Official Litronics retrofit to 2004 Boxster

[Chaz]

Hi all,

I've done a lot of research on this topic, but have one very specific question remaining.  I'm considering asking Father Christmas to buy me the Porsche Retrofit Litronics kit, to replace the aging halogens on my lovely 2004 Boxster.  The kit is marked as applicable to model years to 1998-2001, but I can't think of anything that changed on the later Boxsters that would affect the installation.  Can you?

Just to avoid other answers: yes, I've considered an HID kit and want the car to be road legal, so will have to pay for the whole headlight unit to be changed.  I've also looked at secondhand headlights and considered doing this without the wiring harness and control unit for rotating the Xenon dipped beam into the main beam, but fancy doing it the authentic, if expensive, way. 

If anyone has a recommendation for a Porsche electrics specialist, that might know something about this, if no one on here does, please let me know? 

Thanks

Chaz

[Paul P]

Got a part number for the "kit" - there are some who have access to porsche internal part lists ( more detail than PET) - might be more detail there on models etc.

 

 

[K.I.T.T.]

TLDR:

Check fuse A9 and A10 are 15A, if they aren't, replace them with 15A

You don't need any "kit" - just get the headlamps and send it.

[½cwt]

If you are being fully authentic (and legal??) you also need the ride height potentiometers that are fitted to the front left and rear left bottom suspension arms and the associated control system and looms, plus the factory headlamp washers fitted to all Litronic cars and the hoses, larger washer tank and extra pump that goes with these.... 

Would be interesting to know what is in the kit.

[K.I.T.T.]

40 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

(and legal??)

You don't need any of the above for it to be legal.

 

Easy: 2 mins to swap headlights over
"Authentic": Hours and £££ on bits that aren't needed. Plus another 2 mins to swap the headlights over

As they say, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

[Chaz]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the suggestions and help.  Yes, the Litronics are expensive but I have a particularly understanding Father Christmas this year and I don't have K.I.T.T's skills at restoring secondhand units.  Also yes, the control module and wiring harness are not necessary for being road-legal, but the kit price is actually cheaper than buying two new Litronic headlights alone (which surprised me and if it had been a few hundred pounds more, I'd have been OK with that).  Someone commented on US RennTech.org thread that the value of filling in the main beam is  marginal if you live in the city and can't have the main beam on permanently; I do enough driving on country roads that it would be a nice bonus.

With regard to the factory-fit dynamic leveling and headlight washers, you don't need to fit those for the car to pass its MOT.  There is a lot of confusion about this subject on the 'net, but the right answer is out there and I've checked it with the MOT manual and via Paragon.  There was a recent update to the MOT manual which made it clear that fitting HID lamps in place of halogen lamps in what was a halogen housing, would be an automatic fail.  The pre-update rules seemed to have been unclear on this.  However, replacing the whole headlamp unit is legit and the manual says that there is no reason to fail such a change, if it works correctly for all other purposes (such as alignment).  This is in 4.1.4 of the MOT manual, if you want to look it up (though I can't remember the name of the update, they are both available from the government website).  4.1.6 of the manual says that headlight washers have to work if fitted and should be fitted to cars first used after 1 Sept 2009. 

Thanks for the tip on upgrading the fuses; had seen the same advice on the Pelican Parts guide.

Finally, to my original question.  Probing of the Porsche database suggests there may be a wiring change on the 2002-onwards Boxsters which would have to be worked around, but my hope is that the information is mixing up the 996 facelift which happened in 2002 with the 986.  On the Classic Porsche Shop pages, the Litronic headlight units are shown as applicable to the 996 from 1998-2001 and the 986 until 2004.  Since the retrofit kit was sold to upgrade either car, I'm hoping that the MY information is derived from the 996 in Porsche's database. 

All best

 

Chaz 

 

 

[Chaz]

PS: for those that wanted to know what's in the kit, see here:

https://www.fvd.net/ch-en/FVD04490039/986-996-litronic-headlight-kit-european-version.html

(The kit is available for less money, but this has a good picture).

Chaz

 

[iborguk]

8 minutes ago, Chaz said:

Hi all,

Thanks for all the suggestions and help.  Yes, the Litronics are expensive but I have a particularly understanding Father Christmas this year and I don't have K.I.T.T's skills at restoring secondhand units.  Also yes, the control module and wiring harness are not necessary for being road-legal, but the kit price is actually cheaper than buying two new Litronic headlights alone (which surprised me and if it had been a few hundred pounds more, I'd have been OK with that).  Someone commented on US RennTech.org thread that the value of filling in the main beam is  marginal if you live in the city and can't have the main beam on permanently; I do enough driving on country roads that it would be a nice bonus.

With regard to the factory-fit dynamic leveling and headlight washers, you don't need to fit those for the car to pass its MOT.  There is a lot of confusion about this subject on the 'net, but the right answer is out there and I've checked it with the MOT manual and via Paragon.  There was a recent update to the MOT manual which made it clear that fitting HID lamps in place of halogen lamps in what was a halogen housing, would be an automatic fail.  The pre-update rules seemed to have been unclear on this.  However, replacing the whole headlamp unit is legit and the manual says that there is no reason to fail such a change, if it works correctly for all other purposes (such as alignment).  This is in 4.1.4 of the MOT manual, if you want to look it up (though I can't remember the name of the update, they are both available from the government website).  4.1.6 of the manual says that headlight washers have to work if fitted and should be fitted to cars first used after 1 Sept 2009. 

Thanks for the tip on upgrading the fuses; had seen the same advice on the Pelican Parts guide.

Finally, to my original question.  Probing of the Porsche database suggests there may be a wiring change on the 2002-onwards Boxsters which would have to be worked around, but my hope is that the information is mixing up the 996 facelift which happened in 2002 with the 986.  On the Classic Porsche Shop pages, the Litronic headlight units are shown as applicable to the 996 from 1998-2001 and the 986 until 2004.  Since the retrofit kit was sold to upgrade either car, I'm hoping that the MY information is derived from the 996 in Porsche's database. 

All best

 

Chaz 

 

 

Good luck with the project, you're all in at ££££

This is the link I think you're referring to , which I stumbled across last night.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment#section-4-1-4

 

[Chaz]

Hiya,

Yes, that's the bit.  Relevant text is:  

"Existing halogen headlamp units on vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986 must not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp for light source and lamp not compatible.

This does not refer to complete replacement headlamp units which may be constructed with HID or LED light sources."

(My day job is lawyering, so....)

Cheers

 

Chaz

 

[K.I.T.T.]

16 minutes ago, Chaz said:

"This does not refer to complete replacement headlamp units which may be constructed with HID or LED light sources"

This was missing from the previous iteration of the guidance reffered to in my thread, leaving a bit of a grey area / room for interpretation. Glad to finally see some clarity on this.

There are electrical differences beginning with MY 2001, and again with late MY 2002 / early MY 2003, however none of this is relevant to this applications the lights / kit will work just fine.

[Chaz]

Thanks K.I.T.T, that's handy to know.

Chaz

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, Chaz said:

......the Litronic headlight units are shown as applicable to the 996 from 1998-2001 and the 986 until 2004.  Since the retrofit kit was sold to upgrade either car, I'm hoping that the MY information is derived from the 996 in Porsche's database. 

All best

 

Chaz 

 

 

The head lamp unit shape changed on the 996 facelift hence new part numbers and incompatibility, the 986 units also have a part number change between the 2002 and 2003 model years when the indicators when to clear from amber for the halogen lights according to the PET parts catalogue but not for Litronics which were always clear indicators.