Any adapters for US headlights?

[tamper]

Hi,

I needed to replace the non-adjustable headlights on my Surf with a pair that pointed in the right direction for mainland Europe. Thinking I was being smart, I ordered a pair from the US, where they also drive on the wrong side of the road, and where the pitifully weak dollar leads to some great bargains.

Anyway, I've got them now and while they're the right size and shape, the bulb connector and indeed bulb construction looks completely different. Even though they're still called 'H4' in America, the bulb connector has a lot more plastic on the end of it, and has three horizontal pins, rather than the three-sides-of-a-square configuration we're used to here. The headlight assembly is made for these bulbs, so fitting a UK H4 into it doesn't fit either.

Has anyone heard of adaptors / US-style connectors / any other solution that will get these working in a non-US Surf?

t

[BUSHWHACKER]

Have a look here, you may be lucky.

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.c...page/home.html

[BUSHWHACKER]

If you are in France, could you get some connectors over there?
They drive on the wrong side too.

[tamper]

If you are in France, could you get some connectors over there?
They drive on the wrong side too.

Well not the connectors - that's a US-to-Euro thing (if it even exists) and anyway, getting anything here is a !!!!!! nightmare. I could have bought the lights themselves here, but they wanted 200 Euro per light, as against the USD$60 from the States.

Thanks for the link to that wiring site though - will be useful anyway.

t

[tamper]

On closer inspection it appears the problem is that the US headlights take HB1-type bulbs, rather than H4's. I could have sworn it took H4's, but apparently not.

HB1s are scant over here, and seemingly reserved for dubiously-legal mega-super-bright xenon things.

I'm debating whether to either start ordering bulbs from the US (where I think HB1s come in all brightnesses) or else convert my harness.

What's the address of the US Surf/4runner forum again? I couldn't find it in the links...

t

[Rob]

Yotatech
http://www.yotatech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1

[pjlarambla]

Pjlarambla

Got the name or link of this dealer you got your lights from sounds like these are what I need.

[AndyLala]

Is the socket still not the same size and keyed...?

So use the bulb holder from your original lights and fit your original bulbs into the new lights...?

That way original bulb and bulb holder, right hand lens.

[tamper]

Just an update on this since people were asking questions:

The headlight units I ordered were from www.1aauto.com , price $69.95 each, plus shipping. They were very helpful, and when I told them that I'd overlooked the type of fitting I needed (they had HB1, I needed H4) they offered to take the lights back.

Second helpful supplier was a US online bike parts dealer, whose name I've forgotten - except that it was a Native American word beginning with 'S' (I think). They had H4 and HB1 connectors in stock, and even offered to make me up a pair of converter leads. Very good service, just wish I could remember their name.

EDIT: It was Susquehanna MotorSports - www.rallylights.com

HOWEVER, while this got working headlights on to the car, for my purposes it was all in vain. In France, the headlights failed their Controle Technique (MOT) because the beam pattern was completely different to European headlights.

EDIT: Since I was asked, these lights were from Asian Auto Parts - www.asianautoparts.fr - and they arrived the day after I ordered them. Unheard of for French e-commerce, which usually operates a "We guarantee your order within 8 weeks, or it's... completely forgotten about" policy.

In the end I had to cough up for some local headlights, at a cost of about 180Euros each. Let that be a lesson to anyone trying to convert Surf lights for abroad.

t

[Frogsurf]

Just an update on this since people were asking questions:

HOWEVER, while this got working headlights on to the car, for my purposes it was all in vain. In France, the headlights failed their Controle Technique (MOT) because the beam pattern was completely different to European headlights.

In the end I had to cough up for some local headlights, at a cost of about 180Euros each. Let that be a lesson to anyone trying to convert Surf lights for abroad.

t

Crikey thanks for coming back and making this summary.

Saves me going down the same road.

Me too gotta get thu the Controle Technique over here, so guess my £6.99 lens stickers aint gonna hack it then?

Are you importing yours into frog properly then? We already started but it takes so long the car is off the road now.... [boohoo]

[tamper]

Crikey thanks for coming back and making this summary.

Saves me going down the same road.

Me too gotta get thu the Controle Technique over here, so guess my £6.99 lens stickers aint gonna hack it then?

Are you importing yours into frog properly then? We already started but it takes so long the car is off the road now.... [boohoo]

Hey Frogsurf,

Glad to see someone's going through what I went through. My re-registration is now complete, but it's taken the best part of a year to do it. I'm on a dodgy internet connection today, so can't go through the specifics, but I'll post a complete history of what happened, probably this weekend.

Which department are you in?

t

[Frogsurf]

Hey Frogsurf,

Which department are you in?

t

Deep in country, 46.

A year is a little longer than I had imagined....

[capankrash]

european headlights surf

Deep in country, 46.

A year is a little longer than I had imagined....

I am also trying for C.T. and registration for 18 months. I am in 56 ploermel, and need headlights.