TL forever

Has anyone out there ever have a problem with one headlight turning off after 2 seconds of switching the low beam lights on?

I have a 1999 Acura TL and when I turn my headlights on the right side turns off in about 2 seconds but the leftside is fine. The high beams are fine but only happens on low beam.

Anyone out there know if it is the halogen bulb or something else causing this?

mackntheacc

chances are its the bulb that happened to me on my 2000 tl. just change the bulb or upgrade to a high K and replace both of them for the price of one factory bulb from the dealer.

03CoupeV6

If the light fires up, but then turns out, couldn't that be a ballast issue?

TL forever

I was going to change the halogen bulb but it cost alot about $100+ for one bulb.

And it could be the balast also because the light bulb does come on for abit. How can I findout which one it is?

TL forever

Hey Mackntheacc,

what is a high K bulb that you are talking about? Is it a halogen headlight that is similar to the lheadlights on the acura tl?

aaronnn

high K bulb jsut means that you should get an upgraded HID bulb for asthetics reasons.. but also since its cheaper to go for an aftermarket HID bulb kit than it is to buy just one side straight from dealer.

optiq

the ballast could be full of water! mine was. the light would come on and off. i took out the headlight. took off the ballast and dumped maybe an ounce of water out. luckily after drying it with a hair dryer, it worked fine. those things are expensive like 185$.

steadydaddy

check the grounding. there's a wire that's screwed/bolted around the area of the washer fluid fill neck. make sure the wire is grounded enough. this was happening to my '99 tl but on the left side.

obespalov

Sounds like Ballast IMO, but in that case, does the light turn on after it turns off? Also, look at the lights from the front when someone turns them on..do they both turn they same color at once, or does one turn blue slowly before becoming white (or turning off on your case)

TL forever

The light seems to come on and then change colour to a blue colour before it goes out so I hope it's not the ballast going.

Thanks for all your help, I'm going to try some of your suggestions and see if I can fix it myself. If anyone else out there has any other ideas please let me know.

obespalov

That sounds like my problem exactly, and it was the ballast for me. goto Acuraoemparts.com and look for inverter (another name for ballast i think).

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

check ur grounds and power inverter

99BamaTL

I had a similar situation with my 99. My pass side light would flicker going down the road and sometimes would go out completely. I was going to purchase a ballast but one of my lights was turning pink anyway so I decided to change out bulbs first. When I replaced the bulbs the flickering and other problems quit also. When I took my old bulbs out, I noticed a lot of crystalized looking stuff in the bulb. With the new bulbs, my light output is much better. By the way, I found a pair of D2S bulbs for $54.00 shipped from a guy on ebay who is also a member her (AKINABOY) they will work in our cars with small modification to the bulb base (you have to cut a small notch in it with a Dremel). It took me about 30 minutes to swap both of mine out.

pdprich

Before you go crazy changing the bulb, make sure you isolate the problem down to the bulb.
First try swapping the bulb from the other working headlight. If that resolved the problem then replace the bulb if not. swap the ballast see that resolved the problem. If that did not resolved the problem. Check the head light relay. TL have 2 relay one for the left and one for the right, they are located in the passinger side engine compartment swap them see this resolved your problem. Good Luck.

TL forever

Thanks for all the suggestions I'm going to try all your suggestions tommorrow. I'll keep you guys posted on the results of my findings.

TL forever

I finally got around to inspecting the lheadlight and found that it was the HID light bulb itself. I switch the bulbs around and it turned out to be the bulb which cost me about $!97 CAN for a bulb.

Turns out that if the HID ulbs start to change colour to a bluish or purpleish colour it is most likely going to go.

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who tried to help me on the problem.

THanks

03CoupeV6

HIDs turn pinkish before they go is what I've always heard, the bluish purpleish color is partly just the effect the lens has on the bulb and partly the color shift.