Got some dim side and back lights on the XJ

[bradleyheathhays]

All the exterior lights on the XJ have gone dim over the years and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to get them brighter short of upgrading to a newer type bulb. Everythings running fine electrically, but just the exterior bulbs seem dim themselves, and since the lenses and reflectors are 21 yrs old maybe they're part of the problem too?

At one point my headlight output was just bad so I upgraded the whole harness to something from LMC and some E Pal lenses. Now they come right off the battery through some relays and illuminate so much better.

Should I be looking to do something like that with the rest of my lights?

 

[JPNinPA]

Clean your grounds at battery and at lights and the contacts at the bulbs too. Bad contacts are added resistance that voltage loss will occur. For headlights at least for TJ the power goes through the multi function switch. You could wire a set of relays from the battery for low and high beams with new sockets. Use the low beam old wire for the signal to the relay. And high beam old wiring for the new high beam socket.

I would not run higher watt bulbs. They could cause wires to melt and fire.

Another trick is to polish the lense. Then coat the inside on the marker or blinker ( not the lense) with reflective tape. That makes a big difference. There are some tapes that are more reflective than others, but are more costly. I did it to my rear brake lights with a $5 roll of reflective tape.

Lastly some of the new LED bulbs are brighter and low wattage with no heat disapation. If you put them in for blinkers there is a different relay needed to keep them from blinking too fast.


Regards,
JPNinPA

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