[Biturbos4] Thermostat and Headlights

[Long, Scott G SrA USAF AFMC 88 SFS/S4W]

The headlight bulbs themselves are D2-S bulbs.  Stock I believe are
4300k color temp.  I had a ballast go out in my S4 and I ordered a kit
from ddmtuning.com that included ballasts and bulbs for $100 (now I
think they are only $50 a set).  The bulbs were direct replacement, but
the ballasts were not.  I had to remove the stock ballasts from the
bottom of the light, make a template out of plexiglass and mount the new
ballasts to that, splice a couple of wires, and now I have amazing
lights.  I went with the 8000k color temp, but I have been told 6000k is
actually more useable light on the road.

As for the temp gauge issue, have you replaced the coolant temp sensor?
Its pretty easy to get at near the firewall on the passenger side.  I
replaced mine since it would just climb till it was in the red and said
my car was overheating when it was not really that hot.  I got the
sensor from ECS, and I believe they sell the revised sensor.

Might be worth trying that for $30 before ripping the front off the car
again and replacing a thermostat which may or may not be the culprit.
At that point you might as well just do the timing belt job again.

Scott G. Long, SrA, USAF 
Client Support Administrator 
Information Systems Security Officer
CompTIA Security+ Certified
88th Security Forces Squadron 
Comm: (937) 257-5939
DSN: 787-5939


-----Original Message-----
From: biturbos4-bounces at diablo.audifans.com
[mailto:biturbos4-bounces at diablo.audifans.com] On Behalf Of Greg Amy
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:12 PM
To: biturbos4 at diablo.audifans.com
Subject: [Biturbos4] Thermostat and Headlights

'Member that discussion a few days ago about maintenance/repairs? With
the days getting shorter and colder, I'm noticing two new issues on the
S4.

The first one is easy: I'm noticing my low beams are pretty dim. It's
most noticeable on the way home each afternoon (it's dark at 4:30 now in
Connecticut) especially when someone pulls behind me at a light: I'm
noticing the shadow of my car from their headlights more than I'm
noticing my lights. I read some time back that the HID low beams tend to
lose brightness after some time, is that correct? And given these are
the originals I'm sure they're due for replacement.

Those things are pricey, but lots of aftermarket options. Suggestions?
I'm not looking for anything fancy, just some good replacements.

The second issue isn't so easy, and I already know the answer. But I'm
hoping someone has found an easy way around this...the coolant
temperature is not coming up and stabilizing at the normal mid-point. It
will be very slow to come up - almost won't come up at all while idling
- and it takes a good hard run to get it to the center. And, once at
center it rarely stays there, slinking down when not under load.

So here's the "save my weekend" question: any way to change the
thermostat without pulling the front end of the car and the t-belt?

I replaced the t-belt at 75k miles and I'm at 136k now. I remember it
wasn't that hard of a job, just a lot of things to remove/replace, a few
dollars in parts, and some tool rentals. But, I'm starting renovation of
my garage within the next week or two (I'm insulating and putting in a
lift, woo-hoo!) and it's getting REALLY cold...so yeah, I could do the
t-belt, but I was really hoping to put it off for another year.

Thoughts appreciated.

Greg

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