For all you 96 & 97 Passat owners.

One of the service managers at my local dealer has a 97 Passat TDI Wagon. He asked me if I could post a question about the headlights on these cars. His are turning yellow in color. He contacted VWoA to see if he could get them replaced under warranty, of course you know what the answer was to that.

So if you have this problem, he said the only way to get it taken care of is to start calling in mass quanity to VWoA and complain. Who knows? It might work.

That car is almost 6 years old.....

That car is almost 6 years old.....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Very true!

The car came with a 2yr/24,000 mile protection plan. If the car's headlight's turned yellow in 18 months, that would be one thing. I don't follow the logic here.

The headlights in these cars are made of plastic, which not only yellows but pits as well. I think 1996 was also the first year of the DRL and this surely contributes to the yellowing. My solution is, instead of complaining, replace the headlight with a glass version, i.e. European lamp. Plus you apparently get better light that way.

Not for nothing, but some learned people claim that yellower headlights are better for vision and the "blue bulb" stuff is pure poppycock. When I had a bulb burn out, I replaced them both with "ultrawhite" or somthing like that and noticed no improvement.

Of course, your mileage may vary...

I Had the same problem. I used a product called Micromesh. It is a kit that has a variety of grades of wet/dry sand paper and a final polishing fluid. The paper grades from what I recall go from 600 grit to 4000. This is done in about 6 steps with plenty of water.

This is an aviation product. You might be able to find it on the internet or local small airport. I got mine from work.

The results are amazing, anyone can do it!!
Glenn

So the discoloration is on the surface?

UV and Ozone will hasten the discoloration of the polycarbonate used for the lens. When the micropitting (or like mine, macrochipping) is added, the result is an unpleasing appearance and diffused output pattern. I can minimize further discoloration and fill the pits with an acrylic floor polish. The brand I use is "Future". Apply to a clean dry lens with a cloth and let dry. Several thin coats are needed on mine. Removal is possible with vinegar (or acid rain).

I have seen pix of cars from the South and the headlight lenses are often badly yellowed and fogged in appearance...much more so than cars I see in this area.

One of our forum brothers had a minor mishap with his '96 sedan and he ended up with 2 new headlights. The new headlight lenses made a dramatic cosmetic improvement.

Mine look fine

tomo, ours look pretty good too but there is evidence of sandblasting as with the entire front of the vehicle. The clarity is still decent and you can still see the little aiming/level site glass.

I received my new e-codes in the mail yesterday. I didn't have time to install yet, but I did hold them up (one at a time, of course) to compare to the stock lights. Never mind the "euro" part, the difference between new glass and 5yr/ 95kmile old plastic is quite marked. I hope to see better at night for the foreseeable future...

jck, can you say how much the lights cost and where you got them from?

Also, the lenses on these new e codes are still polycarbonate and not glass, correct?

thanks.

I had pretty good success with fine steel wool (000) and basic car wax.

E-codes have glass lenses

I polished the lenses of my '96 with cerium oxide, using a Dremel tool with a felt wheel. I got rid of the yellow and they really looked good, but the lights were still lousy. Got a set of ecodes from PGPerformance. Wow! I would not even think twice about it again...go for the ecodes.
Rodg

I have yellowed foggy lens too. I tried the Zymol lens cleaner and polish- it did not work! It did make more shiney and the polish smelled good but the yellow foggy look is still around. E-codes is that a lens or light company.

what are the part numbers of the e-codes and what do they cost!! thanks bill

Headlights?........6 years old???......warranty????

Come on, they won't even warranty a regular headlight out of warranty on a new car.

1. The e-codes seem to be glass. I used the very scientific "fingertip tap test" and the sounds were very different between stock NA and e-code. Also, they're heavy.

2. I bought them through a guy named Cullen on the (*gasp*) vortex for just shy of $300. They're not genuine Hella (~$60 more), but I reckon they're better then what I have. Go do a search on the vortex for "b4 ecode" or something like that and you'll run across Cullen's email. He has a web site with pictures of the stuff he can import. And he threw in the capsules for a nice surprise. It was weird getting a package from Estonia.

PS. I took a "benchmark" photo last night of the stock headlights at the reference distance of 25ft. I just have to find time to put the new ones in!

thanks, jck. Is the brand VALEO, by any chance?

He gets $360 for the Hellas? Is that incl. shipping and the other incidentals to get them to America?

[ September 26, 2002, 06:24: Message edited by: dieseldorf ]

Double Post Removed

[ September 26, 2002, 13:18: Message edited by: MORE_MPG ]

I have a pair of E-Code (European Standard Issue (OE) style heasdlights). I bought them from tomo (they're not very good, i can understand why he sold them).

Tom, you can go back to polishing your car or a fire engine or something, nothing else of interest here...

OK, don't tell Tom...

They are awsome! They use H1 bulbs in all four locations allowing for the use of 100 watt bulbs (not available in US that I have found). The lenses are glass. When I hit an Accord with one of them it shattered into many pieces, not just cracked polycarbonate. They provide an interesting (at least to me who has not driven, or been in Europe) pattern on low beam (note you can't use the bright/dim terminology when you are talking about 200 watts of low beam). There is a distinct horizontal line that extends towards the right shoulder then angles up and to the right. Some have commented that the sharp line (that allows for the use of mega watts on low beam without blinding oncomers) doesn't allow the driver to see well above the line. It does take some getting used to, but is better so it is an easy transition. There is a MB site that has instrusctions on aiming that I have not read yet. I think that may help. Interesting side note: My father just got a 1978 BMW R80/7 (motorcycle) and is has the same horizontal line pattern ( ______/ ) that my E-Codes have.

As for sources, when I was looking to replace mine after the accident and before Tom contacted me I found several sites that would sell them for around $400 + S&H and bulbs.

Also, they have "City Lights" that depending on your local laws can be powered by the corner light leads if blanks are used in the corners. PA is not one of those states that allows the use of blanks in the corners.

With city lights on.

Rest of my site.

Originally posted by MORE_MPG:
They are awsome! They use H1 bulbs in all four locations allowing for the use of 100 watt bulbs (not available in US that I have found). There is a MB site that has instrusctions on aiming that I have not read yet. I think that may help.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The site with instructions for aiming your lights is here.

Please also read some of the other information on the site, particularly the cautions on using overwattage bulbs with stock wiring (assuming you haven't installed relays). Good stuff.