2005 S40 Headlights

[dodgyvinyl]

HI all,

Been a long while since I checked in, glad to see the forum is still so active!

Wife is a district nurse. Big mileage and short journeys means she destroys cars.

Bought her a 2005 S40 1.8 petrol (I know, she's a lucky girl), lowish mileage and good history. It's been good but has 2 issues. Can someone help with the first one please?

Headlights are terrible, from what I've read, they just are.... but these are truly awful. The plastic headlight covers have little marks, like frosting all over them.

As a quick, temporary fix, I bought some H7 LEDs and it improved a lot but one of them has failed and I've had to put a standard bulb back in.

I tried the headlight restoration method I have used successfully on other cars, no improvement. I carefully took the plastic off one and did the inside too. No improvement. The frosting/crackling appears to be inside the plastic, rather than on either surface.

It seems you can't buy the outer cover on it's own. New headlights are out of my budget. Lots of used ones on eBay but pictures don't really show if they are going to be better then the ones I have.

Just need someone to point me in the right direction please... or happen to miraculously have a pair I can buy.

Many thanks in advance.

[glegalee]

Hi, I was looking at replacing the headlights on my 2005 2.0D S40 a few weeks back, I actually bought a set off eBay but after they arrived they were in terrible condition, had been disassembled and modified by previous owner. Only place they belonged was the bin, so they were returned. I'm still keeping my eye on eBay but I've got other issues with the car to deal with first so the headlights are on the back burner. I did a restoration on my existing lights but like yours, they are still pretty dim. Have you thought about upgrading your lighting system to a Xenon set? yes they are more expensive but they'll be brighter.

Cheers G.

[MDS40]

Try the Guide listed in this S40 sub section at the top of the page.
Guide - Brighten your headlights.

It worked well for me.
I then installed uprated bulbs Phillips night vision or similar, then adjust the beam setting a lot higher as the standard setting is way too low.
When doing this i would advise removing the headlamp unit and using the allen key directly as there is a risk of damage to the flimsy adjuster on the slam panel ones.

[iainmd]

Based on previous work I've done on headlamps for a 2004 S40 and our 2009 V50 I would recommend the following:

Buy 2 new headlamp units (aftermarket from autodoc.co.uk) at about £120 each, transfer your dipped beam projectors from your current lights to the new housings as the new one's likely won't have a beam flattening switch, fit the following H7 LED bulbs, ensure that the beam levelling switch is set to flat beam then get your new lights aligned.

The beam flattening switch is crucial or the LED bulbs will blind oncoming traffic.

Granted that will all cost ~£350 but that's a drop in the ocean compared to OEM new headlamps.

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by iainmd

Based on previous work I've done on headlamps for a 2004 S40 and our 2009 V50 I would recommend the following:

Buy 2 new headlamp units (aftermarket from autodoc.co.uk) at about £120 ....

Granted that will all cost ~£350 but that's a drop in the ocean compared to OEM new headlamps.

Just my 2c to this - I would stay clear off the aftermarket headlamps. Tried that myself (TYC brand) when doing my second retrofit, returned them to seller the next day - artrocious quality and flimsy plastics, not even mentioning the projectors as I was obviously planning to use my own ones but it looked like ot wouldnt handle even disassemblying the original ones let alone fitting new.
I went with 2 used original lamps for 60e a pair and had them re-polished professionally, all cost me 100e if remember correctly. Would honestly recommend that option myself.

ref projectors and "how hard it is" - also check my pdf story on retrofitting mine (in my signature) may give you some pointers.

good luck!

[T5R92011]

It's because the reflector bowls (behind the glass projector lens inside the headlamps) are burnt out.

You can buy these exact projector units (with reflector bowls) as a bolt in replacement inside your original headlamp units. They bolt straight into V50, S40, C30, C70 headlamps.

https://retrofitlab.com/collections/...non-headlights




You unbolt the old ones, via the rear access cover, and bolt these ones in (3x torx screws).

When ordering, you can untick all the stuff related to "D1S HID bulbs" if you want to save money and use regular Halogen H7 bulbs, which you already own, and which I recommend, because aftermarket HIDs can be a pain to install and arent worth the hassle. Just keep it with H7 bulbs.

Dont worry about all the red wires and HID bulbs in the center of that image either.... you only need the two big silver projector units. The rest of the stuff is just that website trying to upsell you to HID... you dont need HID, just stick with H7 halogen. However I think they force you to order the D1S bulb holders with that pack...it's a 'required' tick box...

And make sure you pick LEFT HAND DRIVE option for UK.

Then, when you fit them, you'll probably need to turn the height adjustors on the Volvo units to get the beam level. This is what they look like when adjusted:

The beam is narrower that stock, but has good long distance and crisp cut-off, which (if you stick with Halogen H7 bulbs) isn't too harsh on the eye.

There are guides on here by LizardofBodom for adjusting etc as he has done this setup (including HID etc) before. Search the forum for "Retrofitlab".

[iainmd]

Originally Posted by LizardOfBodom

Tried that myself (TYC brand)

The TYC units I got for the S40 years ago were fine in terms of quality apart from the projector unit itself which was rubbish. Hence why I transplanted my old projector (albeit cleaned up and with better bulbs) into it. It's always a bit of a lottery buying aftermarket. Some seem fine and some not so much. I was forced into getting a replacement unit on the S40 as the motor gave up within one unit and didn't want two different units so changed them both.

[dodgyvinyl]

Thanks for the replies guys but I possibly wasn't clear enough in my post.

The projectors and lenses are perfect, like new. I took 1 light apart (the worst one) and it's mint inside.

It's the plastic outer clear light covers that are the problem. When I took one off, the light output was very good. It's like they are frosted "glass" and the light bounces back off the plastic, rather that shine through it.

I can buy a pair of aftermarket lights for £175 but can't really afford and would pain me to spend that when I just need 2 bits of clear plastic.

[LizardOfBodom]

Originally Posted by dodgyvinyl

Thanks for the replies guys but I possibly wasn't clear enough in my post.

The projectors and lenses are perfect, like new. I took 1 light apart (the worst one) and it's mint inside.

It's the plastic outer clear light covers that are the problem. When I took one off, the light output was very good. It's like they are frosted "glass" and the light bounces back off the plastic, rather that shine through it.

I can buy a pair of aftermarket lights for £175 but can't really afford and would pain me to spend that when I just need 2 bits of clear plastic.

Ah ok, well in that case its easy soluition - find someone who do headlamp refurbishment and get the job done. I recently paid 50e for complete re-polish, well worth it (and its a pig of a job so i hate doing it myself).

unless your plastics are spider-web-cracked (seen them actually on few Volvos, looks like internal acryl structure is gone and thats something you wont polish out) that might do the job.



also - FYI - if you have facelifted model, I think there ARE spares available so you can get the plastics and bake, split and re-seal the headlamp with new covers but not 100% sure of availability etc.

[iainmd]

Originally Posted by dodgyvinyl

I can buy a pair of aftermarket lights for £175 but can't really afford and would pain me to spend that when I just need 2 bits of clear plastic.

Really sorry to say it but I can't see how you make any improvement without spending at least that.