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993 HIDs and the New MOT Regulations

:agree: can't see this ever being an issue at a regular MOT station. Garage that does mine is far too real-world (hopefully not famous last words....)
 
So what's the deal with LED bulbs... do they simply plug into the existing halogen holder?
 
911UK said:
an interesting question, which needs some input from all.

To make an assumption, if the HID Ballast is inside the headlamp unit then you would probably be ok.

Can't recall if the factory HID unit had a deeper rear panel and thus allow the HID ballast to be attached to it.

Units where the HID ballasts are wired into the unit and stored outside of the headlamp unit are going to be a potential issue.

Since Porsche did have an OEM Xenon (Litonics) option for the 993, there is a potential solution for this, as long as the unit mirrors the OEM headlamp.

My 993 GT2 rep has Litronics (factory fitted). The ballasts are fitted to the inner wing inside the frunk and on full view.

I have had HIDs on the 996 since I bought it 10 years ago (projector style lights). The standard bulbs are positively dangerous.

Both cars now have 4800 Lumens LED main beams which I can highly recommend.

Never had even a comment at MOT time, despite neither car having headlight washers. I've been mates with my MOT tester for over 20 years so that may help, but he said that so long as the beam pattern is sensible he'd pass them.
 
Robertb said:
So what's the deal with LED bulbs... do they simply plug into the existing halogen holder?

Yes but you need to chose carefully as some of them have massive heatsinks / fans which can make mounting a problem. I use the CREE type with a sort of "fan" of braided cable as the heatsink. This is much easier to deal with but still requires a bit of lateral thinking to make it all fit in a 993 or 996 headlight unit.
 
Robertb said:
So what's the deal with LED bulbs... do they simply plug into the existing halogen holder?

They vary, mine didn't, on a 996 the H7 clip didn't fit them to I had to buy a separate (BMW I think) mounting.

More importantly, my LEDs have a great, even white light but critically, not a very hot spot in the centre for lighting down the road. I was planning HIDs but now I'm not sure!
 
highway said:
The only garage this might be an issue is an opc or specialist. Mainstream MOT are big business. They have neither time nor interest to worry about dismantling headlight assemblies to confirm compliance. Never going to be a real world issue.

My T-light hid equipped 993 sailed through the MOT today.
As other posters have said, you'd have to be an inquisitive expert to discover the HIDs where not original.
 
Thanks - my 993 with HIDs has likewise passed all its MOTs ok since 2010 .... the issue is new Dft guidelines wef 18 May 2018 (they are available online) state clearly that aftermarket fitted HID lights will be failed.

FYI Section 4.1.4 on page 7 states:

Some vehicles may be fitted with High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlamps. It is not permitted to convert existing halogen headlamp units for use with HID bulbs. If it is clear that such a conversion has been carried out, rather than replacing the entire unit with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs, the headlamp should be rejected.
 
I'm not sure my MOT station would even ask the question, given the scant attention they pay to headlight alignment.

For the first couple of years I owned this car one of the headlights was obviously misaligned because I had a great view of the road when the headlights were dipped but people coming the other way kept flashing me because they thought I had the headlights on beam.

I eventually set about trying to adjust them, but moved them too far in the other direction to such an extent that we couldn't drive the car at night because the headlights were pointing straight down at the ground.

The car has probably passed five MOT's during this period, with the headlights completely misaligned, so I have no idea what checks they are doing, but there is obviously quite a margin for error. On that basis I'm reckoning that checking the internals is probably way beyond them.
 
For what it's worth my old man is an MOT tester; says there is next to no chance testers will be investigating the nature of the lights, presence of a ballast, etc.

Once checked for aim they are pretty much done.
 
Grave dig on this one sorry, but I just had a call from Precision Porsche saying they would have to fail my 993's MOT because it has HID Conversion..
 
whereas my 993 went through it's MOT last month with no issue with it's HID
 
kingroon said:
Grave dig on this one sorry, but I just had a call from Precision Porsche saying they would have to fail my 993's MOT because it has HID Conversion..

Doesn't surprise me, I asked them about fitting HID's for me a few weeks back and they declined saying it would be an MOT fail. I'm still tempted though and then get an MOT at a non Porsche specialist.
 
Zorro said:
kingroon said:
Grave dig on this one sorry, but I just had a call from Precision Porsche saying they would have to fail my 993's MOT because it has HID Conversion..

Doesn't surprise me, I asked them about fitting HID's for me a few weeks back and they declined saying it would be an MOT fail. I'm still tempted though and then get an MOT at a non Porsche specialist.
Yeah, I think I'll go visit my Local Garage for the MOT..
 
Hi,

My 993 has the Tore B kit and went through its MOT about three weeks ago with my local OPC and there we no comments what so ever. Just goes to show its another of life's mysteries.
Michael
 
Zorro said:
kingroon said:
Grave dig on this one sorry, but I just had a call from Precision Porsche saying they would have to fail my 993's MOT because it has HID Conversion..

Doesn't surprise me, I asked them about fitting HID's for me a few weeks back and they declined saying it would be an MOT fail. I'm still tempted though and then get an MOT at a non Porsche specialist.

Admittedly I've not fitted HIDs to a 993, but it's a piece of cake on a 987 Cayman, you could swap them out come MOT day in 20 mins.
 

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