If your reflectors are shot, then new bulbs and heavy wiring/relays won't
help much. There aren't any upgrades for the rectangular reflectors and
unfortunately replacements are quite costly. 

For about $200 you can retrofit to pre-86 round headlights and use Hella
reflectors and H4 bulbs. That's what I did on my '87 and the headlights are
much much better. See 1986 archives for details.

-Mark McCulley
 
At 08:34 PM 3/5/97 -0600, Ed McLean wrote:
>A short while back someone posted a report of the replacement of vanagon
>headlights with a non-DOT approved bulb  (I think this was a Hella 550 but
>I'm not sure).  I believe this was a '85 or earlier vanagon with round
>headlights.
>
>Has anyone replaced a '86 or newer vanagon's high/low headlights with a
>better performing rectangular reflector/bulb combination?  My reflectors
>are in bad shape because of moisture and some 80/100 watt bulbs that
>exploded (But that's another story.).
>
>I checked the voltage on the high beams of the outer lamps at the bulb.  It
>was 9.8 volts...
>And this is with the inner high beam lights running on a separate relay.  I
>guess relays all around are a next project.