Merkelbach

I have a 2001 Lexus ES300 and the other day the driver's side headlight stopped lighting up fully. It lights up with a faint flickering glow, equivalent to maybe 1% or less of what it's supposed to put out, just barely bright enough to see it at all. I swapped out the bulb and that didn't change anything, so I assume the ballast has gone out.

When I start shopping around for another ballast I enjoy some severe sticker shock.

But this car is a very low-budget car that sees little use, so I'm looking for the CHEAPEST possible solution that will keep it street legal (i.e. two working headlights).

I'm thinking of going to the local pick n pull and pulling the headlight assembly out of an equivalent ES300 and just swapping it out.

Will this plan work?

If I can't find an HID headlight assembly from a compatible car, I'm thinking of taking the headlight assembly from a car with just regular halogen bulbs and installing that. Will that work? Would it be necessary for me to replace both headlights with halogen bulbs or just the one?

Since the headlight assembly is pretty much self-contained, in that it contains the ballast inside of it, I assume a regular halogen headlight assembly would be fit in the same place with the same connectors.

Please advise.

EDIT: Seems the site thought my abbreviation for "assembly" was a swear word.

PFB

I have the same 2001 as yours. My Ballasts and bulbs are still OK after 16 years. If I were you I would first interchange the left and right ballast. to see if the problem follows the ballast.

If it does, you should be able to buy a new OEM ballast online for much less than at the dealer. The Ballast is separate to the HID headlight.

try this site:

http://www.xenondepot.com


It makes no sense to buy 2 Regular headlights because of a potentially defective Ballast.

Merkelbach

Thank you for your response. Partly I want to change out the HID lights because of my experience when I went to the auto parts store and found out that HID bulbs are about $100 while the halogen ones are $7. How are HID lights worth the extra cost?

Suppose I do confirm that the ballast is out (I can't check that today but I'll be able to in a couple of days), will my plan work? Will I be able to get two halogen headlight assemblies at the junkyard and swap them into my car? Will they fit the space, and will the electrical connectors connect and provide the right amount of electricity?

nsghtbrwry

No. The ballast gets the voltage up to the several kilovolts that an HID bulb needs to operate, a halogen bulb just plugs into your 12-14V from the charging system/battery.

Look on Amazon, the parts store will rape you at $100-140 a bulb. Philips HID bulbs are $40 apiece or so on Amazon.

Merkelbach

If I remove the HID headlight assembly, that will remove the ballast at the same time, because that is part of the unit. This is why I'm thinking it should be possible to take out the HID headlight assembly and replace it with a stock halogen assembly. Since the entire headlight assembly includes the ballast, I'm thinking the back end of the assembly probably just plugs into the 12V system from the car battery, as you described. If this is the case, and if the plugs in the back of the headlight assembly are the same for both the HID and the halogen style, then the entire unit should be interchangeable, no?

EDIT: Btw, I can get two stock halogen headlight assemblies from a car in a junkyard for $30, and since the criterion here is to find the cheapest possible solution, that's why I'm leaning towards that one if it's at all possible.

nsghtbrwry

Not sure, if the connector from the harness to the ballast is the same as what goes into a standard bulb, then yeah, I can see that working. Or maybe grab the connectors when you get the assemblies and splice them into the harness with butt connectors or the like?

Power6

The fundamental wiring is the same, the connector plugs to the HID vs Halogen lights are different. I swapped the other way. If you really want to do this, you would cut the plug and some of the wire from the car you take the headlights from, so you can cut and solder that plug to the wires on your car. You will also unplug the leveling motors and leave those plugs loose, which I believe will cause the leveler warning light to come on in your dash.

Now why do that much work to downgrade the headlights, you have no idea how dim those sad little halogens are! If you haven't solved this yet, I have spare old HID units from my swap that will have ballasts, I'll sell you one cheap so you can fix it right. I don't come here much so email me at andrew-at-agnostictech<dot>com

Merkelbach

I sincerely thank you for your help and your offer, Power6, but I solved this problem by going on eBay and buying a used but working ballast for $40. It seemed like the cheapest and easiest solution, and I'm back on the road now. I guess if I continue to have problems with my HID lights I may revisit this possibility, but the problem is taken care of for now.

Thank you all others who helped out with this too.

ArmyofOne

You could just install an aftermarket kit in place of the OEM next time, it's likely to be cheaper.