Headlights Burning out Frequently

2013 Tacoma Headlights are burning out maybe every 6 months. This didn't start until a couple years ago (or so). I replace with Sylvania Silverstar...tried the brighter ones and standard.

 

Check your alternator regulator and check your grounds.

 

Silverstar are garbage. Plenty of members have said so.

Stick with OEM

 

The brighter bulbs burn out faster. Never got more than a year out of a silverstar.

 

Just gonna leave this here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.398066/

 

You're not touching the bulbs, AT ALL right? And you're cleaning the glass with a CLEAN microfibre towel before installation?
Leave any finger print on them and they will self-destruct.

 

My factory bulbs lasted 5 years. Went to Silverstars which cost 3X as much and they lasted less than 1 year. If you read the fine print that is normal. They were just a tiny bit brighter, but not worth paying 3X as much and lasting 1/5 as long. I can't recall the exact model I have, but it is one step up from the basic Sylvania bulb. They have been in the truck 7 years now.

 

Running Sylvania Silverstar Ultras, 2yr no issues but yes there is a disclaimer on the package average life is one year.

 

I have the Sylvania Extra Visions. Five years now and still going.

 

Sylvania has lost a class action lawsuit over the short life and overpromised claims of their Silverstar product line.
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit...e-ad-class-action-settlement-gets-initial-ok/

Silverstars are not a performance product, they are a cosmetic one with whiter light and drastically shorter bulb life. Your experience is standard for that product.

 

The link at post #6 is from 2015, and a nice write up, but, there have been significant changes in LED technology since then. New technology orients the LED's to correspond with the filament locations in incandescent bulbs (pic below), so that they work pretty well in head lighting where the reflex is located in parabola. Sharp cut offs, whiter light, better visibility and much better service life. Old post slamming LED forward lighting in Tacoma's, are just that, old posts.

 

What you're missing is the fact that the two filaments in the halogen bulb emit 360 degree "orbs" of light. The LEDs are "side firing" so they only fire left and right (or up and down if you rotate the bulb as some suggest) and do not duplicate the "orb." The picture does a very clever job of showing the locations of the filaments and LEDs - in only one plane. Virtually every single marketer of drop in LED bulbs would like you to believe this solves the biggest problem with LED bulbs. It does not.

I had the "pleasure" of being stuck in traffic the other night with and idiot behind me with the side firing LEDs in his Dodge pickup. "Annoying" doesn't even come close to describing how bad his headlights were.

 

Won't get into a pissing contest with over this....notice the low bean filament in the incandescent bulb has a shield on top (also the LED) effectively blocking and reflecting the light down (cut off), what you describe as an "orb" of light. Current LED technology has over come linear light projection (what you describe as one plane) - light projected is closer to 150 - 160 degrees. The idiot behind you may have had "old style" LED envelopes, or more likely, failed to readjust his headlights after installation (critical). Also, any load in the rear of the truck, with any light,......yep, raises headlamps and it is annoying.

 

Two damning bits of information that kind of blow holes in the whole aftermarket / side firing drop in LED bulb thing:

First, the public - or at least a not insignificant percentage of the motoring public - is clamoring for LED lighting. (Many because it "just looks cool.") So satisfying this need would logically be a high priority for auto manufacturers right? If simply swapping side firing LED bulbs into OEM headlight housings would really do everything the aftermarket promises, wouldn't the OEMs be swapping these bulbs in and advertising "LED headlights" After all, designing, testing, tooling and manufacturing completely new headlight housings is waaay more expensive. But they don't. Hmmmm. Oh, and don't forget, the OEMs have to comply with all sorts of federal safety standards relating to lighting. Could it be the that the LED bulbs do not comply with these critical standards? In most cases, they do not.

Second, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently changed their criteria for their coveted "Top Safety Picks" to include testing of headlight effectiveness - since headlights are a critical safety item.
https://www.iihs.org/topics/headlights
Being able to advertise your new vehicle as being an IIHS Top Safety Pick is a significant marketing advantage and leads to greater sales. If simply swapping side firing LED bulbs into OEM headlight housings would really do everything the aftermarket promises, wouldn't the OEMs be swapping these bulbs in to get better safety ratings - especially since many vehicles fail to get top ratings purely due to poor headlights? Ah, but they don't. Because the marketing claims are pretty much false.

BTW, the idiot in the truck behind me and I actually had a pleasant conversation when we both pulled into the same gas station. His truck was stock, two wheel drive and unloaded - and his headlights with aftermarket LED bulbs were still obnoxious. While pumping gas, I asked him how he liked them. "Well, they piss just about everybody off, don't really have any distance projection and cost a bloody fortune" was his reply. It was only then that I offered my "thoughts" on them. He noted that he was going to try to return them soon. And yes, he'd re-aimed them several times.

Yes, drop in / aftermarket LED bulbs have gotten better in the last few years. But the fact remains that they still don't work properly in a housing designed for halogen bulbs.

 

Have yet to find a LED that is DOT compliant.

 

Not an aftermarket headlight LED at least.

 

Read this and go with the recommendations you’ll be a lot happier.

 

Correct, should have made that clear.

 

"It's the wise man who knows, what he doesn't know". My 2018 F-250 Power Stroke diesel came with factory LED head lamps, a 1000 dollar option, it's nice lighting. After a little (or a lot) of research, to satisfy my own curiosity, I spent 40.00 bucks on a pair of Beamtech H-4 / 9003 LED headlamp bulbs. Before the install, I illuminated my garage door @ 30' with the factory halogens, and marked the low beam cut off with painters tape. After the LED replacement, same routine, cut off was about 6" high, corrected with an adjustment. They exceeded my expectations. I figured that, if the replacement LED conversion was smoke and mirrors, I would just return them to Amazon. My point, if you haven't actually, personally, tried an LED conversion, you might might come to have different opinion regarding a retrofit in a Tacoma (I can't speak for other makes). Your results might be different than mine, but I doubt it. And if they are, switch and get your dough back. You'll at least validate (through personal experience) your assumptions (or not) one way or the other.

 

You do realize that the optional LED headlights on Ford F-series trucks are a completely different housing right? A headlight housing designed for LEDs is a whole different ball game. (The IIHS wasn't impressed with them BTW.)

As for personal experience with LED drop in headlight bulbs, I have a son who 's into the typical kid style automotive "upgrades." As much as I'm an engineer who doesn't trust marketing unless it's backed by science, he falls for marketing all the time. He fell for drop in HID's a while back and had to follow somebody home the first rainy night because he couldn't see anything. (They got tossed.) Last year he fell for drop in LEDs - $300 for the set. In fact they're almost exactly the ones you shared. They're sitting in the basement as we speak because even after numerous re-aiming efforts, they pissed everybody off, didn't have any distance projection and had a terrible beam pattern. Want to buy a set cheap?

As for re-aiming LED drop ins, if the filament / chip placement was really identical, they shouldn't have to be re-aimed at all. After all, that's what "drop in" means right? The reason most cheap aftermarket bulbs need re-aiming is poor design and manufacturing lead to all sorts of variation.

The only time I'm going to buy LED drop ins for my Tacoma (to replace the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade) will be when @crashnburn80 recommends them. And I can tell you, that's not going to happen any time soon because his extensive testing blows all sorts of holes in their schlock science marketing.