1998 UCF21 HID Headlight Flicker *Please Help*
 

I have a 1998 UCF21 with the factory D2 HID low-beam. The light has begun flickering on the highway especially in bumpy spots and it will always starting to flicker during a left turn in an intersection or otherwise.

The lights will flicker until I turn them off and on again. They will then stop flickering until I either make another left turn or go over any sort of small bumps / mildly rough highway spots.

If I don't turn them off, often one headlight will go out completely.

The headlight on the right ALSO seems to not be leveling correct. It points about 6 feet too high when up against a wall and if you tap on the headlight in jumps up and down.

I am currently looking at replacing the headlight, ballast and leveling motor. Any help or recommendations would be appreciated. All searching has been pretty useless and I've been a forum lurker for over a decade.

Im thinking the flickering is a loose connection. I had my lights flicker once when I hit a pothole.

Make sure the connection on the bulb is good and tight.


Does your auto level work at all? do you notice the level change when braking or accelerating?

my level sensor broke in the back and made the headlights aim to the sky.

BUT..... if it moves when you tap on them, it sounds like the leveling motor detached from the reflector.

take out the leveling motor and see if it is still attached. Im willing to be the motor is not connected to the reflector bowl.

first the bulb, you should replace it. a flickering HID bulb means it's going bad and has reached the end of its life. the D2R bulbs on my IS300 did the same thing, and after removal, i found cracks on the glass of the bulb! the ballasts hardly ever go bad unless shorted or shocked.

as for the leveling system that's a separate issue. check the connections first before changing the motor. it could just be loose. does the other headlight leveling system work fine?

is light output itself cutting in and out or is th ebeam pattern shaky? My light output is constant but my left one is super jittery and very annoying. My right one was even worse and turned out the bottom outer adjuster was broken, so the whole housing was able to move in and out an inch freely. Remedied it by running an m4 nut down on it. Probably same deal on the other side, broken adjuster.