Headlight weirdness

[Markg2]

Thanks!

 

[Dscustoms]

So are you going to escalate the issue to nhtsa? I’d love to see a quote from ford admitting the lights suck on low beams. After I changed to leds it’s better but the cutoff is still bad.

I’m not sure why you aren’t just driving your road with the high beams on all the time, if that’s your major issue. For me, driving around dark country roads at night with lots of oncoming traffic is bad, because if the high beams are off, I just can’t see anything on my side of the road.

 

[Markg2]

I filed and have a case # with NHTSA.

I'm starting the CO lemon law process. The dealer is aware of and agrees.

I set the headlights to automatic. The night before last, once my wife turned onto Horseshoe Drive (speed limit 20 mph), the brights 'automatically' dropped off to low beam and within 1 minute or so she missed a deer by ~4' that she could not see. Auto hi-beams will automatically drop to low if the vehicle is traveling less than 32 mph.

 

[Uturn]

Just installed LED's in the high beams in less than twenty minutes. I went back and read a couple of your previous posts and can't understand why any dealer would remove the bumper to do anything other than replace the headlight assembly. The adjuster for the headlights is accessible through a slot in the housing cover. The no2 Philips screwdriver shown is setting in the adjuster.

 

[Markg2]

I'm going back for my 3rd repair attempt per procedure and will definitely bring this forum information along with me. My problem is with Ford's design not the service department.

 

[Dscustoms]

Ok. I’ll get on the process as well. We would probably need quite a few people to start complaining if they were going to do anything about it. Anyone else with halogen lights who thinks they are insufficient should visit the dealer and complain then file a report with nhtsa. Won’t take much time and could result in them actually addressing the headlight issues. I got mine in January and there were no led light models around to compare or I wouldn’t have done it. I still maintain that my nearly 70k truck should have come with quality headlights, when I see pretty much every new car on the road that cost much less has led or hid bulbs and drls.

 

[Markg2]

Was this the thread that someone with a Platinum posted an image of their LED low beam? I've looked but can't find it now.

 

[Mike Wolfe]

I purchased a 2018 XLT in May
Like many of you here I am not at all happy with the "CRAPPY" halogen headlights.
I purchased the brightest LED conversion kits I could find on Amazon
Have not tried them yet though
It is so disappointing that ford would put such poor headlights on a $70K vehicle
Shame on them
Like the vehicle otherwise although throttle response is poor
Plan to reprogram the ECU as soon as 5 star or Livernois have software available
Have done that with my previous 4 ecoboost vehicles & it really helps
Does anyone know of an online parts list for our 2018 EXPY's???

 

[Mike Wolfe]

Here is what I ordered on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BT6M6Z/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077B7GJ5J/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Markg2]

So what you get is a much brighter area below the cutoff, correct? At this point, I can't monkey around with the light.

I was curious about the guy's 2018 Platinum low beam LED image that he posted since that unit does not have the projector cutoff. I remember him saying that he was disappointed in the overall brightness. He might be an even better candidate for the LED's you linked.

 

[Mike Wolfe]

I have not installed them yet so can't tell if the cutoff is higher or not
Probably will have them installed in a couple days
Hoping it will help
Will let you know

 

[Markg2]

Good luck, but I can't believe the cutoff will be any higher since the cutoff is dictated by a mechanical deflector in the housing.

 

[Mike Wolfe]

Maybe the deflector could be modified. Have not looked inside the housing. Has anyone else considered this as an option

 

[Uturn]

I not sure about modifying the reflector. I had to take my wife to the airport 60 miles away at 2:30am yesterday, so I got to try out the LED high beams. Definately bright, even though I bought the Auxbeam's which have a lower lumen rating, but they are DOT compliant. Markg2, I noticed that my cutoff is set higher than yours so I am wondering how they set your lights being you said they removed the bumper. You might consider playing with the adjustment yourself to gain a little more height.

 

[Markg2]

The first service, after adjusting to spec, they raised the cutoff as much as they could. No perceptible difference once home. The second service, when they re-seated the housings and installed better bulbs, they set the adjustment back to spec--still no difference. Since all my posted images were taken on varying degrees of downslope, the cutoff has to be (much) lower. That's what makes a bad low beam really bad.

 

[Dscustoms]

Before swapping to LED bulbs (or after), if you have a problem with the quality of the lights be sure to tell your dealer that they are not bright enough. Make them work on it, adjust it, whatever. Then tell them that it still isn’t acceptable at night. Then put in your led bulbs. We need a history of complaints with ford and nhtsa for anything to ever be done.
The cutoff is the same with aftermarket leds but they are much brighter to start with so it’s better.

As for someone with factory leds not happy with the brightness, there is no upgrade option, you can’t just swap bulbs on those, it’s an entire module.

 

[Markg2]

Whoa, are you saying that the factory LED low beam (Expedition Platinum) also is a projector type with the hard horizontal cutoff? I could have sworn that I saw an image posted here of someone's Platinum LED's at night and there was no horizontal cutoff.

If you attempted to swap the halogen for the LED, it's not just the complete housings but also some chunk of the wiring harness + some other undefined hardware in back of the housing + possibly a software change. All of which the dealer will not do since they do not know how and Ford will not advise.

 

[EricExpedition]

Plan to install these this evening. I will post pics with new bulbs on just the passenger side to see the difference. As stated above, I don't anticipate that these will solve the cutoff issue, but it will make the area up to the cutoff significantly brighter.

Side note: I have Bilstein 5100 shocks on my 2013 F150 with projector headlights. They raise the front end 2" and while I may be use to the cutoff, I never recall it being a problemwith visibility. Installing the ReadyLift 3"F/2"R SST for the Expedition with larger tires in the future. Point being, even a 1.5" leveling kit may help alleviate some of the issue. Just my experience.

 

[EricExpedition]

Storm came in so I had to work quickly so I didn' get as many great pics. Lights are an EASY swap! Took me 30 min to do fogs, highs, and lows by accessing through the fender wall. Interesting that stock halogen bulb creates spot below the cutoff where the LEDseems to diffuse the light much better. Last pic is for accessing the DRL - just pop the cover over the grille off and Ford even included a handle/lever to take the bulbs out as it is a small gap to get to. Need different bulbs though. D'oh. Think its 3157?

 

[Markg2]

Can you shoot some images at night through the windshield so we can really see the impact?