Wootytooty

Hi guys!

I own a 2003 Acura TL-S. My passenger side headlight recently went out. I had bought a new ballast/bulbs (from Hidextra) and new casing (from ebay, because of moisture in the old ones) a little over a year ago.

While one of my headlights is out, my brights are coming on; but they're not "bright." Even on my dash my brights indicator is lightly lit up. I can turn my brights on full as usual- but they're coming on when I'd normally just turn on my headlights. Its as if they're compensating for the right headlight being out. I've never seen this before- so perhaps this is something with the ballast from hidextra?

And ultimately- what could the problem be? Just a blown bulb?

Thanks guys!

02tlnate

Mine did that too when one of mine went out. As soon as I replaced it was business as usual

Wootytooty

replaced the bulb?

And if I remember correctly; our bulbs are D2R? I believe HiDextra sent me D2S last time (despite asking for D2R); but they worked fine. Errr, at least until now.

02tlnate

Yea replace the bulb. Btw both d2s and d2r are pretty much the same, the difference is one doesn't have a shield so I think it's a little britter and the shielded one is so you don't blind the driver in the opposite lane as you.

Lordiv

I too had this issue. I turned out that I had a bad ballast and it blew one of the fuses. The brights come on a half power. Check your fuses if you haven't, most likely one is blown. IF it is the ballast, it will quickly blow the fuse again.

02tlnate

Oh yea your correct I now remember the ballast needing to be replaced. That's when I went with hid extra as well. Sounds like you have them too, try calling them for a warranty. They are super cool about it, there is only one guy who does customer support so just call and leave a msg and he will call back on usually a blocked number

ryan5003

I had this happen the first time my ballast (drivers side) blew. The fuse for the headlight was blown and would keep blowing every time I replaced it. I replaced the ballast with one from HID Extra but left the other side stock because it still worked.. What's weird is that when the other side's (passenger) ballast blew, the fuse didn't blow, nor did the brights come on dimly. Furthermore, when I removed the fuse from the pass side, the brights didn't come on dimly then either, so I'm not sure exactly what causes them to come on like that.

My advice: check for blown fuses, (you can replace if you want but if the ballast got wet and it blew it'll just blow again), replace ballasts and bulbs with an aftermarket kit

Wootytooty

So it sounds like its probably the ballast.

If the fuse is perfectly fine- could it be just the bulb?

I've never checked fuses before (or changed my own ballast/bulb), but will most certainly do it myself this time around. Looks simple- just need to find some youtube video.

ryan5003

My bet would still be the ballast. My last ballast that blew didn't blow a fuse. I don't think a bulb would either though. You can try swapping bulbs and see if the problem follows the bulb. If that's the case you'd need a set of bulbs (don't replace just one, different shade and brightness) and you could get a HID kit for a little more $. Not to mention that simply swapping the bulbs is nearly the same amount of work as putting a kit in; you still have to take the bumper off and the headlight housings out.

As far as replacing the ballasts, its super simple. Everything is plug and play except for where the new ballast plugs into the car. You can either cut off the connector from the car, or do what I did and take off the other end of the connector (male end I believe) that's attached to the old ballast, plug that into the plug coming from the car, and crimp the wires onto the metal leads off the connector from the old ballast.

I made a post outlining this a while back, I'll give you the link. It's the last post in this thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...issues-892616/

I think you and I had the exact same problem with the dim high beams. The new hid kit fixed everything