HELP - Explorer 2015 OEM Limited HID headlights for 2014 Sport

[RVA Sport]

Hi,
I bought a set of 2015 HID headlights with ballast and bulb from eBay. I removed my bumper and replaced the headlights of my 2014 explorer, seemed lie plug and play. The marker light and turn signal work, headlight does not work. The bulbs came in the mail separately. Both the ballast and the HID bulbs say OSRAM. I had to put the bulbs into the headlight assemblies. They seem to just sit in there, I feel like there should have been clips to hold the bulb in place. Any idea why the headlight will not work? And any confirmation that there should be clips to hold the bulbs in place?
Thanks!

 

[jmr061]

While the plugs may be the same, the wiring is not. Hopefully you didn't smoke anything. You should have checked the wiring diagrams first.

 

[RVA Sport]

Yikes,
I was not aware jmr061. Wouldn't even know how to even look up the wiring diagrams. Would you suggest I just abandon the installation and put back in the originals and possibly do a HID conversion instead?

 

[sheltonfilms]

Ok here is what I gathered:

Gonna have to swap pins.

Halogen is set up like this:

Pin 1 - Headlight Ground
Pin 2 - Headlight Power from BCM
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal (cutoff solenoid)
Pin 4 - Shutter Ground

HID :

Pin 1 - HID signal from BCM (ballast activation wire)
Pin 2 - Hot at all times Power (could wire this straight from battery with inline fuse)
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal
Pin 4 - Shutter and bulb ground (spliced internally in headlight)

Looks like if you move the headlight power wire from pin 2 to pin 1 and then run a power wire to pin 2 you should be good.

I don't think you have burned up anything. From the way its wired now you just have a ground where the ballast signal should be.

I bet if you turn the high beams on you can hear the shutter click.

Need to double check using this (for a 2011 but should be the same):
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=874995


As for the bulbs can you take a picture? Do they say D3S on them? The should twist to lock in IIRC.

JMR061,

You seem like the type to have diagrams. Do you agree with my logic?

 

[jmr061]

Ok here is what I gathered:

Gonna have to swap pins.

Halogen is set up like this:

Pin 1 - Headlight Ground
Pin 2 - Headlight Power from BCM
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal (cutoff solenoid)
Pin 4 - Shutter Ground

HID :

Pin 1 - HID signal from BCM (ballast activation wire)
Pin 2 - Hot at all times Power (could wire this straight from battery with inline fuse)
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal
Pin 4 - Shutter and bulb ground (spliced internally in headlight)

Looks like if you move the headlight power wire from pin 2 to pin 1 and then run a power wire to pin 2 you should be good.

I don't think you have burned up anything. From the way its wired now you just have a ground where the ballast signal should be.

I bet if you turn the high beams on you can hear the shutter click.

Need to double check using this (for a 2011 but should be the same):
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=874995


As for the bulbs can you take a picture? Do they say D3S on them? The should twist to lock in IIRC.

JMR061,

You seem like the type to have diagrams. Do you agree with my logic?

From memory this sounds right. One should never assume something is plug and play. Always do your research.

 

[sheltonfilms]

To me it looks like we had some smart Ford engineers that developed a way for the plant to determine if the wrong headlights were mis-sequenced and were installed without damaging anything.

HID in Halogen car - Low beams wouldn't work.
Halogen in HID - Fuse would pop in BCM and headlights would be on constantly.

 

[slc18t]

My 2 cents.

The housings are identical halogen to HID, complete with projectors and cut offs for high / low. Pick up some HID's from DDM for about $30 and you're good to go. Plug and play with some of the best quality around in the HID world. I plan to do this soon.

 

[sheltonfilms]

My 2 cents.

The housings are identical halogen to HID, complete with projectors and cut offs for high / low. Pick up some HID's from DDM for about $30 and you're good to go. Plug and play with some of the best quality around in the HID world. I plan to do this soon.

No they are not.

Halogen projectors and Xenon projectors are different. Bowl shape is different. The hot spots of the bulb are in different locations so the optics have to be changed.

I have done plug n play and full on retrofits. Plug n play looks like crap in a stock halogen housing compared to an OEM or full retrofit.

Plus the OEM ballast will be more reliable compared to any plug n play kit.

 

[slc18t]

No they are not.

Halogen projectors and Xenon projectors are different. Bowl shape is different. The hot spots of the bulb are in different locations so the optics have to be changed.

I have done plug n play and full on retrofits. Plug n play looks like crap in a stock halogen housing compared to an OEM or full retrofit.

Plus the OEM ballast will be more reliable compared to any plug n play kit.

I have read a few posts on here of people with great success with HID kits in their halogen housings. I read that the housings are the same, that could have been bad info. Been a few years since I looked into this.

 

[peterk9]

I have read a few posts on here of people with great success with HID kits in their halogen housings. I read that the housings are the same, that could have been bad info. Been a few years since I looked into this.

As sheltonfilms posted and I have also mentioned many times, the housing are NOT the same. One of our members actually took the headlamp assembly apart and verified that. While members have been ab;e to use HID's in a Halogen housing they will never be able to properly focus the light pattern. Also, these conversion 'kits' have to be DOT approved in order to be street legal. As far as I know they are not.

Peter

 

[RVA Sport]

Ok here is what I gathered:

Gonna have to swap pins.

Halogen is set up like this:

Pin 1 - Headlight Ground
Pin 2 - Headlight Power from BCM
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal (cutoff solenoid)
Pin 4 - Shutter Ground

HID :

Pin 1 - HID signal from BCM (ballast activation wire)
Pin 2 - Hot at all times Power (could wire this straight from battery with inline fuse)
Pin 3 - High beam shutter signal
Pin 4 - Shutter and bulb ground (spliced internally in headlight)

Looks like if you move the headlight power wire from pin 2 to pin 1 and then run a power wire to pin 2 you should be good.

I don't think you have burned up anything. From the way its wired now you just have a ground where the ballast signal should be.

I bet if you turn the high beams on you can hear the shutter click.

Need to double check using this (for a 2011 but should be the same):
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/Wd/DownloadPdf?id=874995


As for the bulbs can you take a picture? Do they say D3S on them? The should twist to lock in IIRC.

JMR061,

You seem like the type to have diagrams. Do you agree with my logic?

sheltonfilms, you rock! Thank you so much! I can hear the shutters if i go to high beam. I just checked and the bulb says D3S. The housing doesn't seem to let me twist. I tried. There's a square tooth and a half circle tooth that continue to the bottom of the housing. The bulbs have a matching square and half circle notch (my apologies about my terminology about the teeth and notches) There are 2 tapped holes in the bulb housing as if a plate that would be screwed in would be.

 

[RVA Sport]

Hopefully this works, not sure how to post a picture

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xastvbgolpd743r/2016-03-15 14.48.02.jpg?dl=0

 

[sheltonfilms]

Does it look like screws hold it in?

Like this:

http://www.fordescape.org/forum/diy-garage/9170-diy-change-upgrade-factory-d3s-hid-headlight-bulbs.html

 

[sheltonfilms]

Looks like there is a retainer (Part # DL3Z-13N019-A) and two screws ( W715680-S437) that hold the bulb in.

Look at parts 7 and 8:

http://www.tascaparts.com/auto-parts/2013/ford/explorer/limited-trim/3-5l-v6-gas-engine/electrical-cat/headlamp-components-scat

 

[RVA Sport]

Does it look like screws hold it in?

Like this:

http://www.fordescape.org/forum/diy-garage/9170-diy-change-upgrade-factory-d3s-hid-headlight-bulbs.html

Yes! That's it! I don't have those brackets. Crap! I'm going to attempt wiring the harness pins this weekend.

 

[RVA Sport]

Looks like there is a retainer (Part # DL3Z-13N019-A) and two screws ( W715680-S437) that hold the bulb in.

Look at parts 7 and 8:

http://www.tascaparts.com/auto-parts/2013/ford/explorer/limited-trim/3-5l-v6-gas-engine/electrical-cat/headlamp-components-scat

Nice! Thank you so much again! I was in the middle of googling the bracket to figure out the part and missed this. Just ordered them from tasca.

 

[sheltonfilms]

Yes! That's it! I don't have those brackets. Crap! I'm going to attempt wiring the harness pins this weekend.

Look at my post above (you posted like right after me so you may not have seen it).

Make sure you use a good gauge wire and like a 10 amp inline fuse for the straight from the battery power wire.

I'm glad to see someone actually doing this. Reminds me of when I rewired my truck for power doors and cruise for my Ranger.

BTW how much did you end up paying for everything?

 

[sheltonfilms]

Make sure 4x screws and 2x retainer.

 

[RVA Sport]

Look at my post above (you posted like right after me so you may not have seen it).

Make sure you use a good gauge wire and like a 10 amp inline fuse for the straight from the battery power wire.

I'm glad to see someone actually doing this. Reminds me of when I rewired my truck for power doors and cruise for my Ranger.

BTW how much did you end up paying for everything?

Wish me luck, I have no electrical abilities. I remember the words "parallel" and "series" and "impedance" from college physics, haha!

Cost me $450 a headlight for ones that did not have cracked tabs from some ebay seller named partsbrokerllc. They were supposed to come with everything. But as you deduced, i'm missing brackets and screws. The screws and brackets just cost me $33.56 with $21.83 shipping to get here by friday so i can attempt this over the weekend! That partbrokerllc also sells the headlamps decontented and also with everything but with cracked clips for less than the $450 per.

 

[RVA Sport]

Make sure 4x screws and 2x retainer.

Just sent you a PM, your mailbox is full.