Headlights too low? dim?

hi, i was wondering if theres a way to increase headlight light emission on venture 98?

i have restored the headlight lenses and now they are clean as new.. and i have bought those ultra white bright lights (sylvanya) but i cant still see at night! =(

i have adjusted the focus by moving up and down and side ways in many positions but i cant still see... when i drive at night.. i have to rely on other cars lights (cars behind me).. when comparing their light output is much brighter and wider.. mine is just two small dim spots..

any ideas? even with the high lights.. i cant still see any light.. i have to be literally above dashboard to see very little light that is at the very tip of the car hitting the floor..

any help is highly appreciated...

thanks..

Could mount some auxillary driving lights to the bumper, but it sounds like you still have a headlight issue, I will admit mine are kinda pitiful, but I can still see.

I agree. It's just like the cup holders and the windshield wipers, they suck. I guess all vehicles have their problems.

I need to replace mine also, it's a '99. I found some on Ebay as cheap as $52.00/set with free shipping. I'd expect the dealer price would be in excess of $100/each. I would imagine these ones on Ebay are aftermarkets from China or something, however, they should last until I park this van for good, which won't be too far into the future I expect.

My two cents, Toni.

My first thought is to replace the headlamp relay/fuse and/or pssibly the headlight switch. I have been wrong once before, though..
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I guess I dont understand the issue, do the H/L work or dont they, are they extremely dim when looking at them, or does the road not get enough light, what is the problem? Bad aiming? Bad supply voltage - measure at the lamps?

check the voltage at the lights, with the van running you should get 14+ volts. check the ground wire where it ground to the body the of the van (clean and tight) with what you have done with the lights they should have good light.

Try going with the original halogen bulb's.
Are the head light lens clean as new, or clear as new?
I bought a pair of aftermarket head lights on Ebay for my Towncar, it was like getting a new set of glasses.

Here's my thoughts on this problem.
The headlight/lens setup on this van is garbage. There is just not enough reflective light going down to the road to see clearly. After new lights (that's the whole plastic lens assembly) and I still couldn't see, I obtained those arc lamps (some folks call them theater lights) some newer cars use. These require a solid state power supply for each bulb, mounted nearby.
This is a solution that works folks! I purchased a kit from ebay (chinese stuff) and it all worked perfectly. The van has a perfect place to mount the power suppy right under the bulbs on a section of the frame. These bulbs use about a 10th of the power a normal lamp requires and should never burn out. I picked a color frequency that matched a normal, white bulb, not those blue headlights.

After 3 years of guessing where the road is, I can finally see at night in the van...
:rofl:

Merc 81, is this one of the kits that you are talking about:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-HeadLight-Conversion-Kit-02-03-04-05-Chevy-Venture_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3efa14b267QQite mZ270483632743QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5f Accessories

If you do a search of the Venture/Montana/Silhouette forums here you will see that this is a common issue that has plagued many members throughout the years.


I need to replace mine also, it's a '99. I found some on Ebay as cheap as $52.00/set with free shipping. I'd expect the dealer price would be in excess of $100/each.
Try at least 3 X that. :eek: While I haven't priced them from the dealer lately, back in 2001 I had an issue with the outer lens coming off and wanted to replace them. At that time, 9 years ago they quoted me $249 each side. I can only imagine how much they charge now. And back then they weren't available yet on eBay, and when they finally did become available they were anywheres from $69 on up. Now, I've seen them on occasion for $25 ea.

I would imagine these ones on Ebay are aftermarkets from China or something, however, they should last until I park this van for good, which won't be too far into the future I expect.

My two cents, Toni. Depends on the seller, I have seen different countries of manufacture. They do , do the trick however and are a great substitute to replace your old worn, broken headlights.

EDIT: Also if you do decide to use the search function to view other threads, you can see other fixes members have found to alleviate their low powered headlamps,along with what merc81 posted in this particular thread. One of these "fixes" should work in your case.

Merc 81, is this one of the kits that you are talking about:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HID-HeadLight-Conversion-Kit-02-03-04-05-Chevy-Venture_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem3efa14b267QQite mZ270483632743QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5f Accessories

That's not the exact place I used, but yup. that's the idea. If you are interested, I still have the guy's email address around somewhere. It came to $77 for the complete kit. I'm happy with what I purchased and see no reason to spend big $$$ for one of these packages.
I can re-install the original lamps anytime I want, or replace the bulbs from any source. In other words, it may be a cheap knock-off copy of some pricey lamp kit, but, hey it works just fine and uses pretty standard parts.

:biggrin:

My lights are dim too. I believe it is the reflective coating at the back of the lens assembly. It looks like water gets in and wears the coating away. If this is what has happened to yours then replacing the assemblies will fix your problem.

don't know how much you want to spend but if its in the $250 range (in canada) try a hid conversion. Will give you 3x more light than a halogen system.

Are complete plug and play systems. Installed one of a new 2010 chevy silverado; which has excellent factory lights in the first place. the hid system made the factory system look like candles. Totally impressive.

The price for these systems have dropped alot this year so check them out. The sytem I installed was called "beamers". Will come up if you search beamers hid.