E30 Zone

Just failed my Polish MOT on headlight output - you can't see it after a metre!

I had Xenons fitted, but these are illegal without auto-height adjusters, so I'm stuck with using standard H1 bulbs.

So what do people recommend? Is there a decent high-output halogen bulb I can fit?

My point is finding something to pass the MOT. The HIDs will go straight back in afterwards.

Grrrmachine wrote:Just failed my Polish MOT on headlight output - you can't see it after a metre!

Problem with the light units?
I'm still non-HID and the lights on my E30 are better than most cars I've had.

Try osram nightbreaker, claims to produce 110% more light even though its only a 55w h1 bulb.

steve_k wrote:Try osram nightbreaker, claims to produce 110% more light even though its only a 55w h1 bulb.

Ive fitted these to E46's with good results

DanThe wrote:

steve_k wrote:Try osram nightbreaker, claims to produce 110% more light even though its only a 55w h1 bulb.

Ive fitted these to E46's with good results

Got these fitted to my sport & mondeo daily, can't beat them, plus I can get a twim pack for £12.50 instead of halfords £20 per bulb lol.

jmc330i wrote:Problem with the light units?

I had this issue last year and managed to wing through the test with a cheeky smile, but I also fitted a replacement light on one side and still failed the test so I'm guessing it's the bulbs.

I'll try these Osrams then. Thanks for the recommendations guys.

Grrrmachine wrote:

jmc330i wrote:Problem with the light units?

I had this issue last year and managed to wing through the test with a cheeky smile, but I also fitted a replacement light on one side and still failed the test so I'm guessing it's the bulbs.

Déjà vu. I thought you had already asked something similar lol.

Is the Polish Mot very strict then?

It's tightening up. There are still places that'll give you a stamp for a tenner, but if you then get stopped by the plod with an obviously unsafe car then it's a massive fine. You can get away with it in the pig-farming cousin-loving villages, but not in Warsaw.

There is NOTHING inadequate about standard facelift E30 lights fitted with standard H1 bulbs, providing they are working properly and are pointing where they should.
You don't need fancy aftermarket bulbs; you just need to find out what is wrong with what you have.
How are they being tested? By a photometer at a fixed point?
HIDs, on an E30, transform good lights to outstanding, not poor lights to adequate.

steve_k wrote:

DanThe wrote:

steve_k wrote:Try osram nightbreaker, claims to produce 110% more light even though its only a 55w h1 bulb.

Ive fitted these to E46's with good results

Got these fitted to my sport & mondeo daily, can't beat them, plus I can get a twim pack for £12.50 instead of halfords £20 per bulb lol.

Me too, bright lights for not a lot of money

steve_k wrote:

DanThe wrote:

steve_k wrote:Try osram nightbreaker, claims to produce 110% more light even though its only a 55w h1 bulb.

Ive fitted these to E46's with good results

Got these fitted to my sport & mondeo daily, can't beat them, plus I can get a twim pack for £12.50 instead of halfords £20 per bulb lol.

Me too, bright lights for not a lot of money

Brianmoooore wrote:How are they being tested? By a photometer at a fixed point?

The MOT kit is a box on a stand that they position in front of the headlamp. You look through the window on top and it shows you the beam angle and the brightness. Beam cutoff was fine, but light output was very dim.

I rewired the lights to get a relay-activated fused feed from the battery, triggered by the headlight switch, so I'm sure they're getting decent power and there's no dim/dip nonsense in between. Earth point is good too. So either both lens are completely shagged, or the bulbs were at fault.

These lights are very sensitive to dirt internally. There is not a lot of internal lens area so it might be worth attempting to clean the internals of the lights.

Anybody know how to clean the inside of the lense without splitting the whole unit??

Juat remove the light units and swill some warm soapy water around inside them. Leave them to dry upside down on a radiator for a while and the difference will be noticable.

^ this, the same is true for most projector headlights. Price you pay for a better lens system.
The ford puma is bloody terrible for this problem.

Cloggy Saint wrote:Juat remove the light units and swill some warm soapy water around inside them. Leave them to dry upside down on a radiator for a while and the difference will be noticable.

cheers cloggy

well i'm going to be splitting the units soon enough as i'm going for the smoked/cross hair look so i'll clean them up then.

Right, I'm going to keep this topic updated as I hunt for flaws.

I bought another set of lights (smileys, not bullseyes) and fitted them. These SCRAPED me through the MOT; one side was alright, but the other was still noticeably dimmer and the MOT bloke wasn't too happy, but stamped me anyway.

I also tried new bulbs; nothing fancy, just brand new ones instead of the however-old H1s that were there already.

I've just taken Screech's idea of washing the lamps, and the amount of dust and crap that came out of the original lamp was shocking So I'm going to try refitting that when its dry to see if that cures the issue.

If none of this helps, I guess I need to start hunting for a wiring issue