Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

So I installed a 3000K Fog light kit in my GS a few weeks back and everything was nice. I really liked the yellow contrast to the stock HIDs. I saw somewhere on CL where a member zip tied the ballast on the lower plastic part under the fog lights on each side, which worked well.

So..., Saturday I went out into the garage to pull the car out and it wouldn't start. WTF? I just drove it a few hours earlier. The car was acting really weird. I pushed the start button and nothing. It started giving me that dead battery clicking sound. Then some of the dash lights and dome lights were flickering. I could hear the fan running in the engine bay. I tried to turn the car off, with no luck. I walked outside of the car, and the fogs and one of the headlights were off, but everything else was on. So I had to walk in the house with the key to get out of range to get the car to turn off. I went outside a bit later and tried to start it again, nothing. Then, after calming down and actually thinking straight, I gave it a jump. Started right up, however no fog lights.

I checked the fuses and the fog light fuse was blown. Luckily Lexus gave us every extra fuse except the 10 amp fuse for the fogs. Got some new fuses from the auto part store, and put one back in. Turned on the fogs, again, blown fuse.. ok, I knew something was shorting it out.

I opened the wheel well plastic by the fog lights and the ballast was soaking wet. What a FAIL on my part. That had to be it. I removed the kit, put the stock bulbs back in, replaced the fuse and it worked.

Moral of the story, please mount your fog light ballast up as high as you can. I don't know why I thought that the area would remain dry. I think I was excited to get the lights in and wasn't thinking rationally. A lesson I learned too late, but at least it was an inexpensive kit. I'm going to open the ballast and let it dry and see if it will work again.

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

hmmm... interesting. i recently relocated mine from the engine bay down to the inside of the front bumper. so far so good.

socal3gs

iTrader: (1)

I have no problem mounting the ballasts inside the bottom of the wheel well. I thought HID ballast were made for water proof.

DaSyce

iTrader: (3)

Depending on brand they are waterproof....

wikidbwoy

iTrader: (2)

i have ran my hid ballast down there for years without the fender lining and never had any problems. Your ballast may have a short in it.

riboflavin

My foglight hid ballasts are mounted there as well and they have been working well for over 1 year now.

Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, that could be the case. Like i mentioned, Im going to try and dry them out and reconnect. If the problem persists, I will scrap them..

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

throw them in a bowl of rice and seal it up. let the rice soak up all the water.

Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I heard about that with electronics... Thanks for the tip..

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

worse comes to worse buy a kit from hidextra, cost like 50 bucks shipped. had mine for over a year now and no problems

Kcook700

iTrader: (2)

That's what I have!

BinaryJay

It's probably not the ballast that shorted out it was probably the connection to the factory harness that wasn't sealed well enough.

I recently relocated mine from the bumper INTO the engine bay and have had no problems. I dunno... I use the expensive xtreme kit from xenondepot though.

ekc

iTrader: (6)

I had a similar problem mounting the ballasts too low. No blown fuses, just needed to replace my ballasts and relocate to a higher location.

ek9vboi

iTrader: (3)

I've always had my ballast mounted to the inside of the bumper support/crash bar. It's on a solid chunk of metal which helps from vibrations unlike zip ties to plastic panels. That and since its behind the support bar, it keeps water away. No problems so far.

mikedozz

Just curious, where is the fuse located for the fogs? My HID fogs went out 3 monthes ago on both sides, haven't fixed it yet.