2G Replacing EU non facelift headlights with US facelift headlights (wiring)

[hannibal_ling]

Hello guys,

I need help getting some US facelift headlights working on my non facelift EU eclipse. Correct me if I am wrong but I think the problem is not the non facelift to facelight thing, instead trying to plug US headlights to my EU car. Although I thought that my eclipse is from the US at least this is what my vehicle title says: Mitsubishi Eclipse (USA)

However, I bought the common cheap facelift headlights you can get for 140$ (5.11.2022). They look like this:

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Instead of ordering them from the US (140$ + 70$ shipping + 30$ import duties)
I found used ones for 200€ and they were located in germany, so I paid only 5€ for shipping because I live in germany

After they arrived, I noticed that the connector was cut.
I did some research and found some videos where some people in the US installed these headlights and the connector looks totally diffrent than mine does.

I contacted the seller and he told me that he sold them because he couldnt get them running.

After a quick comparison between my headlights and the US headlights, its clear why this could be a difficult job.

There were only 3 wires going out from the US headlight. I uninstalled my non facelift headlight and found out that there is a connector with 8 wires.
It seems like my headlights have a distance or height control module which has 3 seperate wires (black, green, blue) going to the connector. And there is also a light bulb right underneath the low beam bulb. I think this is a so called standing light (Standlicht in german) could be a EU regulations thing. This Bulb has 2 white wires going out to the connector. Last but not least there are 3 wires left. Which seams plausible because the US lights also have 3 but they are connected diffrently to the light bulbs. Lets say I can leave the low beam height regulation module unconnected and I ignore the standing light thing. I still need to connect the 3 wires somehow.

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I am concernt because of how the high beam and low beam bulbs are connected.
As you can see on the images, the EU low beam has 3 wires (red, black, yellow) where the black and yellow splits and is also connected to the high beam.
In contrast the US bulbs only share the black cable, high beam got his own red wire and low beam green.

It would be enough for me if I could get the high beam and low beam working. The height / distance controler is not important and the standing light isn´t existing anyway.

If there is anyone who has an idea of someone who has done such a conversion like this before, please give me some advise.

I need to get the US facelift headlights running because i am going to install a facelift front bumper and the EU facelift headlights are rare as hell and if you are lucky and you fine a pair, you pay at least 800$.

Thank you guys

 

[chrysler kid]

To try to make it a short answer,
American model cars never came with the auto adjustment motors, or rear fog lights. So most likely you will need to find some one in europe who has done this

The simple answer is you need to probe your headlight connector for 12v power with the headlights on. The headlights bulb will run on 12v power and 1 ground. They are not polar sensitive so you can choose either connector on the bulb to be power or ground.


Then complete the same process with the high beams on, probe with a volt meter for 12v and pick one side of the high beam bulb for power and 1 for ground

The other simple answer is you can put the headlights in an oven and remove the clear covers, and transfer the clear housings from the 97 headlights to the 95 housings. The housings for the headlights are the same size, in 97 they just changed the external clear mold size to be smaller

The absolute simplest answer for you; the 2g facelift bumper will fit over top of the 95-96 headlights. It will be a snug fit but the bumper will fit over the headlights. If you paint the inside of the lights black you wont even notice the inside corners tucked into the bumper

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[hannibal_ling]

Thanks for your quick reply.
I dont want to mess around with swaping the housings tbh. And I allready tried fitting the facelift front combined with the non facelift headlights. Like you said it fits but not 100%.
Your advice messuring the voltages helped me a lot. I haven´t pluged in the lights yet but my messurements match with my suspected wiring order.

Only one thing left which bothers me. The voltages are between 14 and 15. And the light bulbs for facelift US as well as non facelift EU says 12v

I will keep this thread updated.

Thank you a lot

 

[Dihtung Glava]

Hi, similar problem. I just recieved the ebay headlights but I paid for the shipping and all, no local deals for me

Did you manage to wire them in the end?

I would have suggested you bake the headlights and swap the chrome inserts along with all of the wiring as chrysler kid originaly said. You'd probably be fine leaving the motors out but the position lights are required by law here so I don't think it would be smart to instal the new headlights without them. If you did end up instaling them, did you pass tech inspection? I'm a couple countries south of you and they would not pass my car if it had the switch for the position lights on the steering column but then no actual position lights in the headlights.

The rule of thumb for passing inspections here is "if it's on the car, it has to work" and it's almost common knowledge that Germany is tougher on road laws than we are so I'm really curious if your car passed the test alright.

 

[chrysler kid]

The obvious loop hole would be to keep your old headlights and bumper as spares to install the day of the yearly inspection.

 

[Dihtung Glava]

The obvious loop hole would be to keep your old headlights and bumper as spares to install the day of the yearly inspection.

Well sure, but the connector is different on the headlights (EDM has 8 ports, US has 3) so he'd need an extra set of those 8 port connectors to wire the new headlights to the car's (I'm assuming) European harness. Or re-use the old ones from the EDM headlights, but then those headlights become useless without them.

That's why I'm curious what he did in the end, I have the same project waiting for me.

 

[chrysler kid]

Well sure, but the connector is different on the headlights (EDM has 8 ports, US has 3) so he'd need an extra set of those 8 port connectors to wire the new headlights to the car's (I'm assuming) European harness. Or re-use the old ones from the EDM headlights, but then those headlights become useless without them.

That's why I'm curious what he did in the end, I have the same project waiting for me.

What is the headlight bulb for the low beam in the european cars?

He labeled his plugs in the first post, the only thing I dont understand is why the low beam has red and yellow for the power source

Basically for the american lights they only needs 12v positive and then ground to turn on

 

[Dihtung Glava]

The low beams in the facelift headlights are these 12V 55W bois:

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and the position lights (Standlicht) are these little 14W bois:

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The wiring looks like this:

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So that's a red and black wire going into the low beams and 2 white ones going to the position lights.

That said, I did go and look at the pre-facelift lights as well becasue I have a pre-facelift parts car on hand and those have a bigger low beam:

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You'll notice it also has three pins, for the 3 wires (red, black + yellow) going to it. No idea why they did it like this.

The hi-beams and position lights are the same on both models (pre and post facelift) and both headlights also have the same extra 3 wires going into the height adjustment motor.

Since the ebay headlights have the newer, 2 wire low beams i'd still suggest just swapping the housings around to keep the red/black/yellow wiring AND the position lights.

 

[chrysler kid]

Ahh good information to know

The usdm models use 9006 low beam bulbs, and 9005 high beam bulbs

The 3 wire european pre facelift low beam bulb you showed is also a high beam bulb, which is very interesting.

The ebay facelift headlights are not good quality compared to your european headlights. I can guarantee you would notice immediately how poorly they would light the road. The cheap facelift lights usually have very poor adjustability and focus. I would expect them to fail light output test for your region if they require it for yearly inspection

Infact, the us factory ones are very poor quality compared to your european originals. Im not sure they would be acceptable for light output tests. Many people swap original bulbs to cheap LED or HID bulbs to get better output, its not just for color difference, its to see better

To me you only have one option. Swap the exterior clear covers from them ebay cheap facelift lights. Even if you wired the cheap headlights correctly you would notice immediately how bad they light the road compared to your originals.

Quality wise the european lights are much better than factory u.s. models. U.s. production was always to make the lights as cheap as possible, there is no US regulation for light output or visibility. Its only very recently in 2020 that safety ratings were adjusted for new cars light output

This picture shows that the housings behind the clear covers are the same. Swap the covers, the cheap facelift ones will have very bad light output compared to your originals

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[Dihtung Glava]

Ahh good information to know

The usdm models use 9006 low beam bulbs, and 9005 high beam bulbs

The 3 wire european pre facelift low beam bulb you showed is also a high beam bulb, which is very interesting.

The ebay facelift headlights are not good quality compared to your european headlights. I can guarantee you would notice immediately how poorly they would light the road. The cheap facelift lights usually have very poor adjustability and focus. I would expect them to fail light output test for your region if they require it for yearly inspection

Infact, the us factory ones are very poor quality compared to your european originals. Im not sure they would be acceptable for light output tests. Many people swap original bulbs to cheap LED or HID bulbs to get better output, its not just for color difference, its to see better

To me you only have one option. Swap the exterior clear covers from them ebay cheap facelift lights. Even if you wired the cheap headlights correctly you would notice immediately how bad they light the road compared to your originals.

Quality wise the european lights are much better than factory u.s. models. U.s. production was always to make the lights as cheap as possible, there is no US regulation for light output or visibility. Its only very recently in 2020 that safety ratings were adjusted for new cars light output

This picture shows that the housings behind the clear covers are the same. Swap the covers, the cheap facelift ones will have very bad light output compared to your originals

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Oh yeah, don't worry - I'm swapping from facelifts to facelifts, I just checked the pre-facelifts because that's what the original post was about. And I'm not just doing it for aesthetics, mine were smashed in an accident so I needed new ones regardless.