I have decided to start a new thread on my issues with getting my head lights fixed at the dealer.

On 25 Nov 2008 I took my 2005 RL to Tischer Acura in Laurel, MD because my passenger side head light started to flicker. The flicker would occur during normal driving conditions and when I would rev the engine while in park. I was told that there was a service bulletin on the issue and they would replace the passenger bulb under warranty.

I picked up the car on 26 Nov 2008 during the day but when night fell I noticed the passenger bulb was crisp white with a bluish tint (like normal) and the driver side was a dull yellow color. I turned off the lights and turned them back on and both were crisp white with a bluish tint (like normal) but the driver side would dim to a yellow after 15-20 seconds. I took the car back to Tischer and they told me to keep it over the weekend and if it did not get better to bring it back.

On 02 Dec 2008 I took the car back in with the same issue. The service coordinator had the tech would replaced the light come out and look at the problem. It turns out that the tech actually replaced the driver side bulb and not the passenger side. They told me that they were going to replace the driver side bulb again.

On 04 Dec 2008 I again picked up my car. At the dealership I turned on the head lights and they both seemed to be the same color but it was still daylight outside. When it was finally dark I went out and turned on the head lights. Both lights were the same color… dull yellow! Also there was a new problem. A dark streak was being projected a crossed the road from the driver side lamp. Below is a video showing the streak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6aTtJEDmWo

On 06 Dec 2008 I took the car back to Tischer and showed them the dark streak. They kept the car and called me on the 8th and said that they could only solve the streak by replacing the entire headlight assembly.

On 11 Dec 2008 they called and said the car was ready for pickup. I went in and when they pulled the car around the driver side was a crisp white and the passenger side was a dull yellow. After complaining to the service coordinator that when I first dropped off the car on 25 Nov 2008 I had two crisp white lights and they were obligated to return the car to me in the same condition. The coordinator had the service director come out and talk to me. The service director told me that my driver side light was crisp white because the headlight assembly was new and my passenger side assembly was 3 years old and weathered. I reiterated the fact that the only reason the driver side was replaced as due to their tech negligence. He said there was nothing he could due. After an hour and a half I gave up. While driving home I started to receive warning that my AFS was malfunctioning. Now I am getting really annoyed.

On 12 Dec 2008 I took the car to a different dealership (Norris Acura in Ellicott City, MD). I went in and asked for the service coordinator. I took him out and should him that when I first turn on my headlight both lights (driver and passenger side) are crisp white and after a few seconds the passenger will dim to a dull yellow. I also told him that the director at Tischer says that is caused by 3 year old plastic. I also show him the AFS messages. He told me that Tischer is a joke and he would fix my lights.

On 17 Dec 2008 I was called by Norris and told my car was ready. I ask on the phone if both lights were the same color and he said yes. When I arrived and this time it was dark outside I turn on the lights. For the first 30 seconds both were perfect then the passenger dimmed out. I went in and had the director come out and see as well as the tech. They were not sure what the problem was but at least they did not claim that the plastic headlight lens was magic and turned the white to yellow. While talking the tech told me that the AFS problem was due to the wiring harness being smashed up and broken connection pins (WTF Tischer, what a bunch of n00bs). Any how they decided to keep the car and troubleshoot the problem further (Tischer, this is real customer service).

Today 22 Dec 2008, I get a call from Norris Acura stating that the car was ready but there was something they needed to tell me. I called them back and I was told there was a service bulletin regarding the yellow color of new bulbs. It says that this is normal and after 14 hours of uses they should become crisp white again. This was also stated by a member of this board as well. So I picked up the car and started driving home. While driving the passenger headlight began to flicker and then went out completely!! I turned off the light while driving and turned them back on. Both came on but a few minutes later the passenger side started to flicked and went out again!!!! The following video shows the light working then it flickers and goes out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo8W7OVxLEU

This video shows the passenger side light out and when I cycle the power switch both lights come on. Also notice the color difference. Between all the trips into the two different dealer both lights have been replaced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26wW70u3CJ0

I have learned that Tischer Acura Nissan are a bunch of n00bs and NOBODY should take their car to them for service. Below is their info. Don’t go there!

Tischer Acura Nissan
3510 Fort Meade Rd
Laurel, MD 20724
(301) 498-3322

As for Norris, WTF? Don’t you QC your work before you give the car back to your customers?

I am about ready to call it quits with Acura.

 

Sounds like the second dealer is trying to correct the problems caused by the first. Sorry to hear about this difficulty.

 

Yeah, Norris (the second dealer) seem to be a good group of people. They just need to make sure to check their work before giving back the car. Here is another video I just took this morning showing the headlight from a cold start.

At first they both look fine then the driver side dims out to yellow AND then the passenger side flicker out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmYn1-FQIsg

Off to the dealership...

 

Wow...that would drive me crazy! I feel your pain....

 

I am not understanding why the dealers can't fix this. Its simple to me. The ballast provides the power to the headlamps. When they look yellow there is not enough voltage supplied to the headlamps. When the lamps go out, there no voltage at all coming from the ballast. This is just basic electronics, but unfortunately a lot of mechanics lack the skills to troubleshoot electronics. If I were working on your car, I would check the input to the ballast once you lights went out. If there were no voltage , then you look for where the 12v voltage is lost. if you have 12 volts at the input of th ballast and no lights, then the ballast is bad. That is what I am thinking is wrong. Probably the ballast gets hot and then shorts out. This is not hard to fix, it amazing to me these mechanics can't find the problem.

 

I am having the flickering light problem as well. I am taking mine in this weekend with a copy of this email. My buddies over at my local Acura dealership tell me horror stories about other dealerships all the time. They are all competeing to be the number one dealership, so they try to get their turn around time on repairs to be as quick as possible, and my buddies dealership ends up haveing to fix all their screw ups.

 

i've had the flicker problem for a year
dealer finally agreed to replace bulb as "good will"
Problem is that I'm not sure it is the bulb. They do not seem to be able to diagnose

 

That would drive me crazy. I hope they can resolve your problems for you.

 

That would drive anyone crazy.

 

The ballast is the problem.

 

My local dealer replaced the igniters on headlights within 5 weeks of each other. Slick, what model year is your car? I was told that a defective batch of igniters was produced for the 2005 model year.

 

to fix the flickering you have to have the dealer replace both the ballasts and or ignitors... as for the color of the headlights, 4300k (kelvin) is oem and it takes at lest 50 hours to break-in, all oem xenon color shifts to eventually 6000k with time as the car ages. if you stand farther away and look at different angles then it will have that crisp look. if you want that all the time buy some 5000 or 6000k bulbs off ebay

 

Hi i got an 05 Acura RL with the same passenger headlight flicker. Sometimes it goes out as well and i have to turn the lights on and off to fix it. So to get it replaced, should i go to the dealer and tell them its a service bulletin fix that should be fixed for no charge.. "good will" warranty?

 

you should still be under warrantee ?

 

i wish.. i got 75k miles on mine.. i go back and forth on highway a LOT.. work n school.. gotta love chicago.. am i gonna be stuck payin for this? :\

 

talk to you service department, they may be able to work something out with the cost

 

2005 w/ 35k miles.

 

That is what I have been told. I had the dealer keep the car at the shop running for the recommended time from the Acura service bulletin and no change in color. Back when they replaced the driver side head light assembly, which includes a bulb, the color was perfect w/o breaking it in. I wonder if the bulbs are broken in by the manufacturer when you buy the complete assembly.

 

Looks like you might have to pay out of pocket for this. You may be able to find something on ebay. I have lucked out on mileage, I have a 2 mile drive to work and all my holiday travel this year was put on the 09 TL loaner I have had since Thanksgiving!!

 

I am sure you checked this out, but there was an Acura Service News that had an article about headlights going out, maybe two articles. One was about faulty bulbs and the other was about an igniter replacement IIRC.

 

chas - do you know which month of the Service News? or how do I search to find it?
I have an appointment to replace bulb this week, but Dealer seems clueless

 

Nothing in 06, have not looked in 05.
Apr 07 has the article about the bulb being yellowish for 14 hours
Aug 07 has an article about flickering bulbs, which was revised 9/4/07
Jul 08 has the followup on the special tool referred to above

My machine is hosed up now, after opening multiple Adobe files it refuses to open any more, so good luck searching the rest, which would probably be 05.

 

thanks chas

 

I never thought it would get fixed but to my dismay they fixed it!! It took over 30 days many trips to the dealer but I finally have 2 crisp white with a hint of blue head lights!!!

They replaced the inverter/igniter and the bulb on the right side.

Norris Acura West in Ellicott City, MD FTW!!

 

I'm sorry I did not read your post closely.

Search the following thread.

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/acura-servicenews-bulletins-498469/

I have downloaded every one so I can have pdfs available for a quick search, but nothing is quick since the company instituted a new security policy, even looking at stuff on your own hard drive.

 

Man that sucks. I thought I used to have problems with the AFS indicator sporadically turning on, but this is way worse. Back and forth to the dealership would drive me insane.

 

After reading your nightmare story, I figured that it had to be a bad inverter and ignitor on the passenger side headlight unit. My driver's side xenon on my '06 TL is out. When I finally decided to take it to the dealership to have it replaced, they told me that not only does the bulb had to be replaced, but also both the inverter and ignitor had to be replaced. The Richmond Crown Acura dealership diagnosed the entire problem in 30 minutes. I should have gone to the dealership to have my bulb replaced as soon as it went out because the inverter and ignitor blew out due to the bad bulb. Now it's going to cost me $1000 plus 2 hours of labor.

I do a ton of night driving and have a daily commute of 75 miles. The driver's side xenon has lasted me 75,000 miles. I have read in somewhere that the life of a xenon bulb depends on the number of times the gas is ignited, and not on how long the lights are on.

 

Man ,that is bad for me too. I have my driver side light flickered and went out for a few minutes. This would cost a lot.

 

C'mon, y'all! Start calling up Acura Services...see if they will perform a "goodwill" service. They may not cover 100% but anything is better than nothing...

 

Thanks for your feedback on dealer service in Maryland. I just picked up an 06 RL and I was wondering which dealer I should use for service as Tischer is close to work, Frankel is close to Home, and Norris is right in between. Seems like Tischer just dropped out of the running.

Mojo

 

Not a problem, I am glad this post was helpful.

 

Can anyone tell me where the ballast/ignitors/AFS module located in my 05 RL.
Thank you.

 

Unreal!!!!!!

 

First, let me commend you on your diary and your videos. It can only help you that you have that much detail and information. Bravo!

Second, I would have done something like this with the dealer probably after the 3rd time:
-Since they always give me a rental when I drop off my RL, I'd request an MDX for the loaner.
-I'd tell them that they can have their loaner back when mine is fixed.
-I'd leave the loaner at the house and have my wife drop me off.
-Due to this being the 3rd time, I'd tell them that I'd return the car tomorrow or the next day and that I'd keep the loaner until 48 hours went by to ensure there were no issues.

Once you have one of their cars, you can bet that they'd not fool around with the lackey mechanics in the service dept that they charge $90/hr for.

Most dealers usually have 1 or 2 excellent mechanics that might be worth the $90/hr, but they pad their departments with some grease monkeys to bump the revenue.

I have no problem with this...especially when I've got one of their $45K cars. By keeping their car until yours is fixed, you've ensured they have the "proper motivation" to fix your problem.

Just a thought! I do feel your pain!

 

my 2006 RL is having the flickering (shutoff) passenger headlight problem currently @ 52K miles...

 

started 2 nights ago, both head lights flickering. getting worse over slight bumps, need to take it in, just hit 5 months, 30k miles.

 

I suggest changing the HID bulbs prior to paying dealer a single penny.

 

You might want to look into the lemon law details in MD. In MA, if the SAME problem has to be fixed MORE THAN THREE (3) times; or has been in the shop for MORE THAN fifteen (15) CONSECUTIVE BUSINESS DAYS, then it can be claimed as a lemon.

 

well the headlights started flickering again 6 months after my post; after hid bulb switcheroo, replaced both bulbs with Sylvania 4300 D2S. looks like just the bulb faulty - leaving my headlights on full time to break in to the nice white color again.

 

how long does it take to break in the blubs?