Headlight Assy.

[klc9100]

I need to replace the headlight assemblies on my wife's 2005 LS. I can not find them anywhere (new, used or aftermarket). Apparently, 00-02 used a particular assy. (which are readily available), but the 03-06 uses a different assy. that doesn't exist. Anybody have any ideas?

Thank you -

 

[joegr]

I don't know why you say they don't exist. Going to ebay and typing 2005 Lincoln LS headlights into the search bar brought up several valid results for used. (No new ones left that I know of, and there never were 2nd gen aftermarket headlights.)
I recently got a pair of factory HID headlights from the local junkyard for $40. I spent another $40 or so refinishing them to like new - to upgrade the headlights in my 04 to match the ones in my 06.
Surely, you have some local pick-n-pull junkyards with some 2nd gen LSes?

 

[klc9100]

Thanks. The only salvage yard near me that has them want $600 for the pair. That's out of the question. I already tried a restoration on the ones in the car and it didn't turn out well. I didn't think about looking for used on ebay. I never use ebay for anything really. I was hoping for some cool aftermarket ones but couldn't find anything. I may try another restoration on the ones in the car. It was my 1st time trying it, so maybe I just did it wrong. Thanks again for your input

 

[LS_Monk]

For your year there are also 2 different kinds of headlights HID and halogen. Those make a big difference in price. The HID ones usually have a yellow sticker on top that says that they are HID also.

 

[klc9100]

I verified with dealership by Vin that they were halogen. I was sure they were, but checked to be sure. Thank you.

 

[LS4me]

I have for sale a never used/installed driver's side HID light in my garage. It even has the plastic still on the lens.

 

[joegr]

Wow, talk about a unicorn...

klc9100, you can upgrade your LS from Halogen to HID. You just have to cut off one of the plastic tabs on the connector on the HID headlight assembly.

 

[FDR]

In addition to looking for the sticker on top and the ballast underneath, they have different shields. Gen 2 Halogens have a smooth spherical shield over the low beam bulb. Gen 2 HIDs, as pictured above, have a disco ball shield

(All gen 1s are halogen and have a pointed hexagonal shield)

klc9100, you can upgrade your LS from Halogen to HID. You just have to cut off one of the plastic tabs on the connector on the HID headlight assembly.

Joe, does your halogen Gen 2 turn off the low beam when you turn on the high beams? I think HID cars have two extra relays to keep the low beams on to protect the bulbs and avoid the warm up delay when going back to the HID lows. I don't have a gen 2 to investigate myself

 

[joegr]

So, both of my LSes are HID now, but till recently the 04 was halogen.
All gen II, halogen or HID, keep the low beams on with the high beams. No extra relays are used for this. Just the electronic drivers inside the FEM.

The 06 (HIDs from new) does have an extra relay added for the HIDs. Where as the halogens have the +12V wire always hot (while the car is awake) and the ground wire switched on and off to turn the low beam on and off, on the HID ones the relay changes this around so that the ground wire is always grounded, and the +12V wire is switched on and off to turn the low beam on and off.
I understand why they did this. They wanted the HID ballast to always be grounded. However, it was unnecessary. The factory HID headlights work just fine with the factory halogen wiring. You don't have to change anything, just cut the keying tab off of the connector on the HID headlight.

Also note that the reflectors are different on the HID headlights than on the halogen headlights. That's the other reason that you can't just put a HID bulb in a halogen headlight assembly.

 

[nghtshd88]

Wish they made AF for gen 2. They do for gen 1. So hard to find a decent set.