Hi folks, I looked all over the net for some help on TLS'03 HID DIY. Wadda ya know - the net is huuuge.
Thanks to fsttyms1 for the DIY on replacing bulbs - I was really stuck at that metal clip.
Anyways, my driver side low beam is not working, There is a crack in the headlight housing, I think some water manged to leak in. I swapped bulbs today and bulb is good. Not sure what would be my next step. Ballast? Igniter? How can I check?
I really don't want to go to the dealer... I can do it with a little help, and maybe learn something in the process.



Thanks.

 

Are you really 82 and posting on Acurazine? LOL. The next step would be to check for a faulty ballast. You have to remove the housings to get to the ballast though since it's attached to the bottom of the housing itself. and that means taking off your bumper. Wish I could fnd the DIY, but it's not hard. Also don't touch the ballast until your light have been OFF for about 8hrs.

 

when water gets in the housing you can kiss the ballast goodbye
water drips thru the housing and directly on to the ballast
Check the Off Topic section, Black Market/ Private Sales here, or local auto recycler yards

 

Doing Borat's impression: "How muuch?" for a new ballast?

 

I am closer to 80... And I hope Acurazine does not discriminate against elder drivers. By golly, everyone is half asleep at the Ford T model forum.
Yeah I found a link to DIY on bumper removal, someone actually posted it in the DIY section. I was looking at it because eventually I'd like to purchase a new housing and replace my cracked one. A short story on how that happen - some a$$holes decided to take off my headlight's in the middle of the night. Bastards. I heard it's common problem with 02-03 TL's (at least here in RI).
Ok thanks for the next step - It's going to be a weekend project.

 

yeah x2 on the new housing/ballast happened to me on both sides. I bought new ballasts from acuraoemparts.com for a shade under 200 each, my igniters were fine. they are almost 200 each as well new. i dont recommend getting used or junk ones because of how often this happens on our cars, its not worth it IMHO.

I bought aftermarket housings for about 150 each and they look 100 percent like OEM but after some diggigng i found that OEM ones are almost the same price online.

good luck and keep us posted. i feel almost as if i was helping out my own G-ma that is if she drove a TLS! haha but no shes 90 and does know how to work a newfangled remote let alone a tiptronic.

 

If you have a leak in the headlight that should be your first fix as it will continue to happen over and over till its fixed. That said look in the Black Market or Ebay for a new ballast/igniter or use this like for new OEM.
http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...catdisplay.jsp

 

x3, I just got done with this problem on my passenger side. Thought it was bulb but quickly found out by switching bulbs from the driver side (the good one) into the passenger side, that it was the ballast. For the headlight unit, you can try and redo the seal, just go look in the DIY or you can just buy a new one. I was too lazy to redo the seal so I ended up buying a ballast (Part #33119-S0K-A10), and a passenger headlight unit (Part #33101-S0K-A12) costed me around $350.

 

If your ballast is still good, just buy some housings and avoid automatic car washes like the plague (maybe you have some grandchildren you could pay to wash your car). Anyhow, that's how mine got water in them once before, but I fixed it before I had to get a new ballast, just bought some depo housings from ebay. The carwash wouldn't pay for anything at all, since technically they had no proof it was from that, but I know it was.

 

Thanks all! I'll update after I take off the eyes of my car

 

i used to take my old NGM 00 TL through the car washes all the time and never once had this problem ..the a-spec is washed by hand

 

I don't get it, I just replaced a new headlight unit and there's still a mist building up when I took it into the car wash today (I go to car washes 'cause I get 'em for free). Anybody got an idea?

 

could be a bad headlight. or you could try running a bead of caulk or something around where the ballast and headlight meet.