Question about HIDs and how they "go bad"
01-10-13, 08:28 PM
#1
Question about HIDs and how they "go bad"
I know I've seen people mention this issue before, but after searching around a bit, I couldn't find anything. Anyways, here it is:
For a while now, I've had an intermittent issue where my passenger side headlight will sometimes go off while driving for a bit. If I turn off my headlights and turn them back on, it re-ignites. I thought the bulb was going bad, so I bought new ones. I was getting some paint work done on the front bumper recently, so I asked the body shop to replace the headlamps while they were at it, and they did (or said they did), but I still have the same problem...
Does this mean I have a bad ballast? Or did the shop not actually replace the bulbs? The light from the "new" bulbs also doesn't look as different as I thought it would (I went from the stock HIDs to GARAX 6000K D4S / D4C Xenon bulbs), so that also makes me a bit suspicious, but on the other hand I heard the GARAX aren't supposed to look too different from stock.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling now. Is anyone familiar with the above symptom and know what the problem is?
One final detail is that this issue started last winter, and then it seemed to go away for several months, and then finally started up again recently, which makes me think that it's temperature dependent and only happens in the cold.
Thanks in advance for the help.
For a while now, I've had an intermittent issue where my passenger side headlight will sometimes go off while driving for a bit. If I turn off my headlights and turn them back on, it re-ignites. I thought the bulb was going bad, so I bought new ones. I was getting some paint work done on the front bumper recently, so I asked the body shop to replace the headlamps while they were at it, and they did (or said they did), but I still have the same problem...
Does this mean I have a bad ballast? Or did the shop not actually replace the bulbs? The light from the "new" bulbs also doesn't look as different as I thought it would (I went from the stock HIDs to GARAX 6000K D4S / D4C Xenon bulbs), so that also makes me a bit suspicious, but on the other hand I heard the GARAX aren't supposed to look too different from stock.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling now. Is anyone familiar with the above symptom and know what the problem is?
One final detail is that this issue started last winter, and then it seemed to go away for several months, and then finally started up again recently, which makes me think that it's temperature dependent and only happens in the cold.
Thanks in advance for the help.
01-10-13, 09:36 PM
#2
A good place to start is to switch the bulb with the your driver side one (If you still think the shop didn't replace it). If the problem persists, than most likely it's your ballast.
01-10-13, 10:18 PM
#3
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6000k bulbs should look dif then your oem ones since oem is 4300k
but as for troubleshooting, GEN2is26 is right, thats a good place to start
id assume its the ballast though
but as for troubleshooting, GEN2is26 is right, thats a good place to start
id assume its the ballast though
01-10-13, 10:40 PM
#4
Same thing happened to me its the bulb. Ive also had a ballast go bad on me... Like mentioned earlier swap the bulbs from left to right, diy its extremely easy, not as hard as all the diys people make it sound, If problem follows the bulb, then bingo bad bulbs if not, search ebay for a new ballast.
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