god damnit, i posted on hidplanet and they said its probably a bad ballast or hid bulb...

here's my general symptoms: turn on car turn on lights... driver is out no flicker. wait a minute, turn off then on.... stays on solid for 20 seconds, 10 seconds of flicker, off after that driver side only. passenger side is perfect... turn off then turn back on.. same thing, flicker and off

 

That also happen to me. Most likely bad inverter but make sure if it's just a bad bulb. I took my bumper off, I don't know how you can change an inverter without taking your bumper off. I had to take the headlights out anyways b/c I was getting condensation. And if you don't want to take the chance of changing it yourself, I think most shop should do it for less than $100.

My warranty expired long time ago but if you are still under warranty, I think a bad inverter should be covered under warranty. It's worth a try. I wonder if other brands that have hid have our kind of problem.

Good Luck!

 

inverter = ballast

not my bulb sadly, i was hoping it was, i'm going to switch passenger and driver ballasts now to see if that's the problem.

 

here is a thought to consider. I asked about headlights and they do have the correct bulbs, just add $15.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...EF:MOTORS:1123

 

I figure it is not too difficult, but I was wondering how to change the HID bulb for the CL. Can you just pop off the the headlight cover? I dont have a manual so I cant look through that.

Thanks!

 

Hey quick question (I hope), my passenger inverter went out a couple weeks ago and tonight the whole system has quit. The brights won't even come on. Any ideas on what's happened now?

Thanks!

 

The HID bulb is inside the circular cover thingamabob behind the light housing. You'll need a torx screw driver to take the little screw off (looks like a star kinda). Make sure you disconnect your battery because there's lots of voltage that will kill you. Once the screw is out just turn the cover and the bulb is inside that. Make sure you don't touch the actual bulb, b/c oil from your hands can ruin the new bulb. Also you'll need your radio code when you connect your battery back up. I didn't have mine so i had to go over to the dealer to get it.....they did it for free.

 

its the ballast. i'm going to spend ~140 on a whole new aftermarket kit rather than 200-300 on a new balalst =\

 

Is the ballast covered under the extended warranty ?

 

I'm having a strange problem with my headlights. With the headlight combination switch in the low beam position, there is no low beam (outside light) on the driver's side. The high beam (inboard light is on). On the passenger side, both inboard and outboard lamps are on. The high beam indicator on the dash is actually on. When I flip the switch to the high beam position, both driver side lights are out. The passenger side has both lights still on, but it looks like there's a second filament that comes on in the high beam (inboard) light. The shop manual and electrical troubleshooting manual don't even mention anything about a second filament in the inboard (high beam?) light.

Any ideas ?

By the way, does anyone have idea how the driver's multiplex control unit controls the headlights?

 

Well my local dealer said it was my inverter and it's $412.00 After reading and talking with all of you, I called Acura customer service. I told them my problem, and that so many of you on this sight are having the same problem. I asked if there was a recall or if Acura would help seeing this seems to be a problem. They actually came back and told me because of the age (2003) and miles (44K) on my car, they would pay for the inverter, I had to pay to install it!! I said thank you very much!!! If you have a low milage car, you might want to try this also, you might get lucky!! Acura client service (800) 382-2238.

 

Wow that is great news!! Did you happen to write down who you talked to? I have a 2003 with only 47K miles. That would be great of them to help us out on that as I was really worried about having to shell out that much money on it. Thank you big time for sharing this information!!!

 

My wife's car, a 2003 CL TYPE-S, had 23.3K miles on it when the right inverter failed in October of 2007. I ordered an inverter from ACURA of Peoria for $309.13 and installed it myself.

After reading your post, a faxed a reimbursement request to ACURA CLIENT SERVICES at 310-783-3535 on 1/7/2008 along with a copy of the receipt from Acura of Peoria and a copy of our car purchase receipt (we are the original owners). I received a call from ACURA CLIENT SERVICES today. They are going to send me a check for the price of the inverter.

Thanks Again, HM03CL

 

---------------------------------

Was there a reimbursement request form, or did you just write up a letter explaining the situation? I bought an inverter from Acura of Peoria also and had it installed in december 07. I have an 03 with 67xxx km so hopefully this will apply to me too. Thanks.

 

I'm glad I was able to help some of you! I'm hoping that if enough of us say something, maybe it would be a quiet recall for all of us. Everyone agree??

 

I just wrote a letter explaining what I did in replacing the inverter and asked for reimbursement consideration. I also mentioned that I had seen many post on this forum of other members having the same problem.

 

Ok, thanks. I faxed all the same stuff today. We'll see what comes of it. I'll update when i hear from them. Thanks for the help.

 

So i faxed my receipts and a letter to Acura, but they said because my car was Canadian, they had to fax it to Acura customer service in Canada. So i called today and the guy said there is no recall, the car is out of warrantee and they can't (won't) do anything. He kept saying that Acura in the U.S. is a different company...bla bla. I'm pretty dissappointed. I thought they would at least listen. So i'm not sure what to do. I'm going to look for someone's name at Acura Canada a bit higher up that i could write to directly.

 

Finally brought mine in to dealer. Replacement of the inverter was covered under the extended warranty. Fuses were not.

 

anyone who is going to replace the inverter aka ballast on their own, you might want to consider buying an aftermarket HID kit instead. they run well below $150. you get 2 ballasts and 2 new bulbs.

thats what i had to do, no biggie there, have 1 hear warranty

 

That sounds really good. Where did you find a kit for that price? Was it plug and play, everything fit to stock, or did you have to modify anything?? thanks.

 

My passenger side HID just went out, i have an 03 with only 39k miles on it. I'm going to try to get it replaced through acura client services.

 

My HID low beam on my passenger side just went out last night. It flickers for a few secs then cuts off. I called the Acura customer service line and the guy told me he couldnt help. I called a local dealership and they told me $128 for 1 bulb and $799 for the inverter. If anyone has any advice that would be great.

 

Sorry to hear your light is going out. It sounds like your balast (inverter) is going out. I'm surprised when you said Acura customer service couldn't help, they know of this problem because it happens a good amount. Dealer is always hig on price. How many miles do you have on your car?? A few of us have called customer service and complained and have had Customer service pay for the ballast, you have ot pay for install. First check with the dealer and find out for sure what's going bad. There has been someone on here that commented about aftermarket HID kit for much less than Acura ones. Something to check. Good luck

 

Sorry about your headlight problem. I know how extreamly frustraiting that can be as the same happend to me. Thank the heavens for this website and the awesome people who post here as I got some great advice and it worked out for me with minial expense. The bill for me would have been about $1,000+ for the repair of the headlight and ballast. I ended up only paying about $200.

Per the advice I got from this thread specifically, I called called Acura client services. I told them what I had learned from this site and that I knew that other people had the same problem and that ACS had helped them. The rep told me that she could not help me until I got an offical diagnosis from the dealer who would also be submitting my request for assstance a regional service person under ACS. She said factors that they consider in determining wheither to help you include: age and milage of car, if you are the 1st or 2nd owner (fewer owners the better), what your relationship is like with your dealership, if you have had all the maintatnce done, etc.

I took mine to Gary Force Acura in Nashville,TN and they were awesome. They took care of everything for me and put in me a free loaner 2008 TL while they fixed me car.

If you do your homework and play your cards right, ACS seems to be willing to pay for all the parts and even some of the labor. (usually you pat all the labor, I got lucky). I got out of there with only about $200 with diagnostic fee and taxes and everything done.

I hope it works out for you. It takes some effort on your part to get this thing done, but wow, was it worth it.

Best of luck!!

Hunter

 

Ya my car has about 90,000 miles on it so I figured thats why ACS said they couldn't help. I've heard a couple people talk about the aftermarket HID kits but they've been good comments and bad... I dont really see why it would be bad. Most aftermarket HID's are more powerful than stock anyways. Any suggestions on aftermarket HID kits...and where to buy??Thanks for the help.

 

you may also consider looking at the OEM acura parts link from eaither in the thread for a cheaper inverter if you want to stay stock.

 

Ok I bought the aftermarket kit from xenoneyes.com. Its comes with 2 ballasts 2 bulbs and 2 other wires. I looked and cannot figure out how in the hell this whole set up works. Xenoneyes has been helpful but their manual looks like a 5 year old wrote it literally. The words and sentences are jumble up and makes no sense. If anyone could tell me how to do this or what I could do I would appreciate it.

 

Same exact problem here, any ideas...replace the ballast? Any word on how to install the aftermarket kit, looks like the above guy had problems...

 

mine went out on me last night i'm going the lipps' rout and just buy an after market kit.

 

I just had the same problem this morning, Passenger side was out.
Turned to headlight switch on and off a few times. Light stayed on.
Got to work and tried it again and the light flickered a few times then stayed out.
Looks like I need an Inverter!

 

Conversion to aftermarket hid system. Much cheaper than oem but kinda "butcher style fix"

 

I searched but couldn't locate how to remove the low beam bulb. The owner's manual states that the low beam headlight bulb is a type of high voltage discharge tube and should be taken to a dealer. However, I see a few members have exchanged the bulbs with the opposite side bulb to confirm that the issue is with the bulb rather than an inverter, etc. Is the bulb swap something that is easily done or do you recommend bringing car to the dealer. I have always exchanged bulbs in my other car but this CL is a totally different car. Any instructions would be helpful. Thanks,

 

All you have to do is disconnect the power that goes to the headlight (the connector right by the lowbeam). I left my stereo on so I could listen to some tunes while I did the work. I even opened up the OEM balast to look at it. It was filled with electrical silicon and I used a SCREWDRIVER to dig it out. There was no capacitors in it or else I would have been shocked. I installed an aftermarket HID kit after one of my balasts went out. Used ebay and bought xentec's and they seem to work ok.

 

Okay I just replaced my ballast with a brand new OEM but the light stays on for a few seconds and flickers then goes out completely. I put in new bulbs also. I checked the fuses and they are fine. What is the problem? I read an earlier post that said to test the ground? I'm sorry I don't know what they are referring to. Could someone please provide clearer instructions on how to do this? Thank you guys.

 

the cheaper way you guys could of gone is to put an aftermarket one from Ebay that cost about 45$ all u have to do is follow the step below i did it with mine and it works great

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hid+conversion

 

Turns out the "new" bulb was defective. I replaced it with a known working bulb and now it's fine. I bought the bulb from online store, Xenonlink.com. Just thought I should warn people about their unreliable products.

 

I feel for you. My CL was just brought into the dealer and had the ballast and bulb replaced, over $800. If I could convert the system to conventional bulbs without ballast, etc., I would do it in a heartbeat.

 

Ok I have a Question, If the fuse for the headlight blows is it a bad ballast or a direct ground/no ground? The passenger light went out so I took the driver's side light out to check to see if the ballast or light was bad on the passenger side. when I put the drivers light in it didn't come on. So I put the light from the passenger in the drivers side(must have touched it) It started to come on then made a sizzle sound and went out. So I put the drivers bulb back in that side, It flickered then went out. Bought 2 new bulbs, put a new bulb in drivers side still nothing checked the fuse it was blown. replaced the fuse and blew it also. So now the car has no headlights. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[/QUOTE]
[/U]Originally Posted by crazydoctorbob
I'm having a strange problem with my headlights. With the headlight combination switch in the low beam position, there is no low beam (outside light) on the driver's side. The high beam (inboard light is on). On the passenger side, both inboard and outboard lamps are on. The high beam indicator on the dash is actually on. When I flip the switch to the high beam position, both driver side lights are out. The passenger side has both lights still on, but it looks like there's a second filament that comes on in the high beam (inboard) light. The shop manual and electrical troubleshooting manual don't even mention anything about a second filament in the inboard (high beam?) light.

Any ideas ?

By the way, does anyone have idea how the driver's multiplex control unit controls the headlights?
Same exact problem here, any ideas...replace the ballast? Any word on how to install the aftermarket kit, looks like the above guy had problems...[QUOTE]

Same situation here but my lowbeam just flickers and does not shut off