Arek

One of my factory ballasts just died, and I have a chance to buy a replacement at a good price. But, it's supposedly 4th generation Mitsubishi ballast, and I could've sworn that I read/heard somewhere that '04 and '05 TSXs use 3rd generation, whatever the difference is (or isn't).

Could someone confirm whether 4th gen OEM ballast will work on '04 TSX or not?

Thanks in advance!

Arek

I would have thought there are some people here who know and/or went through the same thing.

I did a search here and just general googling, but came up with nothing solid on the subject. Actually, now I'm even more confused, as one new tidbit of info I found suggested that '04-05 TSX used Gen 2 ballasts, not 3
But nothing solid.

What I'm looking for is solid info on what works and what doesn't.

I don't know much about this stuff, so I'm wondering why one ballast would work, but not the other? Looking at some pics I found of Gen 3 and Gen 4 Mitsubishi ballasts, to my unqualified eye there doesn't seem to be any difference as far as the specs on the big white/yellow label, and all plugs look the same to me...

PACman

The boards have been slow for many months. If you need a definite answer, try contacting an Acura parts guy. Kaleb is a sponsor for us, try contacting him.

Arek

Thanks for your suggestion. Is kaleb a user name? I couldn't find him for some reason

PACman

WholesalePartsGuy. Kaleb is the parts guy for Pretige Acura in Northern California.

Here's his contact info

---WholesalePartsGuy
Show'n the luv to Acura Enthusiasts!
Always 20% off for Acurazine Members!

Shop online at:
http://www.prestigeacura.com/estore_parts.htm
Note: eStore pricing does NOT reflect Acurazine Member Discounts.

Prestige Acura
707-578-3960
kcunningham@hanselauto.com

kaliraver69

The TSX 04-05 use a bigger ballast compared to the one from the 06-08 TSX headlights. I had to replace my ballasts since they are smaller when I upgraded to the 06-08 JDM headlights, hope that helps you. I have no idea which generation are which ballasts. The ones for the 04-05 TSX headlights are these

kaliraver69

These are the ones for the 06-08 TSX, definitely smaller looking and shinier looking as well.

kaliraver69

Here is a picture of the top of the 04-05 ballast. Notice that the pattern on top is also different from the 06-08 years of the ballasts.



That should help you identify which ballasts is which.

Arek

Thanks for your replies, kaliraver69. I have done some research too, and have seen the same pics on ebay.
I did notice the difference in the "pattern" on the side with the round plug in the middle between the different generations. The side plug on the newer ballasts seems to come out straight out of the side, rather than from the top, too.
However, I'm pretty sure that dimensionally they are all identical, and the tabs with the mounting screw holes are in the same position.

As I've mentioned before, the specs seem to be the same for different generations, as per the top label. So the question that is still puzzling me is, why would the newer ones not work on 04 TSX? They sure are more readily available, and MUCH cheaper, too, if you look around a little...

kaliraver69

They are not the same dimensionally and that is my point. I have owned both of those ballasts since I had to replace my OEM 04-05 TSX ballasts for the 06-08 ballasts because the ones I had were much bigger and couldn't mount properly on the JDM headlights that I bought that were for a Euro-R 06-08.

Arek

Thanks for your input, kaliraver69. I can now see that the dimensions must be different, the newer ballast looks more square.
However, I can't help but wonder, if the new ballast - size/fit aside - if plugged in, would work on my 04 TSX light? The specs on the labels look the same. The placement of the mounting tabs seems to be the same, judging it by eye at least.
I keep coming back to it because the old ballasts are twice as much as the new ones, literally - a single one for 04-05 is as much as a pair of the new generation. And since they are a bit smaller, I figure there should be a way to install them under the light housing, even if the screw holes don't align...

Thoughts?..

yatesca

I am about to replace the ballast on the driver side on my '04 TSX. I would love to be able to go with the fourth gen Mitsubishi ballast over the older and seemingly more problematic 3rd gen. If it is just a question of physical size and not electrical incompatibility, I don't see why you couldn't use 4th generation with slight modifications to the ballast mounts.

What is the output on the 4th gen? 12v 35w to D2S bulbs?

HIDStuff

Hey all. Good work on the TSX thread. The pictures kaliraver used are the parts I sell on ebay, so that's actually my picture, but I don't mind if it helps people. These are correct about 90% of the time for 04's and 05's. The problem people with TSX's get into is that the Acura lines raided the parts bins of other Acura lines for the ballasts. I've sold a bunch of these and 90% of the time this part is correct. About 10% of the time, the ballast looks like they raided the CL parts bin. It has a different shape.

The revision for the 06-08 had to do more with controlling moisture at the connection level than size. They're a bit smaller, but not that much. They are functionally the same, but have different mounting tab spacing, which won't be a clean fit in an older model.

Mazinga3

This probably past thread, but I need your help,

I'm looking for same ballast as above. where can I buy cheap?
is this same? I can see there is a sticker look different,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/06-07...ht_2829wt_1026

I hope this can help me.

Thanks
Lee

Mazinga3

this is mine,


is this same one? It looks very same but different sticker on.
I found same sticker one is different look with black connector part.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-08...ht_2525wt_1028