Headlight issue

[oldschool1962]

Hello all. New to this forum but not to forums in general so....I hate to ask a question that may have been already asked but I tried to find it before posting this.

 

Have a serios problem with how weak the headlights are on our 2010 Fusion. We do a good deal of rural road driving at night and dang near drove off the road several times the other night because the main headlight is as weak as a flashlight. Even thought of strapping a couple of those to the hood to try and make things better. The driving lights are much brighter but because of the self leveling feature.....they only provide a beam to about 7ft in front of the bumper. Not much help in the situation and when you have to contend with on coming traffic......it get's even worse. At least I can use the high beams if there is none but then it kills my battery consumption. Sheesh :banghead:

 

Anyhow, I think I can get LED replacement bulbs but need to know a couple things before I do.

 

First off.....What headlight bulb is required? I thought it was originally a 3451 (at least thyat's what the parts counter told me) but that bulb has disappeared from most data bases.

 

Secondly, how on gawds green earth do you access the bulb? :huh: Personally, I have never had such an issue in trying to find out how to access the bulb.

 

The Dealer wants to charge me 42.00 per bulb to replace and will not give me the directions on how to do this. Never had an issue in the past getting instructions out of a Dealer but it's also been 6 years since we owned a Ford and so much seems to have changed. Note that when I asked about changing the bulbs, the service tech I spoke to stated that if the engineers felt that the vehicle needed LED's....they would have designed them into the vehicle. Seems to me they chose nothing more than a brake light and tried to magnify the beam with a Projector lens. I haven't had the opportunity to discuss things with them again (will Monday first thing though) but I have t question how they got away with such a weak light given all of the push for safety? But what do I know, I'm just another dumbarse consumer that should be happy shelling out what I did and just be happy with what I have ;)

 

Any and all help would be appreciated before we wrap this thing around a tree!

[twiggy144]

You might be interested in upgrading to HID's. I dont think you would be satisfied with the result of a sole light bulb change for a pretended brighter bulb, no matter what claims are about thses light bulbs that use the normal vehicule voltage and wire system.

[FFHdriver]

Hello all. New to this forum but not to forums in general so....I hate to ask a question that may have been already asked but I tried to find it before posting this.

 

Have a serios problem with how weak the headlights are on our 2010 Fusion. We do a good deal of rural road driving at night and dang near drove off the road several times the other night because the main headlight is as weak as a flashlight. Even thought of strapping a couple of those to the hood to try and make things better. The driving lights are much brighter but because of the self leveling feature.....they only provide a beam to about 7ft in front of the bumper. Not much help in the situation and when you have to contend with on coming traffic......it get's even worse. At least I can use the high beams if there is none but then it kills my battery consumption. Sheesh :banghead:

 

Anyhow, I think I can get LED replacement bulbs but need to know a couple things before I do.

 

First off.....What headlight bulb is required? I thought it was originally a 3451 (at least thyat's what the parts counter told me) but that bulb has disappeared from most data bases.

 

Secondly, how on gawds green earth do you access the bulb? :huh: Personally, I have never had such an issue in trying to find out how to access the bulb.

 

The Dealer wants to charge me 42.00 per bulb to replace and will not give me the directions on how to do this. Never had an issue in the past getting instructions out of a Dealer but it's also been 6 years since we owned a Ford and so much seems to have changed. Note that when I asked about changing the bulbs, the service tech I spoke to stated that if the engineers felt that the vehicle needed LED's....they would have designed them into the vehicle. Seems to me they chose nothing more than a brake light and tried to magnify the beam with a Projector lens. I haven't had the opportunity to discuss things with them again (will Monday first thing though) but I have t question how they got away with such a weak light given all of the push for safety? But what do I know, I'm just another dumbarse consumer that should be happy shelling out what I did and just be happy with what I have ;)

 

Any and all help would be appreciated before we wrap this thing around a tree!

Don't know what driving lights you're talking about, mine has fog lights and they aren't self leveling.

[xmech2k]

Driving lights self-level? Never heard of it(Hope the dealer didn't tell you that...), but if you have any mechanical aptitude whatsoever and a set of ramps, they are pretty easy to adjust through a couple of holes under the front bumper. A t-15 torx bit with a swivel on an extension, and a flashlight are also necessary. I found to move them only a little at a time, and I've made a great improvement, and found they really are helping the headlights.

 

Also, the instructions for changing your headlight bulbs are in the owners manual.

[BluHvn]

Replacing the driver side bulbs is easy.

 

Not so on the passenger side, in fact, the owner's manual will tell you to bring the car to the dealer to replace the high beam. You can get to it if you are double jointed and have very small hands, but be prepared to bleed a little. The low beam is accessible by removing the retaining clips for the plastic wheel well liner and pulling it down.

 

I don't want to start an argument here, but in my humble opinion an HID upgrade is not necessary to get more light out of these cars. I just replaced all of my bulbs with PIAA's and while not the same as HID, there most certainly is a difference over the stock bulbs. It's all a matter of choice.

 

I would stay away from LEDs, as the reflectors in the light housings are not designed to bounce that type of beam pattern.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[lrymal]

....The driving lights are much brighter but because of the self leveling feature.....they only provide a beam to about 7ft in front of the bumper. Not much help in the situation and when you have to contend with on coming traffic......it get's even worse. At least I can use the high beams if there is none but then it kills my battery consumption. Sheesh :banghead: ...

Those aren't "driving lights", but fog lights. As such, they do a great job in very hazy and dark rural roads (my location) and I can only fault them for not being yellow or amber. I'll get to that on my Fusion eventually. Not sure where you are getting the "self-leveling" feature. There's really nothing exotic about the Fusion lights.

 

Also don't understand how the high beams kill your battery consumption.

[VonoreTn]

I have no problem with my low beam headlights. Maybe mine came with a better stock adjustment. I've even been erroneously flashed by on-comming traffic thinking I had my high beams on.

 

Hello all. New to this forum but not to forums in general so....I hate to ask a question that may have been already asked but I tried to find it before posting this.

 

Have a serios problem with how weak the headlights are on our 2010 Fusion. We do a good deal of rural road driving at night and dang near drove off the road several times the other night because the main headlight is as weak as a flashlight. Even thought of strapping a couple of those to the hood to try and make things better. The driving lights are much brighter but because of the self leveling feature.....they only provide a beam to about 7ft in front of the bumper. Not much help in the situation and when you have to contend with on coming traffic......it get's even worse. At least I can use the high beams if there is none but then it kills my battery consumption. Sheesh :banghead:

 

Anyhow, I think I can get LED replacement bulbs but need to know a couple things before I do.

 

First off.....What headlight bulb is required? I thought it was originally a 3451 (at least thyat's what the parts counter told me) but that bulb has disappeared from most data bases.

 

Secondly, how on gawds green earth do you access the bulb? :huh: Personally, I have never had such an issue in trying to find out how to access the bulb.

 

The Dealer wants to charge me 42.00 per bulb to replace and will not give me the directions on how to do this. Never had an issue in the past getting instructions out of a Dealer but it's also been 6 years since we owned a Ford and so much seems to have changed. Note that when I asked about changing the bulbs, the service tech I spoke to stated that if the engineers felt that the vehicle needed LED's....they would have designed them into the vehicle. Seems to me they chose nothing more than a brake light and tried to magnify the beam with a Projector lens. I haven't had the opportunity to discuss things with them again (will Monday first thing though) but I have t question how they got away with such a weak light given all of the push for safety? But what do I know, I'm just another dumbarse consumer that should be happy shelling out what I did and just be happy with what I have ;)

 

Any and all help would be appreciated before we wrap this thing around a tree!

[xmech2k]

Those aren't "driving lights", but fog lights. As such, they do a great job in very hazy and dark rural roads (my location) and I can only fault them for not being yellow or amber. I'll get to that on my Fusion eventually.

 

I realized before trying to adjust my fog lights, why do they look like magnifying lenses instead of fog lights with all those patterns on the lense to diffuse (or whatever it's called) the light? Then I realized I really don't know how fog lights are supposed to work. So I searched the web and found another car site with a good description that said fog generally stays 12 to 18 inches above the ground, so a fog light should be mounted lower than that, and point straght ahead to get the max distance. It also said that studies have been done and no particular color penetrates fog better than another. Not saying you're wrong, just what their study said.

 

Now I'm off to find what 'driving lights' are really supposed to be... Headlights? They're lights you use when you drive.

[Oman]

They are projector fog lights. They don't need diffusers. They are designed to light up the road immediately in front of the car and not a long distance. If you adjust them up too much they will blind oncoming drivers as they don't have a hard cutoff.

 

I also found the low-beams to be disappointing. I live in a rural area with heavy deer and little street lighting. I thought the high-beams were quite adequate.

 

I tried several replacement bulbs but the fact is that 55watts is 55watts. Xenon filled filament bulbs don't really put out more light than halogen, they just put out a slightly different spectrum of light. If you go over 55watts then you risk (and this is happening for those who have done it already from what I have read) damaging the projector housing.

 

The only solution I found that was adequate was converting to HID. Normally I'm against HID conversions because most people are not converting projector lights. HID's emit light along the bulb rather than across it. If you have a reflector and put in an HID then all you are doing is blinding oncoming drivers and risking a ticket. I did quite a bit of testing and have comparison photos of the beam patterns (look for my HID post from a few months ago).

 

Overall I'm happy with the conversion. The only time I have been "flashed" is when the oncoming car is below me as I'm cresting a hill. This happens in my wife's van which has factory HIDs as well. They are just brighter below the cutoff and when there is little ambient light it can be quite blinding to staring at a car with HIDs when under that cutoff.

 

After the HID conversion you will need to re-align the headlights as the cutoff will be higher than it should be. Installation was pretty simple, you just remove the coolant overflow on one side and the resonator box on the other to get access. All from under the hood with a screwdriver and two sockets.

 

Jon

 

 

 

I realized before trying to adjust my fog lights, why do they look like magnifying lenses instead of fog lights with all those patterns on the lense to diffuse (or whatever it's called) the light? Then I realized I really don't know how fog lights are supposed to work. So I searched the web and found another car site with a good description that said fog generally stays 12 to 18 inches above the ground, so a fog light should be mounted lower than that, and point straght ahead to get the max distance. It also said that studies have been done and no particular color penetrates fog better than another. Not saying you're wrong, just what their study said.

 

Now I'm off to find what 'driving lights' are really supposed to be... Headlights? They're lights you use when you drive.

[xmech2k]

Thanks for the info Oman. I'm being careful how high I adjust them, I hate getting blinded by misadjusted lights, and refuse to be one of 'those' people. I'm wondering about your statement about the beam cutoff not being sharp, I found the fog lights are incredibly sharp when I adjusted them and they were shining onto the wall of the garage. Way sharper than the headlights. I found I had to adjust them as from my viewpoint in the car, they only lit the road about 1 foot farther over the hoodline that I could see! Those suckers were pointed DOWN.

[Tazzboo]

I also agree that the low beam lights on the 2010 Fuison Hybrid are lacking. I have been reading several post on the net about the stock H11 bulbs. Apperently you can put an H9 bulb in its place with a few mods to the bulb housing. Yes the H11 is 55 watts and the H9 is 65 watts. So I guess the question is, can the projector housing handle 10 more watts of power. A lot of people on the net are doing this mod on other cars with no ill effects. Google it you will see. Thinking of doing this my self.

[wwoody723]

I’ve had a MMH for about two months. Every time I drive at night I have at least one if not multiple cars flash their lights at me. My wife told me not to follower her at night anymore because she has to move here side view mirror so it doesn’t shine in her eyes. I see no need to put an even brighter headlight in the car. I haven’t had a need to try the fog lights but will probably have to as winter hits.

[oldschool1962]

This in no way is an argument about things I know what we have. Just so you know, we have a 2010 and.....the fog lamps or driving lights (as I have been known to call them......) on the 2010 are self leveling. (And yes I know the difference since these can operate independently of the headlights......) It's the same principle behind the 2010 Prius V and the LED headlights. They are self leveling as well and we have one also so we have first hand experience with this.

 

The HID kit may be the best choice since I have done more research into the LED thing. Evidently you really need multiple bulbs (something I notice on our Prius....it has two) to get the proper light efficiency.

 

Thanks for all the input but there is one thing that is missing from all of the replies........I haven't seen any info on how to actually remove the bulb and replace them. Remember I am dealing with a 2010 and there is no manual available yet and as I stated in the op....Ford (or my dealer.....)is refusing to supply me with the instructions to replace the bulb in the first place!

 

Again, any help would be appreciated. Given what we have to pay for these vehicles.......I wold hate to damage something by not having the proper instructions to do the job. The dang vehicle only has a 1000 miles on it and.......well you get the point.

 

Thanks again.

[lrymal]

........I haven't seen any info on how to actually remove the bulb and replace them. Remember I am dealing with a 2010 and there is no manual available yet and as I stated in the op....Ford (or my dealer.....)is refusing to supply me with the instructions to replace the bulb in the first place!

I can't find them, but there are some message exchanges on this. I tried just now to find them, but no luck. The search engine at this site is really comical. :censored:

 

In the meantime, try this:

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index...st&p=501859

[junehhan]

I also agree that the low beam lights on the 2010 Fuison Hybrid are lacking. I have been reading several post on the net about the stock H11 bulbs. Apperently you can put an H9 bulb in its place with a few mods to the bulb housing. Yes the H11 is 55 watts and the H9 is 65 watts. So I guess the question is, can the projector housing handle 10 more watts of power. A lot of people on the net are doing this mod on other cars with no ill effects. Google it you will see. Thinking of doing this my self.

 

 

I do a good portion of my driving on 2 lane roads, but I don't think the headlights are necessarily inadquate. It almost seems to me that Ford did most of their headlight testing in the city. When doing city driving at night, I think these headlights are really great. However, I wonder whether Ford did much testing of these headlights in rural areas as they tend to be weak when going on a 2 lane road at night at 55-60mph.

[FFHdriver]

I can't find them, but there are some message exchanges on this. I tried just now to find them, but no luck. The search engine at this site is really comical. :censored:

 

In the meantime, try this:

http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index...st&p=501859

I read the link several weeks ago but it sure isn't a Hybrid model. Less room in the engine compartment on Hybrids.

[VonoreTn]

Hello all. New to this forum but not to forums in general so....I hate to ask a question that may have been already asked but I tried to find it before posting this.

 

Have a serios problem with how weak the headlights are on our 2010 Fusion. We do a good deal of rural road driving at night and dang near drove off the road several times the other night because the main headlight is as weak as a flashlight. .....

 

Any and all help would be appreciated before we wrap this thing around a tree!

 

 

Here is a simple less than 1 minute action you might want to take before you buy new lights etc. Open the hood, and turn both of your headlight vertical adjuster screws two turns counterclockwise. That will raise them 2 inches at 12 feet. All you need is a Phillips screwdriver, the screws are lubricated and turn easily. See attached photos.

[Oman]

I have an April production 2010 FFH and have been under the skirt. Mine does not have self-leveling fog lights, but I'm certainly not going to argue that any other car doesn't.

 

The bulbs are very easy to get to. Lift the hood and look directly behind the lens visible from the front of the car. If you reach down behind that point you will feel/see a rubber cap about 3-4 inches wide. It is the dust boot that covers the bulb access. Just pop off the boot then reach inside. You will feel the connector attached to the bulb. (Did I mention that you should do this after the headlights have been OFF for a good long time?). Grab the connector and twist counter-clockwise. The bulb will come free and you can pull it out of the access hole far enough to take a look.

 

Jon

 

 

This in no way is an argument about things I know what we have. Just so you know, we have a 2010 and.....the fog lamps or driving lights (as I have been known to call them......) on the 2010 are self leveling. (And yes I know the difference since these can operate independently of the headlights......) It's the same principle behind the 2010 Prius V and the LED headlights. They are self leveling as well and we have one also so we have first hand experience with this.

 

The HID kit may be the best choice since I have done more research into the LED thing. Evidently you really need multiple bulbs (something I notice on our Prius....it has two) to get the proper light efficiency.

 

Thanks for all the input but there is one thing that is missing from all of the replies........I haven't seen any info on how to actually remove the bulb and replace them. Remember I am dealing with a 2010 and there is no manual available yet and as I stated in the op....Ford (or my dealer.....)is refusing to supply me with the instructions to replace the bulb in the first place!

 

Again, any help would be appreciated. Given what we have to pay for these vehicles.......I wold hate to damage something by not having the proper instructions to do the job. The dang vehicle only has a 1000 miles on it and.......well you get the point.

 

Thanks again.

[Oman]

Your headlights are mis-adjusted. Look a few posts up and you will see the instructions for adjusting them or take your car to the dealer. Since the car is new they will (should) do the adjustment for free. Take it seriously, oncoming cars that are blinded have a tendency to drift *towards* the light - which is you and your family in your car.

 

Jon

 

 

I’ve had a MMH for about two months. Every time I drive at night I have at least one if not multiple cars flash their lights at me. My wife told me not to follower her at night anymore because she has to move here side view mirror so it doesn’t shine in her eyes. I see no need to put an even brighter headlight in the car. I haven’t had a need to try the fog lights but will probably have to as winter hits.

[oldschool1962]

I have an April production 2010 FFH and have been under the skirt. Mine does not have self-leveling fog lights, but I'm certainly not going to argue that any other car doesn't.

 

The bulbs are very easy to get to. Lift the hood and look directly behind the lens visible from the front of the car. If you reach down behind that point you will feel/see a rubber cap about 3-4 inches wide. It is the dust boot that covers the bulb access. Just pop off the boot then reach inside. You will feel the connector attached to the bulb. (Did I mention that you should do this after the headlights have been OFF for a good long time?). Grab the connector and twist counter-clockwise. The bulb will come free and you can pull it out of the access hole far enough to take a look.

 

Jon

 

First off, I see that they have designated the early 2010 release as a 2009 model. That is why I reiterated the 2010 model. Apologies for any appearance of stupidity. Not knowing if it's official but it seems that under a Fusion Hybrid search........there is a distinction. As far as the Foglights are concerned...... Ours is a later production model ad it seems to be a change they made. It also has the 502A package. Don't think that makes a difference in things but I can tell you that when you negotiate 'hilly roads" or even go up our drive......the Fpglights beam stays level to the ground. I found it very distracting at first, even more than on my wife's Prius but I did get accustomed to it. Not to drift off topic but another change they seem to have just made is adding the appearance package to the Hybid as Standard. This would have added a spoiler and 18" wheels.

 

Thanks for the info on the boot. I actually found the one you mentioned for the drivers side lens but because of some "Hybrid only" parts on the passanger side, I can't seem to access that bulb. I have had the ability, in the past, to find my way around the vehicle without issue. I've had more than my fair share of parts off of vehicles over the last 35 years but nothing as new or complicated at the Hybrid. It is a bit intimidating even for an old "gearhead" like myself.

 

I did mention something to the dealer today, they're not doing much in the way of offering suggestions or providing instructions, but at least they did listen.

 

As far as the H.I.D lights..........I'll have to look at a couple of the posts and links provided. None the less, I am still looking at all options available. It's not really the light that I have the problem with.....it's the spectrum and lack of view that it provides. Maybe there is a more cost effective stop-gap option until I can get the cash for the H.I.D. System.

 

For the record about the changing Headlights being in the owners manual.........In my manual (where I looked first before embarking on this quest) states..... For bulb replacement, see your authorized dealer.

 

Thanks again.

[Oman]

That would be a bummer. They insisted that they would not be making any real changes until at least 2011. The wheels are ugly (but better than on the Prius :) and the 18" standards would look better. If they put them on as standard I would assume that they would keep the same mileage which the dealer insists would change if you put 18" on. Grrr. Spoiler nice.

 

Jon

 

 

First off, I see that they have designated the early 2010 release as a 2009 model. That is why I reiterated the 2010 model. Apologies for any appearance of stupidity. Not knowing if it's official but it seems that under a Fusion Hybrid search........there is a distinction. As far as the Foglights are concerned...... Ours is a later production model ad it seems to be a change they made. It also has the 502A package. Don't think that makes a difference in things but I can tell you that when you negotiate 'hilly roads" or even go up our drive......the Fpglights beam stays level to the ground. I found it very distracting at first, even more than on my wife's Prius but I did get accustomed to it. Not to drift off topic but another change they seem to have just made is adding the appearance package to the Hybid as Standard. This would have added a spoiler and 18" wheels.

 

Thanks for the info on the boot. I actually found the one you mentioned for the drivers side lens but because of some "Hybrid only" parts on the passanger side, I can't seem to access that bulb. I have had the ability, in the past, to find my way around the vehicle without issue. I've had more than my fair share of parts off of vehicles over the last 35 years but nothing as new or complicated at the Hybrid. It is a bit intimidating even for an old "gearhead" like myself.

 

I did mention something to the dealer today, they're not doing much in the way of offering suggestions or providing instructions, but at least they did listen.

 

As far as the H.I.D lights..........I'll have to look at a couple of the posts and links provided. None the less, I am still looking at all options available. It's not really the light that I have the problem with.....it's the spectrum and lack of view that it provides. Maybe there is a more cost effective stop-gap option until I can get the cash for the H.I.D. System.

 

For the record about the changing Headlights being in the owners manual.........In my manual (where I looked first before embarking on this quest) states..... For bulb replacement, see your authorized dealer.

 

Thanks again.

[skunknuts]

18'' inch wheels and spoiler---SWEEEEET!!!! Link? Would this be an option? Also, what about the slick leather seats with colored stitching? The seats at the ford accessories site are pretty tight, if you have the money. I think it would take me forever to make the decision with all of the possible combinations of leather types, colors, stitching vs. piping, etc....

[skunknuts]

I can't find anything about 18 inch wheels and spoiler options for the FFH. Can the OP on the topic please link to the source. Thanks!

[oldschool1962]

I can't find anything about 18 inch wheels and spoiler options for the FFH. Can the OP on the topic please link to the source. Thanks!

 

I found it this afternoon. Would have liked to have this as well. That is unless i stepped in a bucket of stupid again. :doh: I remembered the spoiler and the wheels from what the appearance package advertised at the dealership.

 

http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/fusion/trim/?trim=hybrid

[oldschool1962]

I decided to just use the Silverstar H11 for now. It is expected to be an improvment over the stock bulbs and not cost arm/leg/right/eye. I'm basing thison the use of them in the 06 Odyssey I traded in for the FFH.

 

After overcoming the intimidation factor I mentioned in another post here......I found the replacement to be faily easy. Just wish the hands worked a little better because it would have been even easier.

 

Let me add that I can't see how Ford has 2.5 labor hours to make the change unless they are removing the entire light housing to do so. I did try to remove them at an Advance Auto store last night and found you have to remove the entire bumper cover to get that out. What a joke. Basically my point is with a 9mm and 10mm deep well socket a screw driver and a soft surface like a large packing blanket over the engine to store tools and parts.......you can save yourself the $90.00 per Ford would have charged to replace the bulb.

 

On the passanger side, all I ended up doing was removing removing the nut and bolts that held the coolant resevoire and filler neck for the washer fluid in place. Didn't have to unhook any hoses and make that mess under the hood. The driver side all I did was remove the extra chamber on the intake ductwork.

 

The wires are rathe short so that's where having the hand coordination of my younger years would have mde the job easier but as always, try hard enough and the will creates a way.

 

I have to look at the hight adjustment since I got a better impression last night while dring the DD (Dear Daughter) home from swim practice. I found the lights to be aimed a bit lower than what I would consider proper.

 

I'm still looking into the H11 LED. I found one that has 8000 lumens and that's even higher than the Silverstar. It also has 9 highpower LEDS on the post so it should provide the proper light spectrum for the night driving conditions we have here.

 

Thnaks again for all who posted. Hope the info I provided helps someone else with the issue.