Hi,

I'm new to these forums but I thought this would be the best place to get some advice... My girlfriend has a 2002 TL-S and recently the passenger side headlight went out. So we took it to the dealer and they said that the headlight connection to the transformer is missing? and that someone glued in the wiring... and that they need to order a new transformer... total cost would be $675...

about 8 months earlier my gf got into a head on collision with the car and they had to replace all the front panels and the headlights... now the dealer is blaming who ever fixed it then that they didn't put the housing on properly and connect it to the transformer...

ok. now my question is, how come it took 8 months for it to burn out if the headlight wasn't wired in properly? We recently just took the car to a detailing place where they cleaned the engine as well... but that was about a week and half before the headlight went out...

we're probably gonna take it to another place for a second estimate but does this sound plausible? could the headlight been running all that time without being connected properly? and if thats the case then the driver side light is probably wired in the same way... any advice you gurus can give?

Thanks, sorry for the long post...

 

It shouldnt cost that much just for wiring, connecting back the few wires should be good. If the ballast/transformer is still good. I dont know which part is "glued" though. Probably a used replacement willl cost much less also. Probably the body shop that fixed it didnt do a good job and just threw the shit back together asap.

Pictures will be helpful. Which parts are "glued"? If the connection now came loose then that would be why it doesnt work now. I am pretty sure that once you connect the wires back it will be ok. Turning a ballast without a bulb isnt all that great but if it works you should hear a loud zap/crack/popping sound.

 

It cost me a little over $500 (maybe 520?) to replace an obliterated right headlight on my '00, bulb, lens housing, ballast, etc. Sounds a little high.

 

well I checked out the car with a friend of mine just now and we found a faulty fuse for the right light. After switching it out the high beams work now but not the HIDs... So I dunno... gonna bring it to my friend's shop today to check it out some more... i'll try to get pics up later...

 

acura dealers are fuccing assholes.

 

I thought that you said the HIDs didnt work not the Highs

 

yea both the HIDs and highs didn't work at first... but we replaced the fuse to the right headlamp and now the highs work... so could it still be the transformer if the highs work?

 

well to update this... the shop found out it wasn't just the bulb... so yea ballasts and ignitor need to be replaced... apparently water got in there also and did some damage...

these were the prices quoted from Acura:

OEM Ballast - $480
OEM Igniter - $200

but the shop has connections so they said half price on those. So its $600 total for labor and everything... pretty much same price as the dealer but the dealer didn't factor in the replacement bulb and Igniter which probably would have made the price go up once they found that out...

but okay I understand its gonna cost if i want OEM parts but i'm just a little confused about the ballast and Igniter... what's the difference between the two? I checked out one of the Acura parts sites and found a list of the parts for the headlight... these are the parts I've found:

http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...All&vinsrch=no

most expensive parts are the Inverter Unit, HID igniter, and Control Unit... which is the ballast? is that the Inverter Unit? From the diagram it looks like the inverter unit is both the HID Igniter and the Control Unit... so what am I really paying for here?

 

Might as well just buy a 6000k phillips kit and still save some money!

 

Ballast = Inverter Unit

 

Has anyone experienced 'intermittent' issues with HID headlights before? What is happening is driver side HID headlight of my 99TL periodically goes out, but when I switch lights off and on again the driver side will usually come back on. No issues with high beams. I'm guessing it may be a loose electrical connection somewhere. Judging from the costs mentioned on some other posts for HID components, I'm hoping for a simple fix. Thx.

 

no intermittent problems here.

 

Let's think about this....Granted, Acura has high parts prices, but does anyone really think they make 100% profit? IOW, how can a shop cut the price of a part in half and still make money? Hmmm, what are the possibilities;

1. They are actually taking a loss on the parts and making it up on the labor charge.
2. The parts are not really genuine Acura parts.
3. See this thread

Might want to ask them what their 'connection' is and how can they cut the parts prices in half.

 

no idea about that....doesn't cut the price in half but close sometimes...dealers are friggin theives.

i DO know however that these threads are 6+ months old....and the probs have been resolved.