One of the HID ballasts went out on my daughter's 1999 TL (bulbs were only 6 months old). After reading here I decided to buy aftermarket Morimoto ballasts and ignitors - big mistake. First off, you can't use the dust/dirt covers if you install them - the back of the headlight assy. remains open. Got one side in and installed the other side but I could not get the headlight clip to secure to the bulb because the ignitor is part of the light socket and it's to obig to allow that clip to latch. Don't know why I got one on but couldn't get the other on. After much fiddling and some grinding of the plastic headlight housing with a Dremel, I got it to kind of fit. Tested outside of the bumper and it didn't work! Tried several times, checked connections but no luck. Had power to the ballast. I ended up putting the good original ballast in from the side that worked, having to splice the power wire because I had already installed the new plug for the Morimoto ballast. Bottom line, I should have just bought 2 OEM ballasts and called it a day. After all, the car is 18 years old. I don't really need it to last another 18 years. When they say it's a direct replacement but might need some modification, watch out. I needed to get it back together because she needs the car for school. A 2 hour job took me 4-5 hours. Not fun.

 

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/ma...epair-kit.html

Should have gotten the pigtails that come in this kit. No need to splice. It could have definitely been a DOA ballast, warranty it!

 

At this point I think everybody should be converting to LED lighting on the 2nd Gen TL.

(Although I don't know if kits exist yet).

 

These rubber caps work really well on our headlights when the stock covers no longer fit.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/ac...sing-caps.html

 

Support wasn't a lot of help for me. They didn't mention non-splice wiring adapters nor the rubber caps. They only hinted at "some" modification of the housing potentially being necessary. At least for me, the easiest thing would have been installing 2 OEM Ballasts. I only see the car being driven another few years anyway so if the originals lasted 18 years, the replacements should be fine.

 

Maybe this might apply: I have ballasts from HIDExtra. I wired up one side and it worked fine. But the ballast on the other side didn't work. Then I recall reading in the instructions that if it doesn't work, to reverse the wires. I did that and it worked!

 

Could have tried that but it still wouldn't have resolved the issue with bulb retention. The size of the ignitor/socket was such that on one side, I could not affix the bulb in the housing with the spring clip. It would have required fabricating something. I mention all of this to just share my experience and that at least in this case, OEM would have been much less of a hassle.