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noJeeps 2001 duramax Frank - new headlights

I love them, these were a much needed upgrade, since the factory lenses faded terribly after I cleaned them two years ago. I could run with the high beams on on the highway and no one would flash me to tell me I was blinding them. We drove to my sister in laws in Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving and left home after I got off work, and Lyndsay drove the first part while I had a nap. I heard her grumble and slow down several times saying she couldn't see. Something needed to be done.

Enter Anzo USA and superbrightleds. com for the upgrades. The Yukon has Anzo lenses since the axle swap (I did some accident repair at that time) and they've been great, beam pattern is very nice, and they show no signs of wear, plus they're consistently the highest rated aftermarket brand on ebay. The LEDs are another brand I've had good results with in the past so I went with them again, but just for the high beams, the lows I stuck with traditional halogen bulbs for one reason: heat. LEDs don't generate heat, and when driving through snow at night, this could be a liability, since the snow will cover the lights if they're not on or make heat. Incandescent bulbs make heat, LEDs do not.

Installation was easy enough, most of it is factory like stuff, and the only difficulty was in figuring out where to put the cooling fins for the high beams (there are fins on the led bulb to keep the electronics cool, not to keep the housing from melting) but once I got that figured out, everything else went smooth like warm butter. And can I say, I really like how GM had it figured out, at least for a little while, how headlights should be attached to the vehicle, no tools were needed to take the old stuff off and install the new stuff.

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For the low beams I stuck with traditional halogen bulbs from Sylvania and their Silverstar range, as I prefer the cool white color compared to generic yellowish bulbs. The difference from the faded yellow lense to the new is tremendous, the pattern is much like a modern car with a full spread from side to side and a nice relatively sharp cutoff in the distance and even a little divot to avoid blinding oncoming traffic.

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They're good enough that I don't feel the need to run the high beams as much, because they're bright!
 
The highs are bright, as in light bar bright, it's amazing what technology can do, as the area of output is only the size of two screw heads. These are nearly as bright as the light bar on the Yukon is, and it's a 20" double row bar. The output from each bulb is 3000 lumens, so 6000 total, compared to the 7600 from the light bar. Crazy. They're a cool white color and are very easy on the eyes, even on a long, dark, snow covered road, eye strain shouldn't be a problem. I now have no plans for extra lighting, at least until I get an aftermarket bumper for this thing...

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That’s a nice upgrade. Notes taken for my dad’s duramax.

David
 
Frank needs new injectors soon, it's starting harder than it has the previous two winters I've owned this thing.


Any recommendations on injectors for an LB7?
 
Reason I'm looking at injectors is because I've had the dreaded haze since I got it on the road again, but now it's getting worse and lingers for several seconds after I hit the throttle. If the temp is freezing or above, Frank has no issues starting, but when it's cold and been sitting for a while, he's a little grumpy. And the smoke upon startup is getting much worse too. But injectors are cheap enough I'll throw a set at it this summer and make sure the whole system is working well.
 
noJeepshere said:
Reason I'm looking at injectors is because I've had the dreaded haze since I got it on the road again, but now it's getting worse and lingers for several seconds after I hit the throttle. If the temp is freezing or above, Frank has no issues starting, but when it's cold and been sitting for a while, he's a little grumpy. And the smoke upon startup is getting much worse too. But injectors are cheap enough I'll throw a set at it this summer and make sure the whole system is working well.
Click to expand...
If you are getting a lot of smoke on start up and it goes away quick, it could be the injectors leaking when sitting, but if it stays a little longer, it might be the glow plugs and the cylinders down will take longer to warm up and burn clean.
Just my thoughts on which item to tackle first
 
I believe that those S&S injectors are the ones my son put in his '03 in November '19. He has 17K on them and we are going in to replace one tomorrow. We will see if S&S is correct that he should be good afterwards. They did send him one out quickly after talking to them, but it isn't what we expected when he bought brand new injectors.
He has a FASS lift pump and always uses Schaeffer's additive which adds lubricity. I have used it for years for the fleet at work.
While I can't tell you that those injectors will be the way to go in the long haul, S&S are being very helpful after the sale. The man at Merchant automotive was very helpful as well.
FYI, he and the previous owner got 80K out of the last set of stock injectors. He replaced them because he was concerned about the hazing and the balance rates were getting to the high side of the spec and sometimes over.
 
imiceman44 said:
If you are getting a lot of smoke on start up and it goes away quick, it could be the injectors leaking when sitting, but if it stays a little longer, it might be the glow plugs and the cylinders down will take longer to warm up and burn clean.
Just my thoughts on which item to tackle first
Click to expand...
The smoke is heavy then clears up rapidly in the first few seconds. But when the motor is warm and idling, it has a definite haze that used to not be so bad, but is now thicker and stinkier and persists for several seconds after I hit the throttle.
 
6872xtc said:
I believe that those S&S injectors are the ones my son put in his '03 in November '19. He has 17K on them and we are going in to replace one tomorrow. We will see if S&S is correct that he should be good afterwards. They did send him one out quickly after talking to them, but it isn't what we expected when he bought brand new injectors.
He has a FASS lift pump and always uses Schaeffer's additive which adds lubricity. I have used it for years for the fleet at work.
While I can't tell you that those injectors will be the way to go in the long haul, S&S are being very helpful after the sale. The man at Merchant automotive was very helpful as well.
FYI, he and the previous owner got 80K out of the last set of stock injectors. He replaced them because he was concerned about the hazing and the balance rates were getting to the high side of the spec and sometimes over.
Click to expand...

I have been hearing good things about the S&S injectors in the last few months. Didn’t know they had changed to the newer style nozzle like the lly and up has now.
Hope to hear you have good luck with the company and the replacement!?
 
noJeepshere said:
The smoke is heavy then clears up rapidly in the first few seconds. But when the motor is warm and idling, it has a definite haze that used to not be so bad, but is now thicker and stinkier and persists for several seconds after I hit the throttle.
Click to expand...
Then I guess it is leaky injectors, I am assuming it also would be consuming more fuel that way
 
It was a little bit warmer this time, but the smoke is still really thick for 1 second, versus the 3 seconds it was thick the other morning.

 
noJeepshere said:
It was a little bit warmer this time, but the smoke is still really thick for 1 second, versus the 3 seconds it was thick the other morning.

Click to expand...
What tune you got in it? It’s not stock with the soot on the bumper and 1/4 panel.
That’s nothing. Run it!
Seriously.
Mine would cloud out a parking lot and burn your eyes.
 
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I remember you said no tune before.
I don’t know but I think it starts not bad for being cold out and that bit of smoke isn’t much. Winter fuel will decrease mileage a lot.
 
max 02 said:
What tune you got in it? It’s not stock with the soot on the bumper and 1/4 panel.
That’s nothing. Run it!
Seriously.
Mine would cloud out a parking lot and burn your eyes.
Click to expand...
From what we have seen with my son's truck, a good tune and good injectors won't put out lots of soot. His has a 70 or 80 hp tune in it. He can go 10K oil changes and the oil barely gets dirty. He tried a different tune once, and it was nasty dirty all the way around, exhaust and soot in the oil, so he went back. The truck runs cleaner and more responsive. And the inside of his engine is super clean at 230K. We just verified that again today, after swapping the one injector. :doah:
 
The dash video was taken at 10f, and if you look closely, you can see the smoke out the passenger window. The exhaust video was taken at about 40f, with much less smoke.
 
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