Headlights dim 2000 S70

grumpy1937 · Post by **grumpy1937** » 19 Aug 2011, 10:17

Does anyone know why the headlights on my 2000 S70 have gotten so dim? This was not the case when the car was new. Car has same bulbs for 11 years. Lenses are in good shape. I thought the vertical adjustment was low, but when I park the car 15-20 feet from the garage door, there's no sharp beam to aim, just a wide light on both sides. A horrible situation at night. Thanks, Joe

Post by **JRL** » 19 Aug 2011, 10:36

They're not in good shape, you have just become used to the look
ALL headlight glass or plastic becomes a bit cloudy after a few years and they never were "good"!

Post by **jimmy57** » 19 Aug 2011, 10:52

the reflector coating has dulled. The lens clouds up a bit but the bigger share is the reflector. I removed the lenses and cleaned the lens and reflector as first effort to fix. I tried chrome aluminum paint and it was little improvement, still not useable. I lucked up with a 99 C70 low mileage apparently garage kept crashed car in salvage parts yard with cracked glass but unharmed reflectors (gotta love the removable glass lenses). I got those for cheap. Otherwise all used I found were the same or not far behind mine on reflector coating hazing up. New is the other choice either OEM ($$$$) or aftermarket ($$).
I agree these are not stellar headlights at best but I have no problem seeing to drive at night with the repaired lamps.
Some have praised the aftermarket projector type replacement headlamps.

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 19 Aug 2011, 18:13

Most likely it's a combination of cloudy/pitted lenses, dulled reflector coating, and voltage drop to the bulbs themselves. If you aren't measuring at least 12.8v at the bulbs, when turned on, you aren't getting most of the brightness available from your bulbs. At 12.0v, you'd have lost over 20% of their effectiveness!

Check and remedy all of these, and your lamps should improve greatly. Also, at 11 years old, it wouldn't hurt to change the bulbs. I believe the S70 uses H7 bulbs, and the excellent Philips xtreme power bulbs are available in that format. store.candlepower.com/bfcopotphxtp.html

Chris Bowsman · Post by **Chris Bowsman** » 19 Aug 2011, 19:43

Sounds like your bulbs are probably wearing out. 11 years old = you got your money's worth out of them.