I recently purchased a 2005 xc90 and have been getting various things fixed (mostly by professionals). However, I went ahead and replaced the headlight assemblies myself. They were very foggy and the price of new assembly seemed pretty reasonable ~$275. Watching this HOW-TO video they guy talks about how the new assemblies he's installing aren't exactly as tricked out as the original, such as it doesn't have a ballast and doesn't have the fancy tracking with steering wheel mechanism.

* Should I reconsider some how refurbishing my old lights to preserve this original behavior?
* I'm now getting an headlight error, I did a quick search on this forum and didn't see any posts about it, but didn't look that hard. Is there a way to get rid of these errors with the new lights?

What did others do? Were you happy with your decision?

 

If your old lights had a ballast and your new ones do not -

Your old lights used HID bulbs, The new ones use incandescent (probably H11) bulbs. HID headlamps were an option, H11 was the standard headlamp assembly.

Your headlight error is because you are using a different bulb. It will only go away when you put the same type of headlamp assembly back in.

Sure, someone will reply that you can use Vdash to crack the PIN of your CEM, maybe Vdash has a solution after that (it's not free) to TRY to get your CEM to like your new headlamps. It would be easier to put the correct headlamp assemblies in. If your new headlamps are not returnable - others have taken the glued on lens off, and replaced them. (from what I've read using heat - from a oven, I don't know, but some have claimed to have done it. )

Or polishing headlamp lenses when done correctly produces great results.

 

Thanks @hoonk for the reply. I was able to return the headlights I purchased and am planning on polishing my foggy originals.