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Old 11-04-2022, 04:04 PM   #1
bwilson7990
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2018 WRX Limited
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Default 18+ Limited WRX and 18+ STI Headlight Teardown

I had a recent headlight dilemma with my 2018 Limited WRX and I figured it may be helpful to someone else to share my experience as I was unable to find much detailed information online. This information will cover the 18+ WRX Limited and I believe all 18+ STIs with LED Steering Responsive Headlights (SRH).

I started having intermittent failure of the passenger side headlight beam. All other features of the light were working normally, and when the beam was working I could see the SRH working as well. Subaru wants an astonishing and ridiculous $1100 for a new headlight, JUST ONE. I figured there must be a way to fix it myself. I found a "salvage" headlight on eBay and got really lucky on the price. Most run around $350-500 depending on how bad they are damaged; upwards of $750-900 for like new or claimed brand new. I got one for $120 that had a pretty badly cracked rear housing and scuffs on the lens, all parts I didn't need anyway.

After removing the screws, and using a heat gun, I was able to pry back the plastic tabs that hold the lens together and continued to heat the sealant while trying to separate the lens from the housing. The sealant is a butyl-based rubber material and has some adhesive properties but it is by no means a glue. Heat gun will easily do the job in this case by heating the back side of the headlight where you can see the channel that the lens fits into. Once completely apart, the sealant will stick to itself more than the plastic and you can use what you have pulled off to work the rest of the sealant off the edge of the lens. Heat lightly as necessary to keep it compliant.

Once, separated, there is one cable that connects to the C-Light with plenty of slack to pull it out, and the C-Light stays with the outer lens. At this point you remove the one screw on the underside of the turn signal reflector and pop it out of the housing. You'll be able to see where it snaps into two molded places in the housing by the top and right side of the reflector. No need to remove the turn signal bulb unless you want to.

The headlight beam assembly has a frame around it encasing the beam housing with integrated lens, beam reflector, the high/low reflector and actuating motor, and the SRH motor. It floats in the headlight attached by three points, one circular fixed point on the bottom right, and two square clips, one on the top right and one on the bottom left. The square clips are the ends of the alignment adjusters. You can remove the beam assembly as a single unit by depressing the small tabs on the adjuster clips and the fixed circular clip and pulling the assembly away from the headlight housing. There are three wiring connectors, two on the right side of the beam assembly and one at the bottom rear.

This is as far as I disassembled my headlight besides removing the rear reflector to observe the LED chip, but it appears it can be fully disassembled further to replace the SRH motor or high/low components. I simply swapped out the entire headlight beam assembly and re-installed (after testing on my car to make sure it worked of course)

There are two computer modules inside the headlight as well. The "main" one which is positioned under the turn signal reflector and another exposed circuit board on the back wall behind the beam assembly. You can purchase the "main" controller online by searching for the part number on it for under $100 (see pics). All other parts I was not able to find by searching their identifying marks.

Here is a link to all the pictures that I took during disassembly and reassembly. https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...yx?usp=sharing

Here's a link to the headlight sealant that I purchased to re-seal the headlight. Be sure to get it warm with the heat gun before pressing the lens back on the housing. There are a bunch of WRX headlight disassembly and re-sealing videos out there; just none that I could find that detail the Limited SRH headlight internals.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps someone out there save some money with their SRH headlight issues!
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Old 07-11-2023, 06:07 PM   #2
WRX_XTR
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Thanks for posting. I have an '18 Anniversary edition WRX and found out yesterday that I've lost the high beam in the drivers side. After digging into the car to change a bulb I discovered that wasn't what I needed to do, further research lead me to the $1000 to $1200 estimates from Subaru to replace. (seriously guys, bulbs to fail, this is crazy)

Searching for a salvage bucket now. (I haven't found one at this point)
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Old 07-11-2023, 06:07 PM   #3
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double post
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Old 07-18-2023, 01:44 AM   #4
GoFrogs
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WRX_XTR View Post
Thanks for posting. I have an '18 Anniversary edition WRX and found out yesterday that I've lost the high beam in the drivers side. After digging into the car to change a bulb I discovered that wasn't what I needed to do, further research lead me to the $1000 to $1200 estimates from Subaru to replace. (seriously guys, bulbs to fail, this is crazy)

Searching for a salvage bucket now. (I haven't found one at this point)
is the failure with the circuit board(s)? or is the failure with the led chipset?

with your highbeam failing, is it the actual LED or is the controller circuit?

Probably too much to just try different parts versus swapping in a new light module.

Mazda wants similar money for the headlight to the Touring trim CX-5 (with the led DRL that makes a "--u" shape under the projector. The headlight isn't that expensive to make; it is the fact that it is a part that is most likely damaged and therefore (for insurance reasons) replacements are insanely priced.

I guess this is one reason why few companies have releases aftermarket versions of the stock headlights and have chosen to go down different roads in the WRX/STI headlight design (that may or may not perform as good as the stock lights).
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Old 07-19-2023, 09:33 AM   #5
bwilson7990
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In my case with the SRH headlight there is only one LED chipset for both high and low. When you trigger the high beam, there's a small motor that moves a reflector to adjust the angle of the output from the LED. If you have SRH headlights and low beam works and switching to high beam does nothing, it's probably this reflector motor. It's all serviceable! Get a salvage one that's mostly intact and dissect it.
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Old 09-15-2023, 05:57 PM   #6
xXJukkaXx
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Just had my SRH LED headlight burn out on my 2018. The actual LED had stopped working (high and low). Motors for the SRH still work (can see them moving when the lights are turned on), and C-Lights still light up.

There are the two modules you have in the pictures, there is the one "main" controller module, which I've found available remanned. Do you happen to know which of the controllers actually controls the LED vs controlling the motor, high beam motor and c-lights? Don't want to spend $90 + the time to disassemble the car and light if it's the wrong module that needs replacing.
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Old 09-15-2023, 05:57 PM   #7
xXJukkaXx
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**double post**

Last edited by xXJukkaXx; 09-15-2023 at 06:47 PM. Reason: double posted.
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Old 09-16-2023, 12:09 AM   #8
bwilson7990
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2018 WRX Limited
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xXJukkaXx View Post
Just had my SRH LED headlight burn out on my 2018. The actual LED had stopped working (high and low). Motors for the SRH still work (can see them moving when the lights are turned on), and C-Lights still light up.

There are the two modules you have in the pictures, there is the one "main" controller module, which I've found available remanned. Do you happen to know which of the controllers actually controls the LED vs controlling the motor, high beam motor and c-lights? Don't want to spend $90 + the time to disassemble the car and light if it's the wrong module that needs replacing.
I am not sure which one controls it specifically. I replaced the LED itself and that was my issue. Why are you going after the module specifically? Its probably the LED chip itself
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Old 09-19-2023, 01:22 PM   #9
xXJukkaXx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bwilson7990 View Post
I am not sure which one controls it specifically. I replaced the LED itself and that was my issue. Why are you going after the module specifically? Its probably the LED chip itself
I'm planning on selling the car in the next couple months, so I want to fix for as cheap as possible. I can order the module for $90, where the cheapest full lamp assemblies I can find right now are still $400 + shipping, which are still damaged.

Figure I'd try the $90 module vs spending $400+ on a damaged headlamp to hopefully get all working components.
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Old 10-24-2023, 06:11 PM   #10
xXJukkaXx
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Just did mine over the weekend, found something interesting.

My car is a 2018 and the donor headlight I got came from a 2021 STI. The wiring harness between the two were the identical with one exception. On the 2021, Subaru changed the heat sync and heat sync connector. I guess they upgraded the fan/heat sync, so the connector on the wiring harness and on the LED were completely different. Wasn't a big deal, just swapped the entire wiring harness over between the two. The control boards were the same between the two.

Also tested the the individual components to confirm if it was the LED or the control boards. After looking at the LED and the heat sync, my guess is the heat sync either failed, or didn't work to it's full effect and caused the LED to overheat and burn out.
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