For those of you above who swapped assemblies which exact assemblies did you get? Links would be appreciated. There are bazillions at 1AAauto, RockAuto, and Amazon. I tried to sand and polish and the appearance is a right good mess. I have refurbished many a headlight in the past so it's not me.

Thanks!

 

For the aero style headlamps, Ford transitioned from a fluted lens (1999-2001) to a clear lens fluted reflector (2002-2004) in model year 2002 (calendar year 2001).

At the same time, Ford transitioned from an ALL AMBER FLUTED LENS separate L shaped lower front signal parking lamp assembly , to a mostly CLEAR FLUTED LENS (save for one small squarish side facing amber reflex reflector) with amber bulb separate L shaped lower front signal parking lamp assembly. Short Hand: Ford had clear parking lamps in 2002.

However, the clear lens of the factory front parking lamps was still fluted in the lens, rather than in the reflector. Therefore, the use of the adjective "clear" has a different meaning when describing the headlights of this period, as opposed to the parking lights.

Aftermarket "clear" parking lamp assemblies were available at the time, and since, where the lens was not fluted, and instead the reflector was fluted, to match the clear lens, fluted reflector design of the new Ford headlamp. A company (now defunct) called APC introduced this design at SEMA in 2001. I remember visiting their booth for a couple of hours, talking with the hot shot young owner, who had won an award that year at that tradeshow.

Their design of the clear lens fluted reflector parking lamp assembly matched the new Ford headlamp design better than the Ford fluted clear lens parking lamp assembly. Ford incorporated this design inspiration in the 2005 and up integrated headlamp / parking lamp assembly, where the upper and lower segments had fluted reflectors and crystal clear lenses.

Therefore, based on my exposure to these headlamp changes in real time when they happened in calendar year 2001 for model year 2002, both the headlamps and the parking lamps that @excursion_7.3 presented in his photo quoted above of what looks likie Wedgewood Blue Excursion are all original equipment Ford factory lamps, including the parking light assembly.

Using LED bulbs in headlamp housings designed for halogen bulbs is generally not recommended, however if one does do so, I think the best focusing of light would be found in the older 1999-2001 model year headlamp housings with the fluted lens (NON-"crystal" housings).

This is because the light generated by the LED is aimed by the flutes in the LENS, rather than the reflector. So the source of light can scatter and bounce all over the place within the headlamp housing itself, but the light that emanates from the housing is aimed by the exit point, where there are many flutes in the face that aim the light toward the road, and not toward the eyes of oncoming drivers.

With the crystal housing having flutes in the reflector... there are first of all far fewer flutes. And those flutes are focusing the light at the back of the housing. The clear lens, with no flutes, allows all light to be seen at full unfocused power within the housing. The halogen bulb designed for the housing is designed such that all of the light it produces is reflected, and none is direct.

However, LED bulb replacements can be tricky, because there are dozens of different designs in how the surface mount devices (hereinafter SMDs) are arranged on the heat sink carrier. Some designs have a single large SMD, that is arranged in such a way where it cannot be seen directly, and thus it more mimics the halogen bulb in so far as it is a single point source of light like a halogen filament.

Still, the question becomes what is the distance of the SMD to the reflector, as that distance can obviously change the focus of reflected light. But more significant deviations are the barrel type designs that are populated with multiple smaller SMD's, or flat fields of multiple SMDs, that dislocate light output out of the locus of the parabola that is supposed to point the light down on the road.

Like bugs are attracted to light, studies have shown that drunk drivers appear to be attracted to light, which is often why so many drive on the wrong side of the road, attracted by lights. Apparently, attraction to light also causes them to plow into police cars and tow trucks on the side of the road with their emergency lights on. So imagine being on a two lane undivided highway, with very bright, unfocused, attractive light, and a drunk driver is travelling in the opposite direction.

Here is a 2002 Excursion brochure showing the OEM headlamps

 

The first I've seen "XLT Premium" advertised.

 

Ended up with some Headlight Depo headlights that were just like my 02 with LED(s). Crapshow getting them installed. I tried to reuse the old adjusters and tried the 14mm socket trick. None of it worked out. Ended up with one old adjuster and one new one. I adjusted the headlights from 25 feet similar to stock and all is well. No one flashing me and I can see the road. That has solved the issue for me for every vehicle I have ever owned.