The Ultimate Headlight H4, Fog Light and Revers Light Upgrade Not LED or HID 1st Gen Tundra Addition

I’d love to trust in Toyota’s wiring more, but the big 3 was an easy sell for me. Had to replace my main battery to engine ground for cable rot anyway. The headlight harnesses are pitifully small and result in underpowering the headlights and overheating the bulb sockets to the point of burning them or the wires up. So the harness upgrade was a no brainer also. There’s even a recall for 2.5 Gen headlight wiring harnesses for the same issue. I don’t need 130amps of power, so I’ve not explored the upgraded alternator. Still on my factory 100a at 270k miles.

 

All fair. I looked at the headlight harness swap-out. Didn't feel it was polished enough /OEM+ enough. Believe me, I've done plenty of similar headlight wiring upgrades, the 67-72 C10s greatly benefit from similar, for example. I'd like to see a more-polished OEM+ looking setup for an '06 though.

 

That’s gonna be a DIY project, or a job for @daveeasa !

 

IKR?! Wtf Dave, get on it!

 

I would replace my decent but somewhat low quality looking harness with a quality @daveeasa harness if it were available. Paid $15 or so bucks for this one. I figure a nice quality one could be made for $45 or less

 

I'd pay $40-50 for that, maybe more.

 

me too. It’s 2 relays, 3 bulb sockets, some nicer wire and a few connector ends. Getting inspired to make my own. But not that inspired!

 

I run a headlight solutions harness in both trucks. Though I did redo the brains with a GEP and micro relays x 4. Only because I ordered the wrong one (thought I was ground switched).

I might redo the brains in the ‘05 Tacoma too, just to have the relays sealed.

I also cut and crimped sealed connectors on the Oem wire. Because I could. Not because it matters.

we all have our preferences. Mini projectors aren’t on my list.

replacing the alternator fuse was a little annoying but not remotely difficult.

 

Did you find a 130A fuse that fits? Not that it's non-standard, just wondering if Toyota makes such a thing. Or even 140A frankly. I assume the OEM wiring is stout enough to take it w/o the alt cable upgrade right?

 

Thanks! And good eye, they are Cooper Discoverer AT3's.

 

I haven’t done the big 3 but I plan to.
It’s a Toyota part, the alternator fuse. I’ll find it.

 

FYI, the slivers that I believe you are referring to are turn signals, the headlights on that generation Cherokee are in the middle of the bumper. The headlights look to be standard projector style headlights from my brief search on google.

 

Confirmed, my daughter has a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. DRL LED is the top sliver, the headlight bulb is a halogen projector in the middle slot and the fog is halogen reflector below it. I upgraded both her fogs and headlights to LED bulbs. works great.

 

I came here to see what improvements can be made to the stock headlights and darn it's the same mod that I did on my Taco. My new to me '05 Tundra DC has some crap aftermarket housings with a nice clear lens but the light just washes out. Factory housings and a new harness for me. Having done this on my old Taco I am aware of what improvement can be achieved.

 

This is the upgrade you seek

https://www.tundras.com/threads/amazing-1st-gen-headlamp-upgrade.127384/

 

In addition to what @KNABORES posted, you'll probably want to check this thread too: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

Specifically look at the lighting section, because there are some warnings you need to know before you switch to LEDs. I mean, you should read the whole thread to read about all the "Ahas!" and "Gotchas!" with these trucks, but ... yeah. Some people like not knowing.

 

Ok im having some problems with my install. I installed the $22 Amazon harness with 85/100w halogens 2 weeks ago. I added a resistor on the passenger side since I was having the normal issue with the fog lights acting weird with this upgrade. Yesterday on my way home in the dark my headlights go out. Luckily my fog lights still worked and I wasn't far from home. I had my high beams on at the time. I replace the 25a fuse on the harness and it immediately blows. I try a 30a and it blows immediately. This morning I install the other resistor on the drivers side now, and it blows. I take both resistors off and I get functionality back (but with foglights acting weird). Any idea what may be going on? Bad resistors? I'm considering getting the nicer headlightservices harness if the cheapo one is the problem. Thanks.

 

Don’t think you need resistors for halogens. They’re for LEDs

 

Well I guess that would explain my problem. Thanks. Now I need to look into the anytime fog light mod.

 

How do you like the output

 

They're awesome. I polished the stock housings at the same time. I'm using Hella high output bulbs right now and I'm super happy with the results. After reading the thread on the Hella's output, I'm thinking of trying out the Ostrom's to see if there's an improvement. I'm still considering upgrading the harness since I'm not very impressed with the $22 ones build quality. Also did the backup lights at the same time. Great upgrade.

Hella 80/100w
https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/28160423

 

You can run a resistor, you just need to run it in the factory unused headlight plug not the plug on your aftermarket harness. Though doing the anytime fog light mod would be the best way to go about it.

 

Yeah, I understood the purpose of the resistor is to add load to the relay coil so the ECU sees enough total load with high beams to interpret that the bulb is installed and functioning. Because a relay coil doesn’t draw much current. But it likely depends on the relay used, I believe some use diodes at the coil and some use resistors.

 

this thread is nearing maturity, so I thot to re-kindle interest by referring anyone on the fence about modifying HLhousings for HID, LED, etc use that I have my old pair fr/my 06 SR5 AC up for adoption...Both are glazed over and Drvr sidehas a horizontal crack across middle, but short of extending all the way to left or right edges [see AD pics @ 'ForSale' page]. Otherwise, fully intact, operational w/oem bulbs in place [a bit dusty].
Price: Whatever it costs to ship to you in the cardboard boxes my new ones came in [+ a 32oz Pacifico] Im in 92110. [San Diego].



if interested, pm me?.
Also, chk my AD [link below] for more pics...

https://www.tundras.com/threads/oem-headlights-f-06-sr5-ac-v8-2wd.148007/

 

Did you ever figure this out? I had the upgrade for 2 years and then my headlights stopped working one day but my high beams still worked. Just put the old lower wattage bulbs back in and headlights work again. Fogs are not working though.

 

Yes I mistakenly used the resistors with halogens when they are meant to be used with LED's. I removed them and everything works great.

 

Thanks - that's interesting because I also used a resistor in my setup and it worked for a long time. I will remove and see what happens with the high wattage bulbs.

 

Did that do the trick?

 

Haven't gotten around to it yet (and still waiting for the new bulbs) - hopefully will get to it with some time off over the holidays. But for now it has working headlights (low wattage bulbs that were in there previously) which is what I needed. Will hopefully remember to follow up here later.

 

Hoping to elicit some help with my issue. I installed a 14awg relay/harness kit on my 2004 DC and upgraded the low beams to Osram H4 high-output bulbs along with some Nokya 9012 bulbs for my fog lights. I've had 3 failures since, and can't reproduce it on demand.

The first time it happened was driving down a mountain pass, and other times in less serious instances. I noticed the fuse blew one of the times, so I replaced it with an equivalent amperage rated one. The next failures didn't have any blown fuses... all I did was inspect the inline fuse (ie, look to see it wasn't blown) by flipping the cap, and upon shutting it again, voila... headlights returned without even removing or re-setting the fuse.

I'm a bit of an amateur when it comes to electronics troubleshooting, so hoping to get some insight on what I can do to pinpoint this issue. Can I use a multi-meter somewhere to look for specific values? Is the harness potentially faulty? Grounding issue?

Open to any 2 cents you guys may have.