FORD Focus Headlight

[ROakley]

Hello all, 

I have a Ford Focus MK3 titanium with built in DRL in the headlight assembly and want to put in stronger LEDs to the stock version. I have taken this off and cannot seem to find an access point to replace these bulbs which leads me to believe you need to open the housing but there is no clear cut way to do this.

Has anyone else been able to or have a guide for this? It seems mad it’s not just a couple of screws as what would happen if a bulb went?!

[The_Venom]

If an led blows then you generally have to replace the whole light unit, not sure if your able to replace individual leds but to crack open a headlight I used to put mine in an oven to warm the sealant up then use a Stanley blade to separate the sealant, although this was on BMW lights but should be the same for most manafacturers

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[ROakley]

That seems ridiculous, why would ford make all other bulbs accessible but no way to replace the drl strip

[The_Venom]

Probably to make money, my dad had a kia ceed and his n\s drl kept going, it's a common issue on them luckily it was under warranty at the time but they kept replacing the whole unit and they were about 350 a pop.

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[Wookie Monster]

LED units are supposed to last a great deal longer than conventional bulbs, so sealed units are fairly common as they're not expected to need replacing.

Replacing the LEDs with brighter ones will just annoy other road users and also invalidates the e-mark approval.

[DJ_Andy_M]

On 11/14/2018 at 7:09 AM, Wookie Monster said:

LED units are supposed to last a great deal longer than conventional bulbs, so sealed units are fairly common as they're not expected to need replacing.

Replacing the LEDs with brighter ones will just annoy other road users and also invalidates the e-mark approval.

Also, the intensity that they already are is per the Europe specification of DRL which is bright enough to compete with the sun. Chances are you could also fail your MOT too for modifying them.

[Wookie Monster]

1 hour ago, DJ_Andy_M said:

Also, the intensity that they already are is per the Europe specification of DRL which is bright enough to compete with the sun. Chances are you could also fail your MOT too for modifying them.

Exactly. DRLs should be brighter than parking lights so they are visible during the day. But not so bright that they compete with the main beam headlights. Ones based on conventional bulbs tend to use dual-filament 21W/5W bulbs the same as used on brake lights- using the dim filament for the parking light and the bright filament as DRL. This is plenty bright enough without being obnoxious. To get European type approval, the LED units will be somewhere close in terms of brightness as the regulations are well-defined.