Legacy Headlamp replacement and mystery cylinder.

Don1

Howdy, I crashed my '00 Legacy GT last week, and as I have no money am going through the insurance to fix it up. Anyways, I was in the garage collecting my replacement car today to be told the headlamp unit (xenon) is costing €1300 including VAT!! Thank God for insurance eh.
Anyway, that's all grand and stuff, but my question is this, as a new lamp is going on and the old one on the other side is yellow as can be, is there anywhere I could get a new lamp unit for a lot less than that? Purely cosmetic I know, but hey.
Also, does anybody know what the cylinder under the left headlight is for? A hose got knocked off this and it is dinted. Replacement ordered by the garage, but he doesn't know what it is. Hardly some kind of smog pump or something? I believe this is what has stopped the turbos spooling since the crash. Diagnostics showing "twin stage turbo failure" and can't be reset. Haven't tried since reconnecting the hose.

Thanks for any help.

galwaytt

All xenon-equipped cars are fitted with a levelling mechanism - I'm sure that's what the cylinder is for. Because of the light intensity, they are more sensitive to blinding oncoming traffic if misaligned, hence the requirement for the mechanism.

I presume it's not the ballast unit for the Xenons you're looking at, btw.....

Don1

No, It's a rather sizeable unit down in front of the wheel, 12-15cms in diameter at a guess, and maybe the same in length. Tube heads off around onto the bumper bar under the grille.

Neilw

Are they plastic headlamps, I presume they are. They can be wet sanded and then polished back to near new condition. Just need to know what your doing

stevenmu

I believe xenons must also have a headlight washing mechanism in addition to the levelling galwaytt mentioned. Could he tube/cylinder be a part of that?

Don1

Nope, no washers on mine anyway.

colm_mcm

I'm guessing it's a charcoal cannister, it's designed to absorb hydrocarbons from the fuel tank and engine.

Don1

Like a California style smog filter then? Might bypass it then. Who needs that sapping power!

colm_mcm

it's connected to the fuel tank and engine to catch fuel vapour and neutralise it, so it doesn't really rob power!

(this is my basic understanding of it anyhow)

Wikipedia wrote:

Evaporative emissions control

Evaporative emissions are the result of gasoline vapors escaping from the vehicle's fuel system. Since 1971 (1970 in California), all U.S. vehicles have had fully sealed fuel systems that do not vent directly to the atmosphere; mandates for systems of this type appeared contemporaneously in other jurisdictions. In a typical system, vapors from the fuel tank and carburetor bowl vent (on carbureted vehicles) are ducted to canisters containing activated carbon. The vapors are adsorbed within the canister, and during certain engine operational modes fresh air is drawn through the canister, pulling the vapor into the engine, where it is burned.

colm_mcm

Re: your yellow headlamp, there is a fix you can do to repair the lamp.

Details here:
http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5013

Don1

Ah okay, thought it was an old inline exhaust filter. Then it'd be coming off, after the NCT of course! Ah, it doesn't really matter anyway, I was just curious as to what it was. Thanks anyway.
The headlamp replacement is my main issue. Seems to be cheap ones on ebay, but can only find American spec with the friggin' orange lenses for the indicators. I just have orange bulbs, Japanese spec.

colm_mcm

you can seperate the lenses from the headlamp unit by putting them in the oven @ 80 degrees for 20 minutes. If the outer cover is the same on the US ones (if orange indicator is seperate and inside the outer cover) you could probably interchange them?

Try the fix listed earlier, this worked on both my cars.

Don1

Ah cool cheers, didn't see that post! Might try cleaning it alright. The pics won't display on that forum, but I get the idea, thanks again.

Edit: scratch that, have them now.....

Muckie

Maybe try www.isdc.ie always lads selling Subaru parts, they
might be able to help you out.