Thinking about getting those bright LED headlights? Think again.

[scoobydube]

I bought a set of the LED headlight bulbs that was deemed directly compatible with my OEM headlight bulbs.  Big mistake.  My digital dash went haywire and the engine began cutting out and otherwise ran poorly.  Then the below dash relay switches were overheating and burning out.  Finally, I realized that those LED's were screwing up my car big time, but only after I changed out my distributor, coil, cap and fusible links in a rain storm.  Now I am back to the the OEM bulbs, have installed all new relay switches, and keep a handful of spare relay switches to pop in if I have any further problems. 524,000 miles on my 86 gl10 turbo.

[idosubaru]

Wow, "you've entered the Twilight Zone"

500,000 miles!!!! wowsers.   how many engines/trans so far?  any door sag or adjustments after all those miles?

[scoobydube]

Do not buy DENSO relay switches off of EBAY, because the two switches that get real hot, put off noxious fumes inside the car.

[scoobydube]

Emergency Relay Switch Update. 

Do not install any new relay switches that you buy from anybody, including your Subaru dealer, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL BAD.  They are going to all get up to 130F, or they won't allow your engine to run smoothly, but for certain they will give off noxious fumes that are likely poisonous.  You can thank the automobile conspiracy for getting these old Subarus off of the road for that, because this is how far they are willing to go in order to get you to buy a new car from them.  It does not matter whether they are made in Japan, in China or in Taiwan, they are all bad and toxic to your health.  Therefore, DO NOT CHANGE OUT YOUR RELAY SWITCHES.  The relay switch that is most likely to blow is the Fan relay switch.  When the Fan is in the number 3 position for more than about a 1/2 hour, then you are in danger of blowing that relay switch.  If either of your two relay switches that run the engine cause the engine to no longer run, then swap them out with the other two or four relay switches that you have hidden behind the fuse box.  The only relay switches that work properly are the ones that came with the original car.  They have stamps on them like 01F17 or 03K15, but not exactly those stamps. GL10's have 6 relay switches.  GL's have only 4 relay switches.

If you are forced to go to then new toxic ones, then you are going to have to go nuclear and run wires from the relay switch connector by the fuse box, to a location in your car like the back seat floor, and find another actual relay switch connector that you will allow you to encasing your new toxic relay switch inside of a 30 caliber ammo box where the wire openings are caulked tight. Which is not a pretty option.

[Steptoe's photos]

LED headlight complete, not just the bulb may just be the source of isssue I have had with 92 Brumby losing high beam - have LED on high beam inner position, and 87 Vortex turbo doing same if not similar with external after market relay loom.

[l75eya]

On 6/11/2024 at 8:14 PM, scoobydube said:

Emergency Relay Switch Update. Do not install any new relay switches that you buy from anybody, including your Subaru dealer, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL BAD. 

When you keep burning through relays and things are getting hot the problem is not the relays lol

You probably have something(s) wired incorrectly or you have a short(s) somewhere. 

[scoobydube]

Well, I did not change the wiring on the car.  As an update however, the original OEM relay switches that do not put out any fumes, are OK for the headlight circuits.  However, those OEM relay switches are just too tired to get the full potential out of the engine, so I went with the newer, stinky relay switches and incorporated them into the nuclear option, which is running the appropriate gage wires into an ammo box in the back seat floor, where another relay switch connector is attached for the new relay switches.  The engine relays run hot when new relays are used, just like the fan relays, so I put all three in the ammo box.  Now I have full power for the engine.  The older OEM relays would run cold for the engine circuit, they just no longer have the cahones to develop full power for the engine.  And as an additional precaution, I now run two ground wires, at the same location.  I know that when they get over 250,000 miles, then can get hot, get brittle and lose their conductivity at the connection to the body.  When that happens, it is difficult to run accessories like electric windows, and still have the engine run smoothly.

[scoobydube]

Final update.  By accident, after snapping up a subaru ground wire at a pick n pull, from another low mileage subaru, I installed the second ground wire in parallel with the current engine ground wire to the left side cam shaft cover area.  Now, all of the relay switches that I am currently using cooled down to only nominal heating.  Consequently, the horror stories that I described above about all of the new relay switches, may not in fact be applicable. So in conclusion, I recommend adding a second in parallel ground wire to your car if you have over 200,000 miles.  Heck you may even be able to get those new bad boy LED headlights to work, without screwing up your digital dash and dash dimmers.

[czny]

IF you are in an area with freezing winter fog, freezing rain or winter mix, you may not want LED headlights. They don't produce enough heat to keep them clear of ice, reducing light output.

I used to have LED headlights until I discovered that problem and changed back to halogen.