rbalboni

Hello Acura Community,

I love my 1999 Acura TL but am having what seems to be a common problem and I am currently unemployed with very little money on hand. I replaced the HID headlight bulbs on my Acura about a year ago because the original lights were casting a brownish hue. The new lights cast a clean white light as they are supposed to and worked fine for about a year. About 3 months ago, my passenger side headlight started flickering and then went out. Most recently, the driver side headlight has done the same thing. I understand the ballasts could be gone and they are very expensive. Could it possibly be something else thats less expensive to repair and if it is the ballast is there anyway to repair it for less money than the dealer will charge. I am not interested in aftermarket parts if it requires modifying the car in anyway to permit installation. Any help will this problem is greatly appreciated. I feel so stuck because the dealer told me it could cost up to $1,000 per side to fix. Imagine investing $2K for a car that has a current value of about $3,700. I love this car and its perfect in every other way, I knew these damn HID headlights could be a real problem when I bought the car used but I loved the automobile.

Rockstar21

iTrader: (1)

did you buy cheap ebay HID's?

if not the bulbs, you should consider replacing the ballast/bulbs on both sides... you can get an HID kit off ebay or one of the vendors here for a fraction of the cost and it wont take much if any modifying... maybe just some wiring...

rbalboni

No I did not, I purchased replacement bulbs online from a site called Plasma Garage I believe and paid approximately $100 a piece for the bulbs.

fsttyms1

I know you said you dont want to use aftermarket parts but they are MUCH cheaper. You could get a NEW aftermarket HID kit for under 100 bucks that replaces everything. You might really want to look into that since you dont have the money for OE stuff.

01tl4tl

its your ballast--was there moisture inside the headlight lens too?
go aftermarket--our vendor/sponsors hidextra and hidconcepts offer complete kit-
2 bulbs 2 `Waterproof` ballast and 2 ignitor/connector wires

Only thing you have to do is cut a plug end off and splice the 2 new wires in--simple!!
80 bucks was the price I was quoted the other day,,plus they have coupons,,down to 68 bucks for everything for a TL fix..how do you say no to aftermarket then!
the acura ballast are not very water resistant- as many will confirm

Or budget is super tight--buy just ballast and ignitor if your bulbs are good
If able, for the small price differance- it never hurts to have spare bulbs from full kit

ps- you already bought aftermarket bulbs,,so the trend is set