home4sale2

This is by far the only "real" explanation that I can agree with. My fear of capacitors is directly proportional to its capacity to do damage. I was hoping that this assembly had some kind of a resistor to discharge the capacitor quickly (or I should say I hoped as much), the parallel circuit achieves the same goal. I was also hoping Acura engineers were smart enough to not have a capacitor just sitting out in the middle of the assembly with its legs sticking out or only told the Acura techs about it (hee hee, let's knock off another DIY dude). Lastly, I am holding on to one of the working bulbs to discharge capacitors that come my way but I think it's more fun to use a screwdriver, don't you think?


Cheers, you are a pal for taking the time to write. I learned from it as I do from all these forums.

oo7spy

ockupier

does anyone know where I can get a replacement bubs that won't be an arm and a leg but will last and look good I have an 06 Acura RL and the original bulbs are just now going I want to upgrade to 8000 K any suggestions

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

No, to 8k.

DDM is pretty well known.

ockupier

I'm scared of that $15 price tag that's a little too cheap

oo7spy

Everybody told me their suggestion and asked me to relay it for them: Please don't.

The Retrofit Source | Innovative Headlight Upgrades

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

are they that cheap now?

Then go to the retrofitsource.

unwritten13

I was not about to spend the price places wanted to change a freakin' bulb.

Acura dealership- $150 per bulb plus $130 per side to replace
Local Honda/Acura shop - no bulb price plus $82 per side to replace

So I went on Amazon and for the Sylvania D2S HID bulb it was around $40 a bulb. Now the real issue is how the heck do you get into the headlight. One shop told me a brilliant secret. Go in thru the wheel well. It was not that hard to do!

So step 1 jack the car up to remove the tire. Then CAREFULLY remove the wheel well clips. Once off and pulled down you can see the warning sign on the low beam bulb. THIS IS 25,000 VOLTS!!! So disconnect the negative side of the battery and that near death shock is solved. It was slightly difficult to reach in with big hands to undo everything, so I suggest you google the hell out of the headlight to see how it works. I replaced my bulb myself, something Acura does not want you to do so they can get hundreds of dollars off you.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

8k? LoL... save your money on bulbs...

shahram72

I think I'm at the point where I need to do this. I remember changing the high beams was a PIA, and required removal of panels and the battery, which is no big deal, but the bumper cover? Oh jeez, I hope not. So this thing uses D2S bulbs, right? Is that a specific designation? I wan't stock brightness and color. I read the thread, but lots of conflicting info. Is it OK to replace the bulbs and then see if I need a ballast? Right now they work great, but recently one has been going out and the other flickering, but tonight both are rock solid. If they burst, will they leave glass in the housing that cannot be cleaned out? I remember having to take apart my projector when a bulb blew just 200 hours shy of the 3000 hour life. That was not fun. I'm going to get a much simpler car next time...

oo7spy

They should never burst. You need D2S bulbs. The easiest way to replace them is to jack the car up, remove the wheel, and pull back the wheel well liner.

I doubt you need a ballast, but it's not impossible. I would try bulbs first. These are the closest to stock quality for just about the lowest price.

shahram72

Thanks, that's the info I needed. I will swap out the high beams as well when I do this although they are accessible from the engine bay. What a lousy design, bulbs should always be accessible. Nothing wrong with the halogens on any car I ever had. I remember the ones on my wife's old 97 civic being very bright. They are are not cool white and expensive looking, but they always worked and we were not talking about ballasts and such. My wife's current Pilot has halogens and I'm glad it does. My RL will never be as reliable and long lasting as the 04 Pilot I have which currently has over 140K miles on it.

I'm swapping out the high beams because when I got the car I put in some cheap bulbs with a blue coating to make the light match the HID's. The color is better, but the brightness is so bad that my high beams are totally useless. Will go back to Sylvania standard Halogens. They will last the life the car probably and I will get my high beams back.

oo7spy

You wouldn't believe how many s I have heard say this. Projectors are safer than reflectors because they cut off the beam for oncoming traffic. Xenon bulbs are superior to halogens in every aspect. You simply cannot argue that a Xenon bulb in a purpose built projector doesn't perform better than a halogen in a reflector.

shahram72

OK, got my phillips 85122 bulbs in yesterday. I think they are real, but how do I tell for sure. Did a google search but found nothing specific to the d2s.

oo7spy

Here you go: Ebay phillips lights...real or fake? - Club Lexus Forums

shahram72

I tried to replace the HID bulbs today. No way. I pulled the fender liner off the driver's side. Broke half the clips, I could have removed the cap, but don't think I could have been able to get it back on and no way I would be able to unfasten the clips to remove the bulb. And I don't see how you could get the new bulb in without getting dirt on it. I don't see how you did it. There is a big metal frame member in the way. Airbox needs to be removed and I'm not doing that. It's going to my trusted Honda mechanic tomorrow. I already spoke to him. He'll just charge me what it takes him to do it and that's fine by me. He and his other mechanic have the tools and experience I just do not have. My recommendation for the 05 owners unless you are experienced is don't bother. I did replace the high beams though while I was in there. But the HID's, geez I would need to remove the bumper and headlight assembly to do it right. Wasted my whole day now I'm too frustrated to try anything else.

On another note, a week ago some idiot ran a stop sign and T-boned my wife in our beloved and meticulously maintained 04 Honda Pilot. It's being totalled and I am having a time finding a replacement. They are just not available in my state with lower miles. I think I will have to travel to Florida to get a replacement. There are like 4 times the pilots there and they are $2000 cheaper. Also, my RL needs new front brakes and steering links, I noticed they were way loose when I grabbed the wheel and could turn it left right like almost 1cm. I am having a very bad car week! Very stressed out. Time for another beer......

NathanJax

Time to hit 5 points or Gervais St...

shahram72

Ha Ha! You know my city! I know yours too, my sister lives there. Hey my boys got this under control. They are going to do the brakes and figure out what is causing the free play in the steering tomorrow. Good thing is they are like family friends, they are not cheap, but honest and fair. They sent me these pics and had the lights done before I even got home. Luv these guys. Barnhill Automotive in Columbia, SC.

NathanJax

I use to live up there off Lake Murray Blvd. Met my wife while I was up there. She went to USC.

oo7spy

So you married a Cock, huh?

NathanJax

yup. Married into a whole Cock family brother in law, mother in law and father in law all graduated from there.

shahram72

Just thought I would report back and say that my ballasts seem to be fine. New bulbs are bright and stable, no flickering. The car also got new front brakes and new steering end links which were worn out. Car is a pleasure to drive again. Let's see how long this lasts!

swake457

Hi all,
Resurrecting this thread. '05 RL, Just had the passenger side low beam die on me the other day (they were original!) so I ordered a pair of OSRAM D2S 5000K bulbs off Amazon for 91$ shipped.
I read all the other threads and thought I had my game plan all set. I only blew one bulb, but I wanted to replace both so their new and give off the same color. Passenger side wasn't too bad. My hands are way to big to stand a chance at fitting in through the engine bay, so I had to jack the car up, take the front passenger wheel and liner off. From there the cap to the bulb is easily accessible. There is an extra little wire in there that is screwed in to the back of the igniter and the top of the bulb bracket. That has to be unscrewed to get the bulb all the way out. So I managed to get the passenger bulb swapped and confirmed.
Switching over to the drivers side, no joy. Wheel off, liner out, battery out, air box out and that wasn't even close to giving me enough room to get my hand in there. From the drivers wheel well there is a structural beam directly in the way (the same doesn't exist on the passenger side). In the end I gave up on the drivers side for now.

Any other ideas to gain access to the back of the drivers HID bulb? Do I need to take out the entire air assembly? Headlight housing? (I couldn't quite figure how the entire headlight assembly even comes out)

Clearly people are doing it and it sounds like it's getting done in different ways. Dropping the bumper won't help here.

projektvertx

iTrader: (2)

I'm able to remove/shift the battery out of the way. Based on your fine dexterity, which seems might be an issue(?), I would suggest removing the battery. You'll still be working slightly blind, but you have the passenger side for reference now.

swake457

I did have the battery completely out at the time. The entire upper air intake box too, along with the drivers wheel and the inner wheel well liner. At that point I did drop the bumper, but knew just from looking up at it from the view in the wheel well my hands just weren't going to fit in there. Maybe if I had Trump sized hands those would slide right in What I haven't tried so far would be to take the lower half of the air intake out, or the headlight housing itself out. Not sure why, but on the drivers side - directly behind the HID cover - there is a structural beam. The same doesn't exist on the passenger side. If it weren't for this, both sides would be just as easy to replace.

I have the diagram of the headlight itself. Anyone have something that shows how to take out the headlight assembly on the drivers side?

swake457

Think I found a decent enough description I can work from in this other thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...emoval-836814/

Looks like I'll need to take a bit more of the bumper parts off in order to properly locate all the clips & bolts that hold the headlight housing in place. I'll try to get to it tonight. Bugs me that I didn't get to finish it all at one time!

swake457

OK. that's officially the easiest way to replace the drivers side HID bulb IMO. Especially when you have gorilla hands that can't fit in the tiny spaces.
I'll summarize my steps here. In various other threads on this site you can get detailed steps regarding how to remove the bumper, etc.

- You'll need to drop the front bumper (it's much easier than it sounds. I've already done it at least a half a dozen times). You might want to pre-order some of the plastic honda fender clips in advance though. They can break easy sometimes. NOTE: Be careful with the fig light cables! Acura was a bit stingy with the cable length here to the bulbs, so once you get the main clips undone these wires get very tight. So just be cautious.
- You don't need to remove the drivers wheel or lift the car up.
- You will need to remove the battery (this is really so you can gain access to one of the recessed bolts securing the headlight.
- There's a black heavy-duty plastic molded assembly under the headlight. This is what the bumper clips to. There are there 3 10mm bolts you can get to easily, and one under the light that's not easy to get to. Take the 3 out for now. The black assembly will be loose, but it won't come out yet.
- You can see a 10mm bolt along the top of the metal frame structure, just above the high beam. Take that one out.
- Then the last one is the recessed 10mm bolt, back deep behind where the battery normally is. This would be under the drivers fender itself. A 6" extension for your socket will do the trick here.
- At this point the headlight is essentially free, except for the bulbs that are still connected and the one bolt still holding the black plastic assembly. It should, with some careful urging, slide out a few inches.
- You may want to take a few minutes to wipe the backside of the headlight assembly clean since it's not normally exposed.
- Since it's now pulled out a few inches, you can now gain access to the igniter cap and then replace the HID bulb itself. Take note how the old bulb is in the housing. As with any bulb, don't touch the glass or get any skin oils on it. Also, unless you're replacing the igniter and the ballast, replace only with a 35watt HID bulb. I went with a pair of OSRAM 5000K D2S 35watt HID's from Amazon for about $90 shipped.

Now, put it all back together in reverse. When you're putting the bumper cover back on, once again be careful with the fog light wiring as it is very short. I'm going to order a pair of H11 extension cables (12") just to avoid this problem in the future.

oo7spy

swake457

"Pro-tip" if you're going to slide out your headlights...(which now that I've done it, it's easy. Far easier than my Honda Pilot!)
Before you do...take a sharpie or some other marker and make a clean circle around all the bolts you can actually get to. I mean right up against the rim of the head of the bolt. I would also draw two straight line's on top from the frame and carry it across to the light itself, as dual alignment lines. Or place masking tape down and then the lines. Just as long as those alignment lines cab be used again when you put the lights back in. In both cases the circles around the bolts and the short straight lines will help a lot when you put the light back in. You will be able to very closely slide it back in and still have it very closely aligned where it was. You'll see there is a little slack in each bolt location which, as you can imagine, if you don't re-mount it where it was, even just a little nudge off can translate to 5 or more feet off 50 feet down the road. These quick steps before you take the lights out will be a big help later on.