Going Light Bulb Shopping!

[Joe Pollick]

After six weeks of lousy excuses I'm going to tackle a little modding today. I'm going to do the easy lighting stuff for now, since the day's getting late. I'm leaving to get:

Headlights-Silverstar highs and lows #9006 and 9011 respectively.

Amber DRL's-4157NALL or 4157NAK or 3157NALL depending on what I can find.

Fogs-Xenon 885.
This is after about an hour of sifting through the mountain of information available on this website. I hope I have the part numbers correct since I'm suffering from Information Overload. Typing "Amber DRL" into the search engine of the CAFCNA website is like searching Courtney Love's arrest record by "drugs"........

Joe Pollick

 

[Joe Pollick]

I look in the owners manual then research on CAFCNA. Six parts stores and two Walmarts later, no 9011 Silverstars. Then I visit my friend Mr. CAFCNA again and learn.......there are no 9011 bulbs, you gotta use 9005's. Now, back to Walmart for a set of 9005's for the high beams and a set of 9006's for the lows.

This is why I do my automotive projects very few at a time. This one doesn't even involve tools and it's becoming a Charlie Foxtrot.

Joe Pollick

 

[MR.SMITH]

Just another excuse to ride around in the AV .

 

[I CHNGE]

Hey Joe...
assuming you have a cladded Av you want the following by Sylvania:

1) Silverstar 9005-one pair
2) Silverstar 9006-one pair
3) Sylvania 3157/4157NALL (for ambers) the package will be marked 3157/4157NALL---or if you want Sylvania has a silverstar 3157/4157 that looks silvery when off and amber when on (I like the first bulb personally)
4)The 893 silverstar fogs have a long history of problems

 

[MR.SMITH]

What is the wattage of the factory fogs? Are the Sylvania 885's noticeably brighter? Any problem with them burning up the housing?

 

[I CHNGE]

factory fogs are 27 watts
893's are 37-38 (?) watts
885's are 50 watts

I had the 893's till they blew out and that was it...I quit while I was ahead...There are some reports of melted housings and/or lenses with the 885's but I have had them for 5 months now...run them all the time and no sign of any problems at all...the 893's lasted a week
The only notes I personally found on 885's causing damage was on non cladded Av's where the housings are NOT AS DEEP hence the bulb is closer to the lens...

edit: Yes the 885's are NOTICEABLY BRIGHTER...way better than the 893...and way Way WAY better than stock!!!
edit 2: I don't know if any problems w/885's were with other than Sylvania bulbs and I will state ALL my bulbs are and will stay Sylvania despite the 893 issues.

 

[MR.SMITH]

Thanks. I was wanting to add smoked headlight covers and needed a brighter fog light to help out with some light.

 

[I CHNGE]

I was hesitant at first with the 885's...checking the housings and lenses all the time looking for issues.
Even wasted a lot of gas just sitting at idle so air flow would NOT cool off the assemblies...again I have had NO ISSUES...but their are reports the majority of which seem to be related to WBH's...I don't give them a second thought now however...

But since some of the reports were cladded related (again was a Sylvania bulb involved?) caution is advised...my personal EXCELLANT experience may not
apply to others...but I read every thread and post on CAFCNA I found and I dug deep...so I feel I covered my butt before I switched to the 885 and I obviously feel it was the right decision...

 

[MR.SMITH]

Thanks. I will go get some this evening. I would give you a little Karma but I you have it turned off so you will have to settle for a little

 

[I CHNGE]

Your welcome...anytime...

 

[Joe Pollick]

I'm official.....we have amber!

In a total of maybe 15 minutes, not including the five that it took to figure out how to open the hood, I did the Silver Stars high and low, the amber DRL's and the 855's. Not bad time for a guy with the attention span of a Golden Retriever on a pure sugar diet.

In light of the fact that it would be tough to put the vehicle in gear then walk around to see how the ambers look, I can only assume that they're good until I go for a test drive, but everything else came out great.

Thanks for the replies and if ever in or around Tampa Bay, look for the flame thowing Z71.

Joe Pollick

 

[MR.SMITH]

Put it in gear and put on the emergency brake.

 

[Joe Pollick]

Put it in gear and put on the emergency brake.

I thought about that but with my luck, well, let's just say that I try not to tempt fate.

"Hello Geico? You ain't gonna believe this......."
Joe Pollick

 

[I CHNGE]

Put it in gear and put on the emergency brake.

Plus up against a parking curb...you HAVE to be able to admire the ambers...oh and now it's time for this...

http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?board=16;action=display;threadid=5740;start=msg79867#msg79867

http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?board=116;action=display;threadid=18460;start=msg327555#msg327555

 

[ShapeShifter]

Put it in gear and put on the emergency brake.

Setting the parking brake turns off the DRLs.

Try pulling up to a store with a big plate glass window, and look at your reflection. Or pull up behind a truck with a flat tailgate and look at your reflection (a clean black pickup works great, the reflection doesn't seem to be as good on the lighter colors.)

And if you are going to be pulling up against a curb, or putting some sort of chocks against the wheels, remember that the engine doesn't have to be actually running. All that is necessary is that the ignition is on, the transmission is not in park, the parking brake is not on, and it is daylight (so that the auto headlights don't turn on -- turning off the auto headlights will also turn off the DRLs.)

-- SS

 

[I CHNGE]

Setting the parking brake turns off the DRLs.
-- SS

Well...on the 8 cladded '03 / '04s I have modded for ambers and full time ambers the park brake has no effect on DRL operation...

 

[Joe Pollick]

..oh and now it's time for this...

http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?board=16;action=display;threadid=5740;start=msg79867#msg79867

http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?board=116;action=display;threadid=18460;start=msg327555#msg327555

I'm going to need to work up some nerve for those. Pulling and replacing bulbs is one thing but cutting wires and using diodes concerns me.

In fact, I don't even know what a diode is. I'd guess just by it's name is that a diode is one half of one ode but that doesn't get me very far either.......er wait, I guess it would be two odes, wouldn't it? Eh, either way, more than I care to jump into by myself with out the fire department standing by.

Joe Pollick

 

[ShapeShifter]

Setting the parking brake turns off the DRLs.
-- SS

Well...on the 8 cladded '03 / '04s I have modded for ambers and full time ambers the park brake has no effect on DRL operation...

Cool. I really do learn something new here every day. I guess it's just the '02s (like mine) that are tied into the parking brake.

Thanks for the clarification.

-- SS

 

[I CHNGE]

Thanks for the clarification.
-- SS

No worries Mate...have also learned a lot from your posts...



Hey Joe...LMAO (fire Dept) but seriously...I hate electrical but I read and reread and REREAD over and Over and OVER and felt like "Big Sissy LaLa" afterward...This "better mod" full time is cake...and it keeps your perimeter lighting intact...also heck of a lot easier than the "move 2 wire mod" which does NOT keep perimeter lighting intact...

ps: I still don't know what a diode is...but they do what they do and they do it good!!!

 

[ShapeShifter]

In fact, I don't even know what a diode is. I'd guess just by it's name is that a diode is one half of one ode but that doesn't get me very far either.......er wait, I guess it would be two odes, wouldn't it? Eh, either way, more than I care to jump into by myself with out the fire department standing by.

ROFL! Very funny.

Actually, I think it goes back to the old vacuum tube days. Besides the little heater filament that always seemed to burn out, a diode had two contacts going to internal electrodes, hence the di for two, and ode for electrode. (A triode had three electrodes, and worked like todays transistors.)

Nowadays, while they work the same as the old tube diodes, a modern diode is just a small plastic bullet on a pair of wires. It acts like a check valve: current can flow in one direction, but not in the other. It's really nothing to be afraid of, you just have to insulate the wires so they don't short against anything, and you have to watch for the colored band on it so you don't put it in backwards.

If you just follow the detailed directions that others have previously posted, and take your time, it's hard to go wrong.

-- SS

 

[Joe Pollick]

Nowadays, while they work the same as the old tube diodes, a modern diode is just a small plastic bullet on a pair of wires. It acts like a check valve: current can flow in one direction, but not in the other.
-- SS

Now that helps. Put it in plumber terms and I can follow you all day long. I'm going to resist the urge to head to my truck with a hack saw in one hand and a can of PVC glue in the other, with my butt-crack showing, but at least now I have an idea what the part does.

By the way, I got a chance to check out my new amber DRL's this morning and I was very happy with the results. Pretty impressive for a mod that takes less time than it takes Oprah to down a Twinkie.

Joe Pollick
Dyslexic Paranoid Schizophrenic-I always feel like we're following someone.......

 

[ShapeShifter]

I'm going to resist the urge to head to my truck with a hack saw in one hand and a can of PVC glue in the other, with my butt-crack showing, but at least now I have an idea what the part does.

ROFLMAO! Even better than the diode theories!

-- SS

 

[sparky]

factory fogs are 27 watts
893's are 37-38 (?) watts
885's are 50 watts

I had the 893's till they blew out and that was it...I quit while I was ahead...There are some reports of melted housings and/or lenses with the 885's but I have had them for 5 months now...run them all the time and no sign of any problems at all...the 893's lasted a week
The only notes I personally found on 885's causing damage was on non cladded Av's where the housings are NOT AS DEEP hence the bulb is closer to the lens...

edit: Yes the 885's are NOTICEABLY BRIGHTER...way better than the 893...and way Way WAY better than stock!!!
edit 2: I don't know if any problems w/885's were with other than Sylvania bulbs and I will state ALL my bulbs are and will stay Sylvania despite the 893 issues.

I've been trying to replace my fogs with little more than frustration.
The 'computer' at the auto/tire shop says the replacement bulb for the fogs is an 880, yet that does not seem correct. I can get an 880 Silver star but they don't have 885.
So, could somoen please just double confirm for me the bulb number I want for 50 watt fogs, please. I should have kept the package from the first time I bought them 2 friggin years ago and I wouldn't be going thru this

 

[Chevy Kid]

The sylvania fogs are 885 and their 50 watts

 

[sparky]

I don't believe this
Even Sylvania's web site lists the replacement fogs for a 2002 Avalanche as 881 or 9145, neither of which I have seen listed nor do I think they were in the store.
This is just a little frustrating