headlights

[Siena]

Hey Siena, further to our PM's (business mode)

how much for the 1 piece S4 lights with HID installed ready to rockaroll

To be honest, it's best to buy OEM 1-piece headlamps (if you haven't already got them) then install a decent aftermarket HID system.

Just the OEM HID ballast and bulbs work out £573.44 and £243.18 respectively.

From us, £540.50 and £198.02 respectively.

Add that all up, + £251.45 for a pair of OEM Valeo 1-piece (£199.75 from us) you're looking at the cost of a '98 B5 quattro.

 

[audinary]

B5 quattro for less than a grand? ****! I've been had! :¬P

 

[Siena]

Well, my B5 quattro cost me £500.

 

[aragorn]

Yer take a look on ebay, early 2.6 quattros are going on there for under a grand all the time. I've seen a few sell for 5-600 with nothing wrong with them!

 

[ALPINE]

Well, my B5 quattro cost me £500.

yes but it was a dog and looked nothing like it does now!

 

[dieselfitter251]

My B5 quattro has cost me the price of a B6 quattro!!!
Would still rather have a B5 though :O)

 

[Siena]

Wasn't in bad shape, Alpine.

Just an average B5, with her own share of scratches and stuff.

 

[PhilR]

Hi Siena what do you use to convert from the round to the d shaped plug ?

I cant find a scrap facelift car, can i buy the d shaped plug (car side) from the dealer and use it to make a new harness ?

At the moment i am running the original (round plug) harness where i removed the headlamp side plug and harness and fed the extended harness through the hole but i am about to convert to HID and want to sort this tempory fix

Thanks

 

[dieselfitter251]

Hi Siena what do you use to convert from the round to the d shaped plug ?

I cant find a scrap facelift car, can i buy the d shaped plug (car side) from the dealer and use it to make a new harness ?

At the moment i am running the original (round plug) harness where i removed the headlamp side plug and harness and fed the extended harness through the hole but i am about to convert to HID and want to sort this tempory fix

Thanks

Hey PhilR,
I got all the relevant bits from Audi, I'm sure Siena can sort you out.
2 x 8pin D plugs 8xpre-finished connectors, (the wires are double ended, chop them in half , 8 of will give 16 wires, enough for both sides.) The Indicators should be able to run off the the existing connectors. You'll have to cut and splice the original round connectors, it's quite basic electric tbh/imo. You'll be fine.

Here's a handy tech article from audiworld:
http://www.audiworld.com/tech/ext17.shtml

I used my existing round rubber terminal/plug covers to seal them from any water.

Biggest leap of faith getting that 'ole angle grinder out if you decide to go for the e-codes on a pre-99 car.

 

[PhilR]

Cheers, already got the headlights fitted and working,

well please with the new look

just with a temporary harness still running the round plug, just want to finish it off properly now ready for HIDs

Do you know what the part numbers for the plug and connectors are ? roughly how much did it cost ?

 

[dieselfitter251]

Off the top of my head no. Plugs and wires came to £25, maybe even less, not a lot of cash.....
8D0973734 D-plug The illustration http://www.vagcat.com/epc/cat/au/A4Q/2000/224/57/2827050/

shows the round connector but this was the same when I went to Audi. Just tell them it's for a 2000model or give them the part number of the headlamps so they can do a related search. They're about 3 quid or something. I can't find any info on the wires, but thats where to get them from.

p.s. car looks great!

 

[PhilR]

cheers for the info ! and thanks

is this the wire?

found 2 versions though 1mm and 2.5mm

 

[Izzy1]

well i'd check the voltage to the back of the bulbs to begin with, the voltage on the bulb terminals themselves should be within .2v of the battery voltage with the engine running and the lights on. ie check the battery first, you should get around 13.9-14.2v, so say you get 14.1v at the battery the light connectors shouldnt have much less than 13.9v.

Checked the Voltage output last night and the Battery was showing 13.9v and the back of the bulbs was 12.4v i see i'm loosing a bit of voltage but should that make a big difference on the light output?

would the best bet be to buy new bulbs?
i've seen some HID kits on the net for around £35. are these worth getting or should i save a bit more and just but from hids4u?

 

[aragorn]

Hmm that is quite a lot of voltage drop.

I've never checked mine to see how good the wiring is, but i'd expect that to be much higher as it basically means all of that voltage difference is being dissipated as heat somewhere in the wiring loom...

Try this:

Engine running and lights on...
Measure the voltage across the battery (again, just for reference)
Measure the voltage between the Battery -ve and the bulb +ve
Measure the voltage between the battery +ve and the bulb -ve

This will hopefully show whether the voltage drop is happening in the feed to the bulbs, or the earthing from the bulbs back to the car.

I'm not sure on the difference between the cheap HID's and the hids4u kits, i suspect the cheap ones might take longer to fire up, but might otherwise be ok.

Buying new bulbs would probably help a bit, however you need to try and fix that voltage drop first!

I will try and take the same measurements on our car tonight, as long as its not ******* down, and see if that much drop is normal.

 

[dieselfitter251]

cheers for the info ! and thanks

is this the wire?

found 2 versions though 1mm and 2.5mm

Yup, that's the ones, but I didn't know there were different weights. I think 2.5mm sounds right.

 

[Izzy1]

Try this:

Engine running and lights on...
Measure the voltage across the battery (again, just for reference)
Measure the voltage between the Battery -ve and the bulb +ve
Measure the voltage between the battery +ve and the bulb -ve

i tried the voltage test with the ignition on but engine was not running. would that make a difference?

i will try again tonight and let you know of my findings.

 

[aragorn]

oh right! 12.4v is pretty much what the battery would be outputting with the engine off... not sure how you managed to get 13.9 over the battery with the engine off though?

Unless you checked the battery with the motor running then shut it off when testing the lights?

 

[Izzy1]

nope i got 13.9v with the engine off.

will try again both with engine on and engine off and record my findings and let you know.

 

[aragorn]

i presume there was just some charge built up from the alternator or something if the engine had been running shortly before you tested it...

a healthy battery with no load will output around 12.8v, a flat one nearer to 12.4-5v

12.4v at the lights with the engine off and a healthy battery sounds acceptable enough to me.