Hey everyone!

Just would like some advice for a small headlight problem i got currently. My passenger side headlight just went out the other day [i think after a car wash, but not 100% sure] and i dont know why. I ruled out the bulb... because i took out the driver's side and tried my 6000k, along with the stock 4300k, everything works on the drivers side, but not the passenger's.

Is there a circuit loose, or burnt ballast or bad inverter or something along those lines? A fuse that I can pull/change to get it back working...? I've had the car since... 2003 [2003 TL-P], so its about 5 years and 6 months. Never changed the headlight system except just to 6000k d2c bulbs and an accident about 4 yrs ago, no ballast/bulb damage. I would like to get this fix, 130$ ticket from NYC police is not something I would like to aim for...

If anyone can provide some insight please let me know. Greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

 

their is a fuse under the hood by the fire wall (bulk head) on the pass side. check that. if thats all good start switching the inverter and ballast.

 

if the fuse looks fine, then it would be the ballast... i had the same problem... it was raining pretty hard and i was driving, this car next to me hit a huge ass puddle of water and splattered all over my passenger side and effed up my ballast...

 

^or the inverter/ignitor

 

im not completely sure what the fuse thing looks like honestly, but im guessing its not the same as the fuse box inside the car. do i have to pull anything and reinsert to restart it, or is there a sign that i look for to check the status of the fuse? I'm going to check that real soon, and if thats not the problem, im heading to the dealership tomorrow to buy new inverter/ignitor/ballast. anyone got a price on that? lol. or.... can i just get a HID plug and play kit and use that? any ideas?

damn and you guys are some quick repliers. thanks for your help!

 

its a fuse block that has many fuses inside of it, right by the pass fender, u cant miss it. dont go to the dealer and get a part u dont need, bc u havent tested it. do some simple tests that i told u.

 

sounds good, im about to go and do that. all i have to do is look? anything blackening or a sign i should look for? Or unplug something and replug?

 

look on the fuse box cover for what fuse is for the headlight. then pull the fuse out and look if its bunt inside (the metal strip is not connected/burnt). if its burnt replace with the same size/amp fuse. if it burns again u have an electrical problem

 

would the electrical problem be overall? all the other lights are working fine. blinkers, high beams, driver head, fogs. im gonna try that fuse pull soon before i go to work. hopefully its just that. thanks for the help! and certainly update ya!

 

if the dead side had moisture getting into the housing and you have seen it before- you see it behind the headlight lens after a car wash in particular- especially drive thru-power wash type places--those will ruin a headlight

Weak seal is our problem--if the bulb went due to moisture most likely ballast dead, water drips out the bottem thru the wires opening and onto the ballast

call the auto dismantling yards- you dont want to know how much they cost new
and the dealer will want to replace everything to be safe!~
If moisture issue you need to fix that or prob will continue

 

hmm... i dont think it was a moisture issue. the headlight never fogged up [as least not that i noticed] its been raining/snowing lately, but all is still good i suppose. someone is selling a ignitor/invertor in the bm, from a 01 tl. those will still be good or are they too old? shiiet i didnt think it was THAT expensive to do the ignitors and stuff [if it was that]. is that even do-able on our own?

 

the ignitor is a simple plug and play harness thats goes from the ballast to the bulb, only hard part is that if u have the headlights mounted on teh car, its gonna be a bitch to do. i say take the headlights off, swap the stuff one at a time, and then just plug in the harness the the ballast and see what happens, if no go, switch the ballast.

 

oh yea i forgot to mention. i have a set of blacked out headlights in the closet waiting to go on. just got to seal those good first. goin out to check that fuse box. hope thats all it is. thanks for your help!! will update soon!

 

^
Well if you have those sitting in your closet go ahead seal them up and get them in. it will be easier to access your ballasts and stuff anyways with the heads off the car

 

okay so i pulled the bad headlight's fuse [yellow tab with the number "20" on it] last night, it looks good. looks just like the other fuses [ie. the driver side headlight's fuse, the spare fuse]. No burnt markings and the metal piece was in tact. In fact I even used the good headlight's fuse, and plugged it into the bad headlight's fuse. Still no reaction. what does that mean?

what confused me however, was that when i removed the fuse of the good headlight from the socket, that headlight still worked... did i do something wrong here?

if the problem is an inverter/ignitor/ballast... what would be your suggestion for me to solve this? buy from the Black Market a 99-01 tl ignitor/inverter/ballast; buy from the STEALERSHIP! OR... can i get a regular like philips plug and play hid kit and drop that in?

thanks for all your help...!

 

Just get a new plug and play HID kit. it will be just as easy and probably cheaper

 

And they do sell/make adapters for aftermarket ballasts to OE D2R/D2C bulbs. I've seen quite a few on eBay. It's for aftermarket ballasts that use the AMP connectors.

 

would the aftermarket hid kit be able to fit into the bulb socket of the oem headlight housing? thats the only thing im afraid of. im assuming i would have to remove the old ballast to put new ones in? its direct plug and play from the factory harness to the aftermarket hid kit right?

I've changed my fogs to 3000k hid, so i kinda have an idea how that works. if the oem harness for the headlights will plug and play into an aftermarket hid kit, then thats the route im going for.

 

i just noticed restizo's post. i guess i need an adaptor for the original harness to connect to an aftermarket hid kit?

 

I posted this in another thread in problems and fixes:
"I recently purchased a BRAND NEW ballast (inverter) off a respectable ebay seller for $130-140 US. The seller acquired a lot of them along with other parts when he purchased a japanese tuner shop and is trying to clear them out. Here is the link to the ballast. Order this and save yourself a couple hundred dollars at least :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...2BSI%26otn%3D4 "

This should solve all your problems! Well as long as it's a ballast problem
Oh and trust me you do not want aftermarket ballasts for your headlights.

 

so the inverter and a ballast is the same thing? lol damn im so newb.

any reason why the aftermarket ballast is no good for headlights? i can plug this into my oem harness correct?

 

never mind i just read the inverter and ballast are the same thing. i shouldnt need to worry about the ignitor for the headlight being out should i? im about to make payment soon.

 

I don't believe you would have to worry, my ignitor was still good on the ballast that died.
I simply bought the ballast, tested it out and it all works perfectly. Best price you'll find on a brand new oem ballast. Snatch it up

 

TheMegalodon, I just purchased the ballast you recommened. Hopefully it solves the problem!

I found some of your old posts on this subject. My headlight doesn't even turn on, nor flicker. Does that still signify ballast still I hope?

Im using aftermarket bulbs for the HIDs... from this store named "BestDubs" in Queens, NY. The bulbs dont even have a name on them... think mayb that can be a problem?

 

I was referring to the wiring from the ballast to the bulb itself. Aftermarket HID kits use AMP type connectors to the bulbs they supply with their kits. OE HID bulbs are usually D2R/D2C/etc. that only have a round connector to plug into. The kit that I've seen allows you to use just about ANY aftermarket ballast with just about ANY factory equipped bulb.

Found link off of ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Xenon...Q5fAccessories

Enter "D2R connector" into eBay's search query and that's what I found...on top of 10 or more auctions. I'd imagine using words like wiring or adapter would also net you the part you'd need if you went w/ the aftermarket ballast route.

 

mostly it your ballast...wouldnt be the fuse...if it was a blow fuse your highbeam would say on...water probably got in the ballast...happen to me couple of times...from smoke out head lights not seal the right way..

 

happened to you a COUPLE of times from smoked out headlights?? sorry to hear that... makes me not want to put on my smokes!

 

Dannie from the sounds of it, having a new ballast will solve the problem. It's simply another poorly designed aspect of our 2G TLs.

I'm using some random 6k aftermarket bulbs from china that came with my aftermarket kit. They work just fine, but the cheap aftermarket ballasts are best left for fogs.

I've actually noticed that not only is the light output better on the passenger side (with oem ballast), but the color of the light is actually different (a touch less blue) than the driver's side (aftermarket ballast).

Once spring rolls around I'll be taking out the aftermarket ballast on the driver's side, and installing the oem one I bought. Then I'll take the aftermarket one and swap it into my driver's side fog that has a dead aftermarket ballast. I hate my lights, so many bloody problems.

 

I hate to do this, but i should update you.

With all due confusion... and am happy that it happened... Im not sure how, but the headlight came back. Not that Im complaining or not happy about it, but just really confused.

I havent drove the car for about 3 days, and then I drove to work, the headlight was back on. I dont know how, I didnt change anything, or touch anything. The only thing I did was purchase the ballast off ebay, thinking ill change the old one out. Im happy that it came back.

I wasnt going to post this based on your post TheMegalodon, Im sorry to hear about ur troubles. But I appreciate all your help, and everyone else's!!!

 

Hey man I'm glad to hear that things worked out even easier for you. That's a really strange situation though. I wonder if it'll consistently remain working. The good thing is, you now have a backup ballast if that one that was giving you problems actually fails. If you don't want to hold onto it, I'm sure there will be someone else you can sell it to to get your money back, or even make a little profit.

 

I got one for you. My drivers side hid went out, so I bought the 6000k kiaxens from excelerate. Changed them both with the new bulbs. Pasenger side worked for about 3 days then stopped, pulled it apart looked at it with it still connected turned on the lights and both lights came on, put it all back together tried it again worked fine. 10 mins later not working and has not worked since. Put the stock light bulb in came on right away. 10 mins later drove it to work and it looked dim turned them off then back on and now it didnt want to work. tool it apart again put it back to gether with them on and went blind knew it was coming though. I am sure it will happen again I have been searching for answers just trying to figure out where to start. I am going to check the fuse but not hopeful it will be that.

 

Ok checked the fuses and there are no problems there but if I turn the lights on then off then back on I loose the passenger side then it comes back ................for now. This is after turning them off and on again a few mins later that it comes back.