sjkforever

I went to the acura dealer yesterday because my passenger side fog light wasn't working due to a burnt connector. They told me it would just cost me couple dollars to replace them and will install for free w/o any appointment since it's a small job. It sounded too good to be true so I rushed to my dealer but of course, life isn't that easy. I had to pay for the connectors and pigtail(whatever that is) plus the labor because i had installed an aftermarket fog lights and that voids the warranty. So, at the end I paid $141.13.(the price I paid for being the worst DIY guy). Regardless, I did not have a problem for having to pay but what I want to do now is to prevent that from happening in the future. On the reciept that they gave me it said to replace the fog lights back to stock or go to a lower wattage bulb. So my million dollar question is what fog lights (preferably white or blue in color) can i buy that won't burn out my connectors???? If anyone is currently using one that doesn't burn out connectors, please let me know.... THANK YOU

rbf351

yes, the stock bulbs work perfectly, and will not melt your harness

chill_dog

...and it's true, too!

ding069

i changed my fog lamps to true 6000K HID. They run on less wattage and are cooler than stock bulbs but have 3x's the light output. They are not cheap, $280 but the performance and coloration cannot be compared to ANY halogen bulbs on the market.

sjkforever

$260??? i think it's little bit too much for my taste.....anything cheaper but wont burn out the connectors other than the stock ones?

Black_05_TL_6SP

Find a standard wattage bulb that is blue in color. There are several manufactures out there that offer them. I believe the factory wattage is 55w. That is standard for most car holagen bulbs. If you where running after market ones, they where more then likely 100w bulbs. The packaging would have said for off road use only!! There is a way around it, but if you are not a DIY guy then you won't want to do it.

If you have any knowledge of how to use a relay, you can wire up the high output bulbs using it. This will preserve your factory harness. BTW, the pigtail is the part that plugs onto the back of the bulb. I have seen several of them burn up do to high output bulbs.

The other solution is to find a 55w blue bulb. Here is just an example. Example

Jason

ding069

any 55 watt output bulb that yields any coloration will give you almost nothing for light output. alot of people have used polarg bulbs with good results

SSMTL01

heh those harnesses are like 3 bucks at auto parts stores.. i went through several of them on my sc300.
Go HID fogs

sjkforever

so does this mean i could get any bulb that has a 55W and it wont burn out my connectors?

PoochaKannInc

^ Pretty much. As long as it has the same (or lower) wattage as the stock bulb you should be fine.

It might not be as bright as whatever high wattage bulb you have in there now. But hell, you won't be paying $140 every few months. That has to count for something..

sjkforever

Yea dont wanna pay another $140 in couple months....plus i dont see the big difference anyway....i just dont like the yellowish color of stock fog lights...

Black_05_TL_6SP

Then just turn them off. If I were to replace them I would go with a set of HIDs. Thats just me. I never have mine on, so I dont worry about it.

zena22

If you were to change to the more expensive 6000k hid bulbs, would you still need to get 55w or since they run cooler could you get 100w without a problem?

Napsoner

How do you wire up the Hid fogs to work with your park lights?

crazymjb

Is it the heat from the bulb that is burning melting these things or is it the current draw? If it is the ladder, aren't their fuses to prevent that?

Mike

Black_05_TL_6SP

Its the physical current draw. I 100 watt bulb is drawing about 10 amps worth of current, the problem is, the wiring was only meant to do a max of about 60 watts. This causes the wire to physically overheat. That is why they are burning up.

HIDs are a different beast all together. HID's don't draw current in the same way a halogen bulb does. There is no filament in the bulb, rather a gas that is excited by a high voltage charge and low current. 6000k is actually the light rating on the bulb. HID bulbs run from about 3000k-12000k. The lower the # the whiter the light, the higher the number the more purple it is, with blue being in the middle. The factory bulbs on the car are 3600k bulbs, that is why they are whiter then what you see on a BMW, Nissan or Toyota.

I hope this helps, if you have any other questions let me know. Jason

Black_05_TL_6SP

If you get a set that is meant for the car, if the bulbs where H4's, you would buy a H4 replacement HID. They would be plug and play for the most part, you would only have to hook up a ground and 12 volt wire to the battery. Then when you turn the fog lights on they would come on.

To get it to come on with the parking lights just requires you change the turn on source, from fog lights to the parking lights. All the wires are right there at the headlamps under the hood.

Jason

gt1

Aftermarket fog lights themselves don't void the warranty. But you installed wrong bulbs, with power consumption higher than what TL is designed for, so dealer was perfectly right in denyiing a warranty service. All moders have to understand, that there are a lot of design consideration in every part of the car, and mods can shift a delicate balance. Honda could out heavy dury electrics and housings in the fog lights, but if costed $10 extra per car, they would lose close to a million a year on this.

ding069

OK just to clear up a few things, you had a few points right:
Bulb coloration:
3000K yellow
4300K yellowish/white (stock)
5000K pure white
6000k violet white
8000k deeper blue white
10000k purple

the 4300k is all around the best temp (stock), has the best illumination quality and coloration all in one. generally when you get better color, you lose illumination, i.e. the higher the "K" rating, the lower the light output. coloration is given off by the projector, each is different due to the lens, bowl and cutoff shield.

the stock fog lamp is a 9006 bulb and the stock low beam is and HID D2S bulb. to wire the fogs to work independantly from the headlights, it requires either a whole wiring harness with aftermarket switch mounted somewhere or installation of a relay or DRL module. the drl modules have been sold out on the web for some time, i would love to get one tho.

hope this clears some of the HID mystery up.....i have spent way too much time on hidplanet.com, which is an endless database of hid knowledge.

sjkforever

wow.....thanks for the informations guys.....now only if someone could tell me where i can get these 55W fog lights that will fit perfectly in the TL.....i wasnt sure if i could order any fog lights and they would be universal or not....thanx again

Aznpersuasion

i bought the H.I.D foglights for my car and it costed me 40 bucks the part that killed me was the installation from Acura Dealerships 150 Dollars! God that's alot! but yeah, it should've been covered cause Acura states in the manual that any after market parts you install is covered for 1 year! that's about it. its confirmed by Acura Service department too.
~Jason

ding069

wow, they saw you coming......
those are halogens that claim "HID" but are not really. As long as they are within sotck wattage specs you should be ok with warranty issues.
$150 for install of fog light bulbs, i had my suspension changed out for $349 from the dealer

Aznpersuasion

well I didn't buy the light bulbs from pep boys or anything like that i bought it from Japan lol... so it better be good as hell! lol
~Jason

rbf351

if you want i have tons of japanese "HID" bulbs sitting around, send me 40 bucks, and i'll send you 2 sets

ubnpast

is the tl's hid's really only 4300k? I would have thought it was more like 5k or 6k because it is more white and blue than yellowish?