[90Mark7]

I have a 2002 Mercury Sable GS. I swapped both headlight bulbs since one of them burnt out. I noticed that it seems like my low beams are now my high beams and vice versa. I didn't think swapping bulbs would make this happen? The screws to adjust the angle of the beams are pretty stripped down.

1) How can I adjust the beams if the screws are stripped? Probably a vice grip or something?
2) How can I get the low beams and high beams back to normal?

I don't have any pictures, but against a dark wall, the "low beams" are angled higher and once I toggle them to "high beams", the beam pattern drops a few inches. I thought it was the other way around? Please advise me on a fix, thank you.

 

[Jeff K]

If you bought the correct headlight bulbs, there is no way changing the bulbs can switch lo and hi beams as the bulb connector only fits one way. Some different part # bulbs have different pinouts, so if you bought the wrong bulbs it is possible the lo/hi beams could be switched. I THINK your car uses 9007 bulbs, but dont remember for sure as I havent owned a Gen 4.0 in several years. .

 

[90Mark7]

If you bought the correct headlight bulbs, there is no way changing the bulbs can switch lo and hi beams as the bulb connector only fits one way. Some different part # bulbs have different pinouts, so if you bought the wrong bulbs it is possible the lo/hi beams could be switched. I THINK your car uses 9007 bulbs, but dont remember for sure as I havent owned a Gen 4.0 in several years. .

Yep I just double checked on the owner's manual: 9007 bulbs. I will check the bulbs themselves again and see what the part number is. They're currently halogen 6000K color-temp bulbs that I bought from eBay. I do remember that I had a little bit of a tough time installing them but it was because it was cold outside. I didn't replace the wiring at all, and the assemblies themselves are about 1.5 years old.

 

[90Mark7]

I'm back. So I checked and the part number does indeed say 9007 on the bulbs. I didn't even mess with the harnesses, just only replaced the bulbs. Can anyone help me further on what I should do?

 

[rsteve56]

Back to basics: put the old bulbs back in.

 

[rjacket]

Your 6000k eBay bulbs seem to be faulty.

 

[90Mark7]

I will look into replacing the bulbs back with the old ones and see how that works out (one of the old ones had the low beam filament burnt-out, but the high beam filament still worked). In the mean time, I decided to give a shot with GTR Ultra 2 LED headlight bulbs from HeadlightRevolution.com and I'll update this thread when they come in.

 

[rsteve56]

$239...... 11 dollars less than I bought my 02 ses for. LOL!

 

[90Mark7]

$239...... 11 dollars less than I bought my 02 ses for. LOL!

Yeah...the bulbs are pricey, I must admit. The Sable is my back-up car/winter beater, but I'd like to have really good headlights for them. Fortunately they seem to have a good return policy in case I'm not satisfied with them.

Otherwise I can just perhaps throw in some good Silverstars or something. What is everyone's recommendations for 9007 headlight bulbs?

 

[Lgbpop]

FWIW, I installed an aftermarket headlamp wiring harness about eight years ago, When I next changed the 9004 bulbs for the 9007s recommended, my low beams didn't work at all and my high beams worked as low beams.

Finally had to check the pin-outs on the bulbs and the wiring to the new sockets. Sure enough, they were quite different. After re-arranging the leads to the lamp sockets I had them working correctly. Much better illumination, all things considered.

Hope this may help a bit.

 

[rsteve56]

So.....did you fix the problem???

 

[Lgbpop]

So.....did you fix the problem???

To whom are you speaking?

 

[sheila]

Frank, I'm sure he's asking 90Mark7.

 

[90Mark7]

So.....did you fix the problem???

Sorry for the delay in my update everyone. Been busy with college and working. YES, my issue HAS been resolved! The cheap eBay bulbs were the problem, but the new ones (9007 Sylvania SilverStar Ultra) are MUCH better, plus the low beams and high beams are now showing the correct beam pattern. I would highly recommend them, as they're brighter than the cheapo eBay ones anyway. Thank you everyone for your help!