove the screws holding the black plastic housing (the plastic housing has like a clip on the top so it needss to slide down and then up to get it out - easy once you see it)

You then can get to the remaining torx screws holding the top cover. After that you just need to reach in and twist the light out of the socket. Once out yyou will then see the lip that needs to be raised to get the light away from the wiring. Just match your light to the one you pulled for high and low beams ( I think the high beams are the inside lamp, but it is easy to tell once you have the old light out).

If you have time I would also replace your fog lights with 885s since you have everything off already. You just have to reach further down and get to the fog light. It is a tight fit though so small arms would be beneficial. It just twists out.

When done just replace the top with the 2 outside torx and then slide the black plastic housing back on and put those screws back. Then lower the light again and put in the remaining 2 torx that are on the back.

Easy to do should take about 1/2 hour and the Silver Starts are so much whiter than those yellow stock lights...

I would also adjust the Fog Lights. There is a DIY writeup on how to do it, but in short there is a small hole next to the fog and inside a small torx #15 screw that can be adjusted. You only need a few turns to get the height to a better level.

 

The directions offered on the other posts are excellent. I just wanted to say in short that if your bulbs are in right, its just a matter of turning that torx screw to adjust headlight height. The screw for the low beams is kinda hard to see but it is a brass colored torx screw (looks different from a regular screw--maybe 6-sided?) that is on the end of a brass rod that sticks out from the inside part of the headlight piece towards the center of the car. The rod is about as long as a pen and a little skinnier.

 

Is it safe to assume we use 9005/9006 for low/high beams, respectively?

And are the 885's made by Silverstar also?

Thanks,

Mark

 

The 885s are Sylvania, but not SilverStars. they have a higher wattage (50 watts) I believe and do not have that Cap over the front like your low beams or the stock fogs have.

you can also buy the SilverStars in a Package (2 lows, and 2 Highs) and it will be around $37.00 per package. I believe 9005ST and 9006ST are correct - just watch out and dont get the cool blue ones. They look Cool, but dont have as much light....

 

Thank you WW, I just ordered the part#'s you gave. Have 'em on today...
:cheers

Mark

 

Mark, you've got the numbers and locations flipped.

9006 = Low beam
9005 = High beam

The lense socket would probably prevent you from installing at least one set incorrectly since the socket diameters are different.

The important thing is to check how each one is currently installed, which way the base is facing, remember which direction you turned the bulb to remove and install the new one the opposite way. Do them one at a time and you'll be fine. I'd recommend you pull your car up to the garage door or wall and mark on the wall the rough center points of both the high and low beam pattern of your old lights. Compare the new lamps after install. If you have one that is way off, you probably have missed a tab on installing one of the bulbs. Do this before you start cranking any of the adjuster screws.

 

Forget the silverstars and get an HID kit!

 

"So you are saying that after installing my low beams, if the beam seems low, that I have the bulb in wrong or what? I noticed mine seem low but I haven't really been too concerned yet because the car is not being driven much if any right now.

So I need to rotate the bulb 180 degrees?????? I'm not following here!"

Not quite. What I was trying to say was that you should look at how you're headlights are aimed before you change the bulbs. After the change, they should be aimed at basically the same place as before. If they are radically different (high or low) then they are not seated properly in the headlight. This would be particularly noticible if one is seated right and the other is not (one high, one low).
The reason I say not to try to adjust it out with headlight adjustment is that this adjustment changes both high and low beams at the same time (you can't adjust them independantly).
If you attempt this adjustment on an improperly seated light, you will push the other light (high beam in your case) way out of alignment.
Obviously, makinng small adjustments with the headlight adjustment is OK and is a matter of preference (within the law). However, the adjustment needed to correct an improperly seated bulb will be radical and would result the other light shining on the ground or up in the trees.
I hope this clarifies what I was saying without beating the proverbial dead horse.

Good Luck.