Really, Really Poor Low Beam (HID) Performance
I have a 2004 ES330 with the HID low beams. They are truly awful, decidedly worse than my 1993 Dodge lights. They are roughly on par with the factory fog lights (which themselves have very yellowed cloudy covers). Both sides are just as bad. They've always been this way since I owned the car (3 years). I have tried nearly everything I can think of, and nothing has made a perceptible difference.
The next thing I think I'll try is check the power at the ballasts. I might run a dedicated fused power wire from the battery to the ballast, not sure what else to do. Any advice would be great. I have researched and haven't come across anyone with the same issue. Thanks |
Could try a cheap ballast temporarily to see if the light output changes.
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I did replace one ballast, it made no difference. Gonna break out the multimeter tomorrow.
Tonight I drove home in some very light fog. 15mph was the max I could safely go. Truly the light ouput is enough to illuminate about 30 feet max. |
Originally Posted by tibug
(Post 10404315)
I did replace one ballast, it made no difference. Gonna break out the multimeter tomorrow.
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Originally Posted by Lexus2000
(Post 10404316)
That's not the same thing as a temporary ballast powered directly from the battery. Be very careful when using your meter the startup voltage of those ballasts is nasty.
Yeah I know they are high voltage but once they are warmed up a standard multimeter can test them right? |
Originally Posted by tibug
(Post 10404317)
Ah I misunderstood you.
Yeah I know they are high voltage but once they are warmed up a standard multimeter can test them right? |
Originally Posted by Lexus2000
(Post 10404320)
Yes, I've done it just be careful. I should have been more clear about hooking up a ballast directly so it bypasses any potential wiring issues. But are you sure the light output is not normal? I mean it sounds like it's pretty bad but for both sides to be the same is odd.
I'll give it more investigation today an post up what I find. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. |
Perhaps a picture of the headlights output at night time, with a decent camera?
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Originally Posted by crwys
(Post 10404580)
Perhaps a picture of the headlights output at night time, with a decent camera?
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Rather than testing the connector I would just try a new ballast if possible. Even a cheap ballast off Amazon would do.
edit. sorry never mind. I didnt see the first post where you mentioned you bought a new ballast for one side. |
Yeah one of the ballasts was going bad anyway, intermittently powering on and off, so I replaced it and it fixed that problem, but still the same brightness.
The bit of UV damage inside the headlight cover causes some of the light to be reflected back but it seems very minor. Still, I guess if I surrender all other possibilities, I'll take a hole saw to the cover haha. |
Where did you get the Philips bulbs from? Lots of bootleg ones out there |
^i’d second making sure the bulbs are genuine. My 2004 with OEM bulbs from the dealer is great while my other car with what I thought were genuine bulbs from a seller on eBay are far from what they used to be before I replaced the original burnt out bulb |
I have a similar issue to yours. I bought my 04 ES330 about 4 months ago and the OEM HID's weren't all that great (I feel they might be the original Philips bulbs since my car only had 122k when I got it and they looked old when I took them out). So I replaced the bulbs with new Philips 85126 4300K bulbs and one of the bulbs sometimes doesn't turn on, especially after about 1.5hrs of driving with the lights on, I'll stop for gas, turn the lights back on to start driving and that one won't turn on again until I turn the lights off and back on (sometimes takes a couple tries for it to come back on), I've swapped the bulbs around and the same issue carries over with that bulb. I sent that defective bulb back for a replacement and the replacement does the same thing. So I ended up putting the old Philips bulbs back in and don't have any issues. Now I'm wondering if I should try another good pair of new aftermarket bulbs to see what happens and hope to get better lighting output.
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Originally Posted by funcrusher
(Post 10404722)
Where did you get the Philips bulbs from? Lots of bootleg ones out there Sigh...This is super embarrassing but I figured I'd sacrifice my pride (ha) and post up anyway so as not to leave an open-ended thread. I guess the lesson I learned was to never assume that a part you remove from a car is the correct part for that car...always confirm. |
That is funny but thanks for reporting back. It may help someone else in the future.
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That’s why I’m ocd about verifying part numbers and everything is correct |
I just tested it in the dark, they actually work! Much better. Gotta stay they're still not that great, but I think I can chalk the lackluster performance up to the weathered headlamp covers. It'll do.
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Originally Posted by tibug
(Post 10407701)
Sigh...This is super embarrassing but I figured I'd sacrifice my pride (ha) and post up anyway so as not to leave an open-ended thread. I guess the lesson I learned was to never assume that a part you remove from a car is the correct part for that car...always confirm.
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Originally Posted by Lexus2000
(Post 10407863)
I have to admit I laughed, you were using bulbs that blocked out most of the light because the projector is obviously not designed to reflect the light. But hey you fixed the problem that's all that matters. BTW I feel stupid for not thinking of this.
But like I said , they're still not as good as I'd hope with hids. |
Wow! I’ve been following this thread since it started and was hoping to glean yet another gem of wisdom from a clublexus thread and Funcrusher gets the Golden Wrench by nailing it in Posts 12 & 17. And a big hat’s off to the thread originator for the perfect follow up and the Solution. Wrong bulbs. 👍 |
Originally Posted by tibug
(Post 10407924)
But like I said , they're still not as good as I'd hope with hids.
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Originally Posted by Lexus2000
(Post 10408280)
For better light you'll have to go with a quality 55 watt ballast and some Philips bulbs.
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Does the Denso OEM ballast suck? I plan on converting my headlights with the OEM projector housings and was going to use those Denso ballasts + Philips bulbs. |
OEM ballasts to not suck they are much more reliable than most anything else you can buy. But they are 35 watt units so you can only expect so much output.
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For an excellent read about HID, ballasts, power consumption and output and rest about this subject, I recommend this site: https://www.diodedynamics.com/info/r...-ballasts.html |
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