CaptDank

Hey guys. Done a quick search but looking for more concrete input

Is250 2007 80k miles.

So I noticed the other day I had a headlight out, passenger side. When I bought the car 6 months ago, I replaced both HID bulbs with Phillips brand when I converted my fog lights to HID

The on/off trick seems to work, but only did it once.

In my search, some people found results with a new bulb, but since mine are new and better quality and considering the age of the car, ballast a more reasonable conculsion?

Thanks for the input, and maybe a sticky/fyi /faq since our generation is getting older, just a though

Thanks!

Bichon

If you did any significant amount of searching about this, it's likely you saw the recommendation of swapping the left and right bulbs to determine whether the problem is the bulbs or the ballast. It's a definitive test to see whether the problem is a bad bulb or a bad ballast, and much more sensible than replacing expensive parts based on an educated guess.

scott1256c

Or you could put in the old lamps and see if that works.

istundra

iTrader: (2)

basic troubleshooting swapping out the bulbs side to side or swap in known good bulb in place of faulty one... same method since 90's when HID came out.

i normally have spare known good bulb as back-up. easier to swap in known good bulb then to swap side to side.

CaptDank

Sorry missed a line on my original post, what is the typical longevity for the ballast? I know I need to Check my grounds to see if any of them need maintenance

Also how did you get to the passenger side bulb? It seems I order to get enough leverage I would have to loosen the air box

MikeFoxx

iTrader: (8)

Yup u gotta move out the air box... but if you had a Takeda intake it would be wide open ^_^

Ballasts last a while and for those that do go bad it's few and far between.

getafewliv

Why don't you just try swapping bulbs, as per everyone's advice, then start looking at other possibilities? One thing at a time, start with the easiest test that will verify if it is the bulb or an electrical/ballast issue.

dbdynsty25

I had a similar issue. I bought the car from a friend and once I got it home I noticed my drivers side light was out. Turning it off and on worked to get it relit but it didn't stay that way. So I swapped with some aftermarket 6000k bulbs and then they both started going out randomly. I bought some OEM philips bulbs and swapped those out and it seems like I've solved the issue. It's only been a few days but so far so good.

My bet is you got a bad bulb. 85 bucks for a pair of the Philips on Amazon so it's a cheap and easy fix after you've swapped and made sure it actually is the bulbs.

skoota500

If You find that both bulbs are good by trying them on whichever headlight thats working, you need to replace the bad ballast. I have done it before, and it was definitely the ballast.

GiantsFan

iTrader: (9)

The Amazon bulbs are fake.

Also- it's not hard to swap the ballast. It's mounted on the bottom of the headlight. You need to take the wires out of the connector (part that clips onto the bulb) so you can pull the wires through, then once you transfer the new ballast in you can put the connector back on. joeZ made a video in the LED headlight swap DIY thread.