Headlight Illumination Issues

jamin87ss · April 25, 2015

Would 9011's benefit from the voltage update?

Of course, but I thought I read the vosla's had more lumens

Panik · April 25, 2015

If I could get my dealer to update mine I will know the answer!

I know...right. :-)

Right now I'm getting adequate light from the 9011's with the supposed BCM flash. It just be nice to know if im missing out on a bit better performance. I'll be honest after the last dealer trip I didn't drive in the dark immediately afterward so it's hard to tell if the programming update made a significant difference with the 9011's.

nfisherman · April 26, 2015

I had the headlight update done yesterday. I tried it out last night and I was disappointed. There was a very bright spot right in front of the truck and a nearly dark spot on the right side. I didn't want to wait until Monday to take it back to the dealer, so I fixed it myself. Thanks to what I read here, I took both bulbs out and reseated them. I tried them tonight and they're nice. The light is brighter overall and even. Something must have not been seated correctly when I got my truck back yesterday.

POS VETT · April 26, 2015

Got this performed three days ago. Light pattern looked correct on a wall, but I have not had a chance to drive the truck in a dark, rural road to see the difference.

Dusty12787 · April 26, 2015

Bah! I never usually get caught with the double posts!

Ive had HIDs in mine for over a year with no issues at all. I also had a car before this truck wich had hids for over 5 years no issues. You just have to buy quality stuff.

southern_sierra · April 26, 2015

I had the headlight update done yesterday. I tried it out last night and I was disappointed. There was a very bright spot right in front of the truck and a nearly dark spot on the right side. I didn't want to wait until Monday to take it back to the dealer, so I fixed it myself. Thanks to what I read here, I took both bulbs out and reseated them. I tried them tonight and they're nice. The light is brighter overall and even. Something must have not been seated correctly when I got my truck back yesterday.

A lot of us including myself have had this problem of the bulbs not seated correctly. This shows that they just put he bulbs in and do not check the adjustment as stated in the tsb.

southern_sierra · April 26, 2015

rmart, you can't always go by the ebay configurator. The GM part # for the Acadia, Camaro, Suburban are the same as the Sierra. The 2014 Sierra also uses the same fog light as the Ford Escape, and certain year Mustangs. The fog lamps are a direct fit on the '14/'15 Sierra. The Putco 55w H3's will fit in the lamps (link below). Hope I cleared things up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380981266829?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

After installing these fogs do they need to be adjusted or are they preset. Do you know what color the light out put is. Can you use them on road and be ok not blinding to on coming traffic.

Thanks

WLC · April 26, 2015

Ive had HIDs in mine for over a year with no issues at all. I also had a car before this truck wich had hids for over 5 years no issues. You just have to buy quality stuff.

some of us think a 40 plus dollar truck should have good lights . Over eighty for me.

mafd2 · April 26, 2015

After installing these fogs do they need to be adjusted or are they preset. Do you know what color the light out put is. Can you use them on road and be ok not blinding to on coming traffic.

Thanks

I marked my factory screws with a sharpie, removed them from my factory lamps and installed them andthe clips on the new fogs so they remain as the factory setting. They are DOT compliant 55w.

MattUofM · April 26, 2015

well, I got the update finally at my dealer. they do seem a bit brighter, but overall im not really impressed. And they for sure aimed them up a bit more to get some better throw. i think i am going to go with a TRS hid kit now that i've seen how good this "update" is.

Skeeter McSkeet · April 26, 2015

some of us think a 40 plus dollar truck should have good lights . Over eighty for me.

$41 truck, you got a hell of a deal there! Lol

-Skeet

TxTruckMan · April 27, 2015

My dealer upgraded me over the weekend. I verified the correct new bulbs, but is there any way to verify that they actually updated my BCM?

darkfox1 · April 27, 2015

I've been combing this thread for a while now and I don't really see any silverado guys chiming in about this issue. Is this mainly a Sierra issue? Because higher trim silverados have projectors too. Is the problem just a crappy projector?

It sounds like GM's BCM voltage increase and higher lumen halogen bulb is a functional, yet very much duct-tape fix to what appears to be a systemic problem.

I would THINK.. that 2016 or 2017 they will revise the headlight to alleviate this issue.

My uncle is dead set on a new GMC so I'm trying to sort of get ahead of the curve on this issue for him as well, cos I know he's gonna say something.

mafd2 · April 27, 2015

My dealer upgraded me over the weekend. I verified the correct new bulbs, but is there any way to verify that they actually updated my BCM?

Unplug the harness to the headlight, check voltage to the headlight pin. Should be around 14v. If it's 12v then it wasn't updated. Check your invoice. It should have the BCM code on it. I don't have the invoice handy to check code but it was on my invoice.

ember1205 · April 27, 2015

I've been combing this thread for a while now and I don't really see any silverado guys chiming in about this issue. Is this mainly a Sierra issue? Because higher trim silverados have projectors too. Is the problem just a crappy projector?

It sounds like GM's BCM voltage increase and higher lumen halogen bulb is a functional, yet very much duct-tape fix to what appears to be a systemic problem.

I would THINK.. that 2016 or 2017 they will revise the headlight to alleviate this issue.

My uncle is dead set on a new GMC so I'm trying to sort of get ahead of the curve on this issue for him as well, cos I know he's gonna say something.

The specific issues is limited to the GMC which is why there's no Silverado guys here. Fixed mount that can't be adjusted side-to-side combined with poorly designed (or built?) bulbs and not enough voltage to drive them makes for sub-par lighting. The new bulbs have a better spread pattern and more output, plus they get an additional output boost with more voltage.