My front passenger side headlight is A LOT dimmer than the driver's side. The high beam brights seem to be fine, but when i just have the regular xenon HID's on, the driver's side light is way dimmer... it almost looks halogen. It is made even more obvious by the fact that my passenger-side xenon is working perfectly. I had this same headlight replaced about 1.5 years ago. The head of the service dept at the local acura dealer told me sometimes there are bad headlights in each batch they get, so it might just have been a bad bulb. It seems to be getting worse with time. I had an accident about 3 years ago, and the car hit me about 6-9 inches behind the front driver-side headlight, so i'm wondering if it messed up any of the reflectors inside or anything, because the other light is perfect. The service guy at the dealer didn't seem to interested in checking the reflectors when i asked him if that might be the problem. Any thoughts? I would appreciate any advice anyone has, esp if you've had this problem before.

 

your headlights are not aligned...line up against a wall like 10 feet back, and adjust the beams to match.

 

is your car lowered?.

 

CMS23,
Try switching the bulbs and see if the problem follows. If so, you just need a new bulb. Good luck!

 

CMS, before you go and cause your self a headache, do what i advised youm first.

 

I was thinking since the high beam works ok that alignment may not be the issue, but you're right. That would be the first thing to look at.

 

high beams are independent from low beam, in fact high beam is in a fixed position, which I think is lame, but hey, Its Acura

so you can adjust yer lows up/down and left/right.

 

My bad. I ASSUMEd that the headlights are like the MDX. On the MDX you adjust the whole headlight (highs and lows together). I ASSUMEd it was the same with the TL since the highs and lows look like they are part of the same assembly. I didn't realize they were separate.

 

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I ended up taking it to the other acura location (there are 2 dealer locations under the same name) and they fixed it by putting a new bulb in. It seems to be workin ok now. Thanks again for the advice!

 

1) What is the best reference to learn more about how the HID lights work
(ie, bulbs, ballast, voltage etc).

2) When switching between high/low beams, there is a fairly loud noise that sounds like a relay or solenoid. What is this controlling?

Carl

 

since they just changed one bulb, didnt the color change slightly? HID bulbs burn differently when aged

 

Go to: HIDPLANET.COM