I own a 95 sc 400, with 89,xxx miles, every time I drive the car on at night with the HIDS on, after about 20/30 min one of the lights will go out, and I have to sit there for 2 minutes turning them on and off till both of them go on again. I have aftermarket subs/radio in, and the light will go off even without the subs/amp/radio on. Ive also notice that when I hit my brake lights, it would dim the other lights a little, and more specifically the reverse lights were very noticeable. Ive changed the ballasts/hid's done it with two different sets. I've also changed the subs to another sub with a capacitor/crossover/smaller amp, but like ive said the light still goes out when everything is off.

Any ideas on what could be creating this power loss, could I have gotten two bad sets of hid's in a row? two diff brands. Thx for your time

 

check your grounds, check your alternator, check your battery

 

To expand on this. When was the last time the battery terminals were cleaned? Even if it isn't causing a problem, I see corroded terminals on a lot of older cars.

 

the battery is brand new bought if a few months ago, and is the biggest one you could fit in engine bay, with any mods. I'm leaning towards the alternator is messing up or I really did get 2 bad sets of hid's. I will check all grounds later today, anyway to test alternator, or would I have to bring it to a shop to see if thats the problem.

 

since you have an SC4, check your PS to see if you have a leak. If you do it tends to drip down onto the alternator causing failure. Check your ground points to the engine and chassis as they tend to be pretty weak.

 

yeah i would lean towards bad engine grounds or more likely the alternator is getting worn. any auto parts house will test your battery and alternator for free. if you do find its your alternator find an alternator repair place near you if there is one and have it rebuilt to a higher output then stock. the stock ones are weak. or you can buy a higher amp rated alternator. but rebuilding the stock may be cheaper. high output alternators are always high on my to do list for my cars. since i put aftermarket stereos in all of them. high output alternator,optima battery and your set.