My LS430 has the HID headlights. Every so often when I return home, I notice that one of the headlights is off. When I turn off and back on the headlights, the off headlight turns on. The first few times it happened, the left headlight was found out. I swapped the bulbs to determine if the problem is the bulb. The next time, it was still the left headlight. The time after that, the right was out. This may not be relevent, but the bulbs look like slightly different shades of white. Any ideas?

 

Your ballast might be getting bad.

 

I believe each headlight has a ballast. If you are correct, then that would mean both ballasts would be going at the same time. Is that really liklely?

 

How old are the bulbs? I would buy new bulbs and change them both out.

 

I meant to say in my post that both bulbs are original to the car. That would make them 8 years old. Does this sound like a symptom of bulbs going? I probably should change them anyway.

 

Those bulbs are at the end of their life span. When they're going out they will turn off after a short time. Turning the switch off and back on will cause them to illuminate again but they will go out again after a short time. Replace both bulbs.

 

I'd start with the bulbs, but the fact that the outage doesn't "follow" the bulb when you swap them means it could possibly be the ballast.

Regardless, the bulbs are likely on their way out anyway and it's a cheap place to start.
Amazon btw is a good place to get Philips bulbs at a great price, the dealership will rape you on those.

 

I agree that the best place to start is with new bulbs. Since I replace the bulbs two days, neither have gone out. The problem never happened that frequently, so I really have no idea if it is fixed.

Thanks.

 

Amazon is just like eBay. I would never buy bulbs there. Go over to the forum where all of the guys that do headlight retrofits sell their spare parts. You could get some good bulbs for a good price over there.

 

theres 3 major components of an HID system. an ignitor (which provides a burst of voltage to ignite the bulb), a bulb, and the ballast (which keeps/regulates voltage going to the bulbs)...

if your bulb turns on and shuts off randomly - your ballast is bad.