2004 Tacoma DC- Headlight Replacement and Upgrade

OK, I've read a few threads on here, but most are several years old and lighting has improved. My OEM headlights have become cloudy, been cleaned and buffed a couple of times, they are essentially toast. I would like to replace with newer lighting. I don't want anything too flashy, appearance wise. I found some HID lighting that looks as OEM as it probably could, obviously with a different projector. A sales guy here said no one uses HID anymore, LED is preferred. Then, he said that there really aren't any decent LED replacement kits for the 1st gen.

So, I'd like to know what others have done, and if you have pics, that would be great.

Thanks!

 

Here's what I got works good:
https://amzn.to/3PDlLVp

As for replacement housing here's a good (Not Cheap) Option.
https://amzn.to/48iZkgK

These are CAPA Certified. (If that really means anything??)

 

You mention that they "work good", and in your ID, it states that you have a 2021 TRD. Didn't 2021 already have LED? They work a LOT different (and not better) in OEM 1st Gen housings. I haven't seen an LED bulb yet that works as it should in a Gen 1 headlight housing. Can you give us a little more info? How about aiming and such? Any problems with blinding oncoming traffic?

 

@crashnburn80 is a wealth of knowledge.

here’s his thread:https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-230#post-27990546

In short: Get OEM housings and whatever bulb he’s recommending in the thread (updated regularly)

 

Yeah, this. Don’t buy junky housings if you plan to keep and use the truck for more than a few months.

 

I currently have a 2000 4runner, a 2003 Tacoma, a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the 2021 Tacoma (Pictured in my Avatar)
I had a 2005 Tundra , 2006 Tacoma, 2013 Tundra, 2016 4Runner, and 2018 Tacoma. (Yeah I get bored quickly!)

The bulbs I posted works well in my 03 Tacoma. (About as good as can be expected in a stock Halogen housing) They don't have the little ballast and bulky Fan on the back which made previous versions difficult to use on stock housings.
Are they perfect??
They are as good or better than the stock bulbs.

 

Follow the ultimate headlight upgrade linked earlier for all the best of 9003/H4 headlight upgrades.

OEM assemblies with upgraded halogen bulbs is the way to go. Aftermarket assemblies will be poor and many retrofits using Chinese parts, especially Chinese projectors, won’t be great either.

See this post for my 03. Major output upgrade using new assemblies plus stock wattage quality performance bulbs.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-double-cab-build.762757/page-4#post-27253712

I’ve since upgraded to the high powered Osrams covered in the thread linked earlier. Output is ridiculous.

There are no good PnP LEDs for an 9003/H4 housing, which utilizes a dual filament bulb. Even when Diode Dynamics was developing PnP replacement LEDs they specifically avoided any dual filament bulbs because they knew it was inherently even more fundamentally flawed than using a PnP replacement LED in a single filament assembly.

 

OK, maybe I didn't ask my question correctly. I am NOT looking for new halogen bulbs. I am looking to HID or LED. I've been told by several vendors, including Toyota, that you can't use an LED in a Gen 1 OEM housing, that it will blind other driver's, both in front of you and in head on traffic. Same advice from a local truck lighting business. I want something better, brighter, less yellow than the OEM lights. The OEM lights are awful.

 

I guess that I should have read crashnburn80's link before responding. So, I reviewed that link and I have more questions than answers. I must not understand auto lighting. If I buy replacement Toyota OEM headlamp assemblies, don't they come with bulbs, or do you have to have to buy bulbs in addition? What are Osram's? How is it possible with everything aftermarket that is available that we don't have some sort of decent, well built lighting replacement?

 

Bulbs do not come with headlamp housings. Osram is a brand of german headlight bulbs (makes quality higher wattage bulbs).
TLDR: LEDs bulbs are a quick fix with bright, white light (directly in front), but will flicker out after a year or two. Osram bulb kit will last longer (and provide better spread lighting and not reflect as much in fog).

My story: I put in LED bulbs and they were a bright white that could shine through my not so clear plastic headlamps, but it worked for me for about a year or so before they started to flicker and go out. Before the LED bulbs started to flicker, I did do a lens sanding, buffing, re-clearcoat to make it look as new as possible, but it is slowly starting to get cloudy again. When it came time to replace my flickering LEDs, I read the above article and decided to try out the higher powered Osram bulbs and wiring kit. More pricey and it gives a slightly yellow tint vs. the LED's white (newer) look. I didn't care as long as I could see at night without the flickering. Since then I changed to clear corner lamps with amber LED bulbs and now my cloudy headlamps look out of place. I probably will replace the OEM headlamps with (2) new replacements just so the new clear plastic of new headlamps will match the new clear corner lamps.

 

I forgot that you can also go to TeqCustoms to buy new headlamps as well. Check out their site: https://teqcustoms.com/collections/1g-tacoma-headlights

 

@toku58
So, have you had these a while and have they held up well? Are the fit, finish and mounts acceptable?

 

The LED Bulbs I've had them for only a few weeks. So far they work really well (I need to get rid of the DTRL's)

I haven't gotten the Headlight housings yet. (Planning on ordering them soon)
If they last 5+ years I'll be happy. ( I rarely keep any vehicle more than 5 years)

Critical components I'm 100% an OEM guy. i.e. timing belt, lower ball joints, wheel bearings etc....

But non essential items I don't mind taking my chances on aftermarket products if the price is right.

 

In the case of the Toyota OEM 1st Gen assemblies they do come with bulbs, unlike options in the later Gens. However the bulbs are Japanese Koito standard performance H4 bulbs, they will not provide a performance improvement beyond having new assemblies. The mentioned Philips Racing Vision +200 H4s will provide a substantial performance improvement and slightly whiter color. The high wattage Osrams will provide maximum performance, they will be stock like in color output and require the HD harness. This will far outperform any LED option.

Aftermarket rarely builds good replacement headlights unfortunately. And if you are looking for newer technology like LED, well no manufactures are going to invest in building new quality LED headlights for a 20+ year old truck platform. Instead you'll get a bunch of cheap Chinese garbage with zero optical performance engineering designed to sell to younger ill-informed buyers based on looks alone, with no R&D into the output at large markups which gives a great return on investment for the Chinese manufactures.

If you are looking for something other than OEM halogen assemblies, the only other valid options is getting custom retrofits. And most custom retrofits are also garbage, because they are built with cheap garbage Chinese components, just like many of the aftermarket headlights. To do it right, you want to use high quality OEM grade components in the retrofit.

 

I am interested in this upgrade, but I find it a little "alarming" that headlightservices.com specifically does NOT include the 1st Gen Tacoma in their verbiage describing application(s); WHY did they go out of their way to highlight this exclusion? There's got to be a reason!

 

Read the linked thread above “ultimate headlight upgrade.” It outlines how to achieve exactly what you’re requesting.

 

Hi Crash,

I know you get bothered about headlights a lot, but was wondering what your thoughts were on retrofit projectors that you can put into stock Tacoma housings like this one:

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bi-xenon-acme-h1-stage-3-kit-CRK-ACME-H1

I've seen some people do it on YouTube, and it seems like the results are pretty amazing

 

It’s because HS is a small enthusiast business and his platform is 4Runner, you are getting an extremely high quality product at below market value. The power switch harness page was changed to include Tacoma because of the overwhelming popularity of the 2nd Gen thread.

I personally turn the HS ground switched harness on my 1st gen. Even better, I had the lengths customized specifically for the 1st gen to reduce the length further reducing voltage drop for higher performance and cleaner install. Post below with the lengths from my 1st gen thread.

 

Are you saying retrofit brands like Morimoto aren't good?

 

Definitely avoid anything H1. That is a major red flag. So not those.

With retrofits, most use cheap Chinese projectors that are not engineered with a proper beam pattern. All OEM lights include uplight, light of reduced intensity above the cut off so you can see beyond the low beam. Most all aftermarket projectors do not include uplight, it requires more engineering expertise. Without uplight, your own cut off is blinding to you as the driver with very bright light at the cut off horizon and absolute blackness above it, meaning you can’t see anything at all beyond the low beam. This is extremely vision limiting and dangerous. Many drivers comment that they feel the need to drive with their high beams on all the time because they can’t see despite having very bright retrofits. Unfortunately those uneducated in lighting like to show pictures of the sharp cut offs and high contrast thinking it looks cool, even though they are showcasing exactly why the product is so flawed and a major safety hazard to themselves. It is a downgrade from OEM.

H1 is a halogen bulb. There are no legitimate H1 HIDs bulbs. There are no legitimate H1 HID projectors. By selecting H1 as your retrofit platform you will be limited to only have access to illegitimate crap Chinese parts that are not legal and do not pass compliance tests. You’ll just have crap HID bulbs running halogen bases, and fake “HID” projectors for halogens with zero uplight that also fail compliance tests. All of it is garbage, but so many retrofitters will sell you up on it for the great price or simplicity of install.

To retrofit correctly you need to start with a real HID bulb type and actual OEM HID projector that has a proper beam pattern including uplight, like D2S. Then you can select some of the best bulbs from the top manufacturers like Philips and Osram. For projectors the D2S Lexus RX350 are regarded as some of the best. Using a real OEM HID projector like the RX350 with actual legitimate performance German made HID bulbs will provide unrivaled performance and isn’t remotely in the same planet or solar system as the garbage chinese knock-off H1 parts.

To do it right will cost more, and retrofitters will push the H1 style components because of their install simplicity and lower cost. But either do it correctly, or go with the ultimate halogen upgrade that will provide outstanding performance at a fraction of the price while maintaining the OEM beam pattern and far higher simplicity.