I don't know much about cars so sorry in advance.

My headlights are awful and I always drive with my high beams on at night. Nobody flashes me their high beams to warn me that my high beams are on.

I've replaced the bulbs and haven't noticed a difference. The headlights don't appear to be foggy. Is the next step to replace the headlight assembly?

There are two sets of lights on each side - the outside ones are dim but okay and the inside ones seem to be worthless. Should the inside ones be bright too? Are the inside just the high beams?

Also I took it to a shop a few days ago because there was a fuse issue with the passenger side high beam. They fixed it and now the check engine light is on. It wasn't on when I dropped off the car but it was on when I picked it up. The shop is going to diagnose the engine tomorrow. Is it possible that they didn't fix my fuse properly and caused engine problems?

 

Yes, headlights are terrible

Most have replaced with either high performance bulbs or Xenon upgrade kits

 

You would think that Lucas, Prince of Darkness himself, had designed the lights on our cars.

Suck is being optimistic!

 

mick, I have good lighting out of my car, but then, I also have the HID setup too which it sounds like you don't. If you don't mind a little bit of a drive, I am willing to take a look at the car to give you my option on things. I live about an hour south of you in California, MD. I can see what I can find and we can go from there.

Just to ask a silly question, but are you sure that your headlights are pointed in the right direction? It is common for the X-Types to have the headlights break their internal supports and this will cause the headlights to point very high or very low and that will lead to poor lighting in front of the vehicle. When you replaced the headlight bulbs, did the internals of the headlights seem loose?

 

The standard non-HID lamps are awful, there are several things to be aware of….

1) upgrading the bulbs is possible but must be done with care, do NOT put higher wattage bulbs in there, as the wiring loom is frankly a bit weedy, and the extra current may damage it , (overheating cables , taking out fuses, and ultimately could cause an electrical fire… ) what you CAN do, is use standard wattage high pressure filled bulbs, that give twice as much light, but for the same current draw, this will improve matters a fair bit. but still won't be as good as HID lamps


2) make sure the headlight aim is correct….



there are a few basic issues that present themselves,

A) they could be simply poorly adjusted , and possibly with the LHD/RHD switch in wrong position…. = aimed the wrong way and light dispersion pattern not being very helpful….

B) Broken adjusters = headlamps wobbling , and pointing randomly up or down, but not at the bit of road you need to see….

C) Bulbs not correctly seated , which can present some symptoms of both the above…. … makes use the bulb holder is oriented correctly and fully sat home int he mounting.





My next one with definitely have HID lamps, my previous car had them, and i miss them terribly…..