HID Headlight Bulbs / HID Projector Retrofit

[Fultonm11]

Thought I would post my experience and before/after photos in case anyone out there wants to do theirs and save a few hours. 

 

First, thanks to @FastWS6TA for providing the parts and advice. I think it's safe to say he has saved everyone on this thread many dollars and hours. Thanks!

 

I have a 15 Silverado LT that had the stock Halogen reflectors, so if you have the same and want to do the retro, you should know up front it takes heavy modding to get the Morimoto D2S projectors into the factory reflector. Im sure you could buy the factory HID lights and upgrade with the Morimoto or FXR kit and have a much easier, and shorter, retrofit. However, I didnt want to spend quite that much and I was okay with modding my factory housings. I did this over the weekend, and I would definitely suggest allotting that amount of time if you have the factory halogens. If you already have HIDs, It wouldn't take as much time. 

 

I will leave some info here, but feel to PM me if you want some more detailed info: 

-As @FastWS6TA pointed out to me, warmup with the light to get chrome trim off. The hardest part about this process isn't getting the double sided tape to break, but getting the clips to all come out, and stay out, while you are trying to pry it off. I baked them at 265 for like 7-8 minutes to get the sticky to bake. I think I put each light in twice. Once to get it nice and warm and moving and a second time to get it free. Don't break your trim, that would really suck. 

 

-To break the permaseal: it seems like everyone has varying experiences with temperature, amount of permaseal used, and time in the oven. I used 265 at 215 minutes for the initial bake and then 7-8 minutes every time after that. The key for me was to just be patient and keep the permaseal at the right temp to work over with a small flathead or my leatherman. 

 

-Once I had the lights open, I put the housing back in a few more times to really remove as much of the old stuff that I could. I wasn't in a rush and really wanted to never do this again, so I wanted my seal job to be right. I did put the lenses in for like 4 minutes a few times to clean the edges. I used a bath towel on a cookie sheet so that the lens wouldn't be in contact with any metal. Be careful here. You don't want to melt or warp that lens; bad news!

 

-For the hardest part: modding the reflector opening to fit the projector. I dont recall the exact measurement, but I used a dremel to remove all of the plastic around the hole, but also on the "shank" of the reflector lens. You will need to remove most of the plastic to accommodate the projector, so be careful and go slow. You will also have to take some height off of the original hole to get more threads of the Morimoto through. It needs to be at least half an inch, or shorter really, to fit the washer, projector nut, spring and lamp nut provided in the kit. My mistake was not calculating the offset that the silicon washer would add. Again, be go slow and be careful. I actually went too far on one of mine, but fixed with some Gorilla glue. 

 

-I wanted to blackout my original reflector and new projector shroud, so I used some red scotch pads to really get most of the chrome of of both. Be careful around your high beam reflectors with that pad, it doesn't take much to scratch the chrome finish off. I used some matte black krylon fusion to paint mine. Two coats on each seemed to be fine. 

 

-When mounting the shrouds, I used some JB weld to make sure they wouldn't come off. Make sure and do this when the lens is off...or it WILL come off when you are done at 1am and assembling your truck. If you would have been in my garage, you would seen a man just about in tears! Had to reopen that light on Sunday to JB weld that sucker on....

 

-Once you get it all installed, I would recommend installing the ballasts and hooking them up to check rotational alignment. Mine are really snug, but with some real force I can turn them. I wouldn't count on that, so just get it set and put some muscle on it. 

 

-When resealing your lights make sure that you have cleaned off all of the inside of the lenses and projector glass. You dont want some dust in there and then you seal it all in. I feel like some dust was inevitable since I was not working in a science lab, but my living room, hah! As for the retro rubber provided, I could tell that it was going to be overflowing if I put in the whole line as it came. The channels on my housings were very narrow and I didnt need all of it. I simply stretched it out and worked it with my hands until it looked right. It was very workable at room temp. For the oven part, I hit it with 265 for like 4 or 5 minutes and then pulled it out to set the lens in the seal and channel. Rinse and repeat twice for each lights to get it just right. 

 

-Lastly, I hit it with some black silicon from home depot simply because, as i stated before, I never wanted to touch this project again, so I wanted to be sure it was moisture free. You can be fairly liberal with this as the chrome trim will cover most of the seal and silicon.

 

-Before reattaching the chrome trim I used some goo-gone to scrape off any sticky stuff or residue from the old 3M. I also picked up some gorilla branded double sided tape to reattach the chrome trim. I cut the pieces in  half and used about half of much as the factory stuff. 

 

All in all, I am super happy with the way things turned out! I am not 100% sure the aim is right, but I will adjust that this week as I drive and the lights get settled. 

 

Pictures!

Edited October 15, 2018 by Fultonm11
adding link

[chrispassas21]

Thought I would post my experience and before/after photos in case anyone out there wants to do theirs and save a few hours. 
 
First, thanks to [mention=134157]FastWS6TA[/mention] for providing the parts and advice. I think it's safe to say he has saved everyone on this thread many dollars and hours. Thanks!
 
I have a 15 Silverado LT that had the stock Halogen reflectors, so if you have the same and want to do the retro, you should know up front it takes heavy modding to get the Morimoto D2S projectors into the factory reflector. Im sure you could buy the factory HID lights and upgrade with the Morimoto or FXR kit and have a much easier, and shorter, retrofit. However, I didnt want to spend quite that much and I was okay with modding my factory housings. I did this over the weekend, and I would definitely suggest allotting that amount of time if you have the factory halogens. If you already have HIDs, It wouldn't take as much time. 
 
I will leave some info here, but feel to PM me if you want some more detailed info: 
-As [mention=134157]FastWS6TA[/mention] pointed out to me, warmup with the light to get chrome trim off. The hardest part about this process isn't getting the double sided tape to break, but getting the clips to all come out, and stay out, while you are trying to pry it off. I baked them at 265 for like 7-8 minutes to get the sticky to bake. I think I put each light in twice. Once to get it nice and warm and moving and a second time to get it free. Don't break your trim, that would really suck. 
 
-To break the permaseal: it seems like everyone has varying experiences with temperature, amount of permaseal used, and time in the oven. I used 265 at 215 minutes for the initial bake and then 7-8 minutes every time after that. The key for me was to just be patient and keep the permaseal at the right temp to work over with a small flathead or my leatherman. 
 
-Once I had the lights open, I put the housing back in a few more times to really remove as much of the old stuff that I could. I wasn't in a rush and really wanted to never do this again, so I wanted my seal job to be right. I did put the lenses in for like 4 minutes a few times to clean the edges. I used a bath towel on a cookie sheet so that the lens wouldn't be in contact with any metal. Be careful here. You don't want to melt or warp that lens; bad news!
 
-For the hardest part: modding the reflector opening to fit the projector. I dont recall the exact measurement, but I used a dremel to remove all of the plastic around the hole, but also on the "shank" of the reflector lens. You will need to remove most of the plastic to accommodate the projector, so be careful and go slow. You will also have to take some height off of the original hole to get more threads of the Morimoto through. It needs to be at least half an inch, or shorter really, to fit the washer, projector nut, spring and lamp nut provided in the kit. My mistake was not calculating the offset that the silicon washer would add. Again, be go slow and be careful. I actually went too far on one of mine, but fixed with some Gorilla glue. 
 
-I wanted to blackout my original reflector and new projector shroud, so I used some red scotch pads to really get most of the chrome of of both. Be careful around your high beam reflectors with that pad, it doesn't take much to scratch the chrome finish off. I used some matte black krylon fusion to paint mine. Two coats on each seemed to be fine. 
 
-When mounting the shrouds, I used some JB weld to make sure they wouldn't come off. Make sure and do this when the lens is off...or it WILL come off when you are done at 1am and assembling your truck. If you would have been in my garage, you would seen a man just about in tears! Had to reopen that light on Sunday to JB weld that sucker on....
 
-Once you get it all installed, I would recommend installing the ballasts and hooking them up to check rotational alignment. Mine are really snug, but with some real force I can turn them. I wouldn't count on that, so just get it set and put some muscle on it. 
 
-When resealing your lights make sure that you have cleaned off all of the inside of the lenses and projector glass. You dont want some dust in there and then you seal it all in. I feel like some dust was inevitable since I was not working in a science lab, but my living room, hah! As for the retro rubber provided, I could tell that it was going to be overflowing if I put in the whole line as it came. The channels on my housings were very narrow and I didnt need all of it. I simply stretched it out and worked it with my hands until it looked right. It was very workable at room temp. For the oven part, I hit it with 265 for like 4 or 5 minutes and then pulled it out to set the lens in the seal and channel. Rinse and repeat twice for each lights to get it just right. 
 
-Lastly, I hit it with some black silicon from home depot simply because, as i stated before, I never wanted to touch this project again, so I wanted to be sure it was moisture free. You can be fairly liberal with this as the chrome trim will cover most of the seal and silicon.
 
-Before reattaching the chrome trim I used some goo-gone to scrape off any sticky stuff or residue from the old 3M. I also picked up some gorilla branded double sided tape to reattach the chrome trim. I cut the pieces in  half and used about half of much as the factory stuff. 
 
All in all, I am super happy with the way things turned out! I am not 100% sure the aim is right, but I will adjust that this week as I drive and the lights get settled. 
 
Pictures!

Looks good! But I definitely don’t have the balls to do that lol good thing mine came with projectors from the factory


2015 Silverado LT Midnight Edition
4.5” CST suspension lift
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[Jaycreek7908]

@Fultonm11 so do you even have any of the factory reflector bowl left in there lol? Looks GREAT but appears like you took the whole low beam reflector out.

[Fultonm11]

42 minutes ago, Jaycreek7908 said:

@Fultonm11 so do you even have any of the factory reflector bowl left in there lol? Looks GREAT but appears like you took the whole low beam reflector out.

It is is there still. I just blacked it out for personal preference. the low beam reflector, from what I can tell, is actually attached to the high beam. It was all one piece. I could not have removed it as I needed a place to mount the projector. Short of some custom 3D printed bracket, LOL!

 

I wasn't about to take it that far.....

 

[dcarl]

Has anybody encountered DTC B2575-04 and B2699-04 after doing your HID retrofit?

 

All the research leads me to believe the BCM needs to be calibrated or something. I’ve replaced my harness and ballast. 

 

The lights have have been working but I’ve been getting a monthly On Star report that both bulbs are out for quite a while, but I’ve recently started experiencing misfires on one side or the other. Have to turn lights off and on a few times to get both to come on. 

[cire0309]

Are you running ballasts only or do you have a setup with relays?

[dcarl]

On 10/21/2018 at 1:22 AM, cire0309 said:

Are you running ballasts only or do you have a setup with relays?

I'm running a full Morimoto harness with relays and ballasts.  I've replaced everything but the bulbs and the igniters.   

[cire0309]

I'm running a full Morimoto harness with relays and ballasts.  I've replaced everything but the bulbs and the igniters.   

I have the pass-through wiring hooked up on my passenger side headlight connection to a capacitor then to the relays. I don’t have the error message in my monthly Onstar report.

I’m also using Hylux ballasts, so I cant speak of any issues with the Morimoto ballasts/igniter setup.

If you got your stuff from TRS and you’ve got some time to swing by, I’m sure they’ll help you troubleshoot it. They’re in Atlanta and they’ve got a bunch of good folks working there.

[truckguy82]

16 hours ago, dcarl said:

I'm running a full Morimoto harness with relays and ballasts.  I've replaced everything but the bulbs and the igniters.   

You’ve probably already checked this, but have you checked your ground connection?

 

Seems like 50% of the time funky electrical issues that can’t be explained are due to a bad ground

[arcasey]

On 10/20/2018 at 8:58 PM, dcarl said:

Has anybody encountered DTC B2575-04 and B2699-04 after doing your HID retrofit?

 

All the research leads me to believe the BCM needs to be calibrated or something. I’ve replaced my harness and ballast. 

 

The lights have have been working but I’ve been getting a monthly On Star report that both bulbs are out for quite a while, but I’ve recently started experiencing misfires on one side or the other. Have to turn lights off and on a few times to get both to come on. 

I have a 2015 Sierra that I put a Morimoto HID kit in and I get the same notifications on the monthly Onstar Diagnostic emails. I've not had a single issue with the kit other than the initial installation and the monthly error messages on the report.

 

As far as the intermittent failures I had similar issues right after I installed the kit. As has been said already, the ground was the first thing I checked. My problem ended up being the molded female connectors supplied with the kit to connect to the stock input. I actually removed the female connectors entirely and just used the prongs on the ends of the wires and stuck them into the stock harness. I just used electrical tape to make sure they hold their place but they were pretty snug without the tape so it probably wasn't needed. Since I did that I have not had a single issue.

 

I have also seen some defective ballasts and igniters cause the issues you are experiencing as well. Might want to contact your Morimoto rep on how to troubleshoot those....

[BlackZ71SLT]

After having HID's on my F150 I got tired of not being able to see at night so I bit the built and ordered G5-R projector kit, hylux ballast, and morimoto fogs from LightWerkz. 

 

 

[FastWS6TA]

Has anybody encountered DTC B2575-04 and B2699-04 after doing your HID retrofit?
 
All the research leads me to believe the BCM needs to be calibrated or something. I’ve replaced my harness and ballast. 
 
The lights have have been working but I’ve been getting a monthly On Star report that both bulbs are out for quite a while, but I’ve recently started experiencing misfires on one side or the other. Have to turn lights off and on a few times to get both to come on. 

Do you have a capacitor link?
Is your truck an SLT or SLE style?
Good connections are a must for HIDs to work. Corroded connections, poor ground all of which can create intermittent issues. It sounds like the input connection might be loose. I would start there.

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[FastWS6TA]

And for anyone considering upgrading their HIDS (with or with a new projector) I strongly recommend the Hylux ballast. I have been selling Morimoto products for over 10 years now. Good product but the failure rate is much higher than Hylux in my experience.
Not to mention that if you have an issue with a Hylux ballast it is simple to diagnose. Swap one side with the other and if it resolves the issue then warranty replace the ballast. Frickin Morimoto having separate ignitor, ballast and anti flicker links makes it a bitch to diagnose. Especially if you aren't familiar with HID systems.

gmforum_10% on fastheadlights.com saves members on here on retrofit kits and HID kits.

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[dcarl]

53 minutes ago, FastWS6TA said:

Do you have a capacitor link?
Is your truck an SLT or SLE style?
Good connections are a must for HIDs to work. Corroded connections, poor ground all of which can create intermittent issues. It sounds like the input connection might be loose. I would start there.

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Hey Phil, I have a SLT.  I just replaced the harness, capacitor, & ballasts.....  I even ran a ground wire from the engine block up to the radiator support where the harness grounds to just to make sure I had a good ground.  There is no corrosion in any connection.  I use dielectric grease on my connectors to avoid that.  Hopefully that's not what is causing my issue.  I often have to turn the light switch off and back on a few times to get the lights to come on reliably.  Sometimes they fire up just fine though too...

[FastWS6TA]

Hey Phil, I have a SLT.  I just replaced the harness, capacitor, & ballasts.....  I even ran a ground wire from the engine block up to the radiator support where the harness grounds to just to make sure I had a good ground.  There is no corrosion in any connection.  I use dielectric grease on my connectors to avoid that.  Hopefully that's not what is causing my issue.  I often have to turn the light switch off and back on a few times to get the lights to come on reliably.  Sometimes they fire up just fine though too...

What method did you use to connect to the OEM plug (input for the relay harness)? If you used a plug that is on the relay this may be your issue. Connecting to that 9012 plug on the headlight is an issue sometimes. It doesnt make a good connection all the time. You might want to try cutting the 9012 plug end off and actually soldering a 9006 connector on to it. The 9006 plug end makes for a better connection than the 9012.

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