andyjl

I have an 03 CL and about a week ago my right headlight went out. Anyone else have this problem too? When I turn on the light, it lights up briefly (maybe 1/2 a second) and then turns off.

I took this to a mechanic that I trust and he said that it's a problem with the high voltage and not the bulk itself. He said I need to go back to the dealer and get it replaced there.

I went to the dealer yesterday and spoke wit hthe service guy and he said it will take a few hours to check out the problem itself.

I have the 7 year/100k extended warranty and he said it should cover everything. The only thing it doesn't cover would be the bulb (if that needs replacing). However he said that since it lights up briefly and turns off that it's most likely not the bulb itself.

Since it's an HID bulb and could be costly I don't want to go in there having to pay for one especially if I don't need it. I need to go to the Riverside, CA dealer since that's the closest to where I go to school. (usually I go to the Alhambra dealer). I usually get good service at the alhambra one, never been to the Riverside one so I don't know anything about them. I just want to be informed enough so that they aren't blowing me smoke about what the problem is.

So if anyone had this problem before, does it sound like just the high voltage problem like I stated earlier?

Thanks for the help guys.

lilnate

Man, hell yea! My 02 CL light did that, it was the inverter. I bought a light bulb, no fix...then took it to the dealer, inverter....$600 plus.

andyjl

oh yeah that's what the service advisor called it..the inverter. Your warranty didn't cover it at the time?

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

Its a inverter at the DLR the part is $300 + (very easy to install)
I had 3 go bad over the 9 years I owned this car..
My ACURA extended Warrenty was giving me a hard time to cover it saying it is a wear and tear item, they go bad..Just like light bulbs, they will not cover light bulbs cuz they go bad... I found 2 whole headlights (inverter,bulbs,caseings) for $200 on www.car-parts.com ( they search junk yards ) most jusnk yards charge $150 for the part i called many and found 1 in texas where the guy had no clue the car even had HID's so i told him I wanted both.. Now i have 2 extra bulbs and 1 extra inverted and a headlight all for $200.. So if I where u , call the DLR and asked then if the warrenty u have covers Ballasts , inverters before you think it is covered, it might be, but like I said ACURACARE deneid warrenty on it for me!

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

The inverters are wierd like i said I had a few go on my seems like they have a service life of 5-6 years (or more i used to have my headlights on all the time day and night)
Sometimes the light will flicker and stay on, sometimes it will not stay on. I had it flicker for a week then no problrms for 6 months then start flickering and not stay on.
I had to keep turning lights off/on till i got lucky and they stayed one..
I bought new bulbs and that helped for like 3 days ( i though i got lucky and had a bad bulb once) but 3-4 days later started up again!
If its not under warrenty then it is very ease to replace but you have to take the front bumper off to get the light out.. The light is like 3-4 bolts) and the inverter is screwed to the bottom of the light.



part #13 but try the DLR first they might cover it!

number1blood

hey civic why dont you take that L E D and stick it up ur ass hole B

number1blood

All Moderators are booty

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Hahahahaha, this guy is hilarious.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a friend of yours?

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

He must think so, but I have no idea who he is. He obviously has a hard on for me.

lilnate

Yes, my warranty covered it, but i was s.o.l. on the bulb.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

The bulb is prob still good!

PAYMEE

iTrader: (1)

Fuck the dealer...i don't know about you but i like my money...$600 is crazy money...in all likely hood it's the ballast/inverter..its all one piece on the cl...i bought a complete headlight that included the ballast from a local junkyard $150.00...thank you car-parts.com...the only bitch about it is removing the front bumper to get to the headlight... But its easy.. Took me about an hour and a half to do..just do a little searching on here...you'll see how easy it really is to replace.. D.i.y.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

Screw the Dealers they do nuttin to help us why help them...
www.car-parts.com like I said i bought 2 whole headlights (case,ballast,bulb) for $250 shipped to me , 1 headlight case was cracked though. so i replaced the ballast and have 2 bulbs and 1 case and 1 ballast just in case... Buy the helms manual or search here and you will save thousands of dollars.. when my engine was throwing codes for 3 cylinders misfiring the dlr said a rod or something was bent and wanted like $1600 turns out i bought 4 coilpaks on ebay for $75 and replaced 1 and problem somlved... i saved $1500 for something that didn t need to be replaced!

s2knky

we call em stealerships fo sho. i was told vibration or water or poor ground wires will kill those things all day

implicit

When mine went a lot of people mentioned checking for a bad ground as s2knky. Do a search, you might be able to do an easy fix and save some cash.

My dealership in Canada wouldn't cover the ballast under warranty and they quoted $1000 CND for part. Ebay saved me $850 and I learned how to remove the front bumper ...

andyjl

On friday I took my car to the dealer and after they tested it, it indeed was the inverter. They covered it under my warranty and now light works great.

I would've had to pay $440 for a new inverter without my warranty.

SirSixSpeed

I JUST dealt with this exact thing this Saturday. My headlight went out a few weeks ago then came back on...then off for good. Took it in and they were talking $900 for this damn inverter! Before the tears started flowing, I realized I didn't mention my extended warranty. Took care of that bitch for free! (minus the $150 for the bulb...which now doesn't match the other one? The new one is more yellow, the old one is blue. Dammit!)

Me <heart> my extended warranty. It's paid for itself a few times over now.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

I garentee the bulb DID not need to be replaced, i went through 2 inverters and still have the same bulbs that came with the car!

andyjl

yeah man, your bulb probably didn't need to be replaced. You said it would go on and off. A few days before I took my car to the dealer, I noticed that it would stay lit for about 1-2 seconds and turn off, which is a sign that the bulb is still functional. I hope that your bulb really was bad if that was the case.

$900 for the inverter alone? man the dealer i took it to told me it was $440. They also told me someone else brought in their TL to get the a new inverter, new bulb, plus labor which would put thhem at $800.
sounds like the dealer is a major rip-off. I would look to go to a different dealer next time for any problems

SirSixSpeed

I thought it was slightly BS that I would need a new bulb AND inverter, but what can I do a this point? Looks like they got me. I still need to at least contact them and ask about the different colored bulb.

I think I was just so damn relieved that I didn't have to pay that outrageous price. AND they told me my motor mounts were broken (!) so they did those for free too. $150 for a bulb didn't even phase me at that point.

Joe5.0

Mine did this for the 1st time about a week ago. I guess time to start looking for an inverter.