Problem with HID's everyone read...(long but good info)>

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Old 01-15-2001 | 03:24 PM
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Lightbulb Problem with HID's everyone read...(long but good info)>

Well i just got back from the dealer because i had taken my car in a few weeks back for an oil change. while i was there i told them i had noticed that the passenger side head light (low beam) was a different color than the other one. it is more like a green/yellow color when compared to the good one (blue)
well anyway they replaced the bulb and it was still the same. so they decided to order the headlight, ballast, starter unit. today they installed the parts and it was exactly the same! dammit! then they tried another light bulb and same problem. they told me were going to call the tech line and ask if anyone had seen this problem before and what the fix was. then i asked them if they could try to swap the ballast from the left to right and see if the problem moved to the other side. they agreed and while the tech was doing that the svs manager called the tech line and found out that they have been having a problem with bad bulbs and they are working on a fix for it. anyway i have noticed that the TL's don't seem to have as blue of a color as other HID equipped cars and i am hoping that when they get the bulbs figured out. the new bulbs will retain a better blue color when warmed up.

I just wanted to share this with everyone and see if anyone else may have this problem and if you are you know that Acura is working on it. its pretty easy to tell but you have to be in a garage where you can see the lights clearly. turn on your lights and allow then to warm up for at least 1 or 2 minutes. and look at both lights and compare them. the catch is if you have 2 bad bulbs you probly wont be able to tell. and a new bulb wont help you either because all 4 bulbs my dealer had in stock were bad and they were instructed to send any bad units back to Acura until they can fix the problem. i looked at a customers car in the shop they were working on and it had the same problem as mine. 1 bad bulb and 1 good bulb. it is very easy to see when this is the case but most people dont notice it. i could tell on mine at first because i could see a different color at night when my lights shined on a white garage door. I watched as they did the work and i noticed that all the bulbs they tried had a slight yellow colored area inside the bulb where the arc is created.(very interesting looking bulb i must say!) I dident see the good bulb removed from the headlight so i dont know if this was the cause but you might be able to remove and inspect your lights just to make sure. just be care full to handel the bulbs with a paper towel and avoid touching the glass as the oils from your hands can cause the bulb to shatter when in use. (if you do happen to tough the glass then clean it with isopropyl Alcohol.
the dealer is supposed to call when they get new parts from Acura and i told them i would check back with them now and then to see if there is any new news since i dont trust Acura to tell everyone when they have the new part. (low priority)
if anyone needs instructions on how to remove the bulbs leave your questions here. this post is getting long and if you need help just ask. you shouldent need any tools but there are a few things i saw them remove in order to get to the bulbs.

I hope this helps someone!

------------------
formerly 98 prelude type SH

Currently 2001 Acura 3.2 TL With Navigation Black/Ebony
Old 01-15-2001 | 03:36 PM
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pretty good info

the tls hids dont look like those on other cars, but i can always tell when i see a tl on the road. mine seem normal, but it would be great if they stayed that bright blue all the time
Old 01-15-2001 | 04:08 PM
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Yeah, good info. I noticed that the German HID's have a brighter blue tint to theirs.

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Old 01-15-2001 | 04:53 PM
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I'm guessing that if you got one of each car companies that offer HID lights and lined them up that they would all be a slightly different color. The German cars have a similiar color, except for the Porsche's because they aren't Xenons they are Litronics. What the difference is I don't know, but they charge twice as much.

------------------
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Old 01-15-2001 | 05:00 PM
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I think the TL'z hid's are much bluer than the cl's the cl's produce a much white color. any wayz back to the subject. i remember reading somewhere the updates for the new tl-s and it mentioned something about the hid's being fixed or something.

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CL-S
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Old 01-15-2001 | 05:01 PM
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Originally posted by tshields2:
I'm guessing that if you got one of each car companies that offer HID lights and lined them up that they would all be a slightly different color. The German cars have a similiar color, except for the Porsche's because they aren't Xenons they are Litronics. What the difference is I don't know, but they charge twice as much.

That's the difference! They charge twice as much!!! J/K, I don't know the diff.

Gotta check my HIDs tonight!




------------------
1999 Dark Emerald Pearl TL w/ nav
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Old 01-15-2001 | 09:46 PM
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My HID's are fine..
Ed

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Old 01-15-2001 | 11:47 PM
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I have had this problem too. But only SLIGHTLY on the driverside light...has a kind of yellowish spot in it. Dealer told me to bring it in and they will change the bulb. So you are saying I need to have BOTH bulbs changed?
Old 01-15-2001 | 11:56 PM
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Street yes quite possibly both could be affected. to add to the info above i actually looked at the 2000 TL shuttle vechicle that is used by the dealer. both lights on that car were a little more to the yellow side but at least they looked the same. the 2 cars were not parked side by side for comparason but between walking back and forth between my car and theirs it looked like my 1 good light was more blue than both lights on their car. i suppose i could remove both bulbs from my car and inspect them to see if the yellow color is present on both bulbs or not. at this point i cant say for sure as stated in the first post if the color i saw on the bulb itself is the culpret or not but it does seem logical.

------------------
formerly 98 prelude type SH

Currently 2001 Acura 3.2 TL With Navigation Black/Ebony
Old 01-16-2001 | 04:14 AM
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so what's the verdict? what do we do to "fix" our bulbs and what will the end result be? will they look like the lexus' HIDs?

------------------
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Old 01-16-2001 | 08:39 AM
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My appear to be ok... for now. How to remove the light?

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Old 01-16-2001 | 05:00 PM
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Theirs is bluer, I want mine to be bluer. Whatever people!! The color difference is due to the burning temperature of the lamp. If you went out and bought three fluorescent lamps from different manufacturers that will fit into the fixture over your little cubicles, you would more than likely see a difference in color. The progression of color to increasing burning temperature is red, orange, yellow, white, blue. The color can also be affected by applying a phosphor coating which would convert the ultraviolet light produced by HID sources into visible light. If you think that their HIDs are better, you are not correct. If you think that blue looks cooler, fine. I'm not denying that there may be a problem with our headlights, but being less blue than other cars is not a source for true concern.

------------------
John

2000 TL WDP Nav

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by TLinBama on January 16, 2001 @ ]</font>
Old 01-16-2001 | 08:51 PM
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agreed and i think your correct about the color and temp. but acura says the bulbs are defective and that is what makes them yellow. personally the more blue the better. i like everyone to know when they see me comming that i have the real HID's not the fake ones. and when they go yellow it makes them look like the rice boy want to be's personally i think changing the color of tails and side markers is stupid but as far as HID's go if they are supposed to be blue than i want them to look that way. kids who put the stupid halogen blue tinted fakes in their lights are just jelous because they wish they had the real thing. so its not that i like the blue but HID's are supposed to be blue not yellow.

------------------
formerly 98 prelude type SH

Currently 2001 Acura 3.2 TL With Navigation Black/Ebony
Old 05-24-2001 | 03:22 AM
  #14  
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Cool

Ok, so how "yellow-ish" does it has to be?? Any one has pic that shows a defect bulb??

Anyways, as for difference of "normal" HID and Litronic.... Litronic has shorter electro ARC than HID.... Porsche uses Litronic.... hope that answer some of your Q

Andy Kuo

------------------
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Old 05-24-2001 | 04:58 AM
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I am getting one of my headlight replaced due to a recent accident. I will see if there's any difference between the new & old. I think mine is okay at this point..
Old 05-24-2001 | 07:51 AM
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Archive this bad boy
Old 05-24-2001 | 08:56 AM
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One of the brightest HID's and most whitish/bluish/purplish cast is on the newer Jimmys (not the latest Envoy redesign) but they put HID's in them i think like 01's they have like and oval shape where the low beam comes out those MO fos are BRIGHT
Old 05-24-2001 | 12:53 PM
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You guys are just silly. Why not just get Aqua Capsules?

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Old 05-24-2001 | 03:59 PM
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Actually I think our TL headlights are way too bright sometimes, same goes to some Bimmers. Yes, maybe we can see better with the HID, but what about other people in front of you or coming from the opposite direction? Just a thought...
Old 01-30-2006 | 09:54 AM
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How to remove the headlight bulb

Trying to find out how to get to my low beam on the passengers side. I have a 2001 TL. I need to replace it.

Can you advise?
Old 01-30-2006 | 11:01 AM
  #21  
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did u have to pay for all those parts?! might as well just sum phillips 6000K for a more bluer light
Old 01-30-2006 | 11:34 AM
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you cant really compare german car's HIDs with ours... cuz most of them have projector-type lights... opposed to our reflector system. If they also had reflector headlights they color would probably be the same...
Old 01-30-2006 | 01:12 PM
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Originally Posted by cat66fish
Trying to find out how to get to my low beam on the passengers side. I have a 2001 TL. I need to replace it.

Can you advise?
Not to mention 3 years old but the manual should explain it. If not, then you need to get a t-20 torx security bit to take the screw off of the cap hiding the bulb. There is a little clip that holds the bulb in that you push down and out a little to release.
Old 01-30-2006 | 02:10 PM
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dammit, i just noticed that my pass one is less blue then my driver side :angryfire
Old 01-30-2006 | 03:28 PM
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Originally Posted by JMAL
dammit, i just noticed that my pass one is less blue then my driver side :angryfire
Just recently I noticed the same problem on mine (2000 TL). It's sort of a pinkish color, which from what I've read, means it's going. Plan to upgrade to Phillips 6000k.
Old 01-31-2006 | 07:16 AM
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I can't even get to the back of the bulb. What do I have to take off to get to it?
Old 02-01-2006 | 07:11 AM
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my 99 TL's are fine also, original bulbs 7 yrs. and 3 months old
Old 02-01-2006 | 09:21 AM
  #28  
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My passenger side is turning into pink...:@
TL has 9006 D2R type of bulb right??
Old 02-01-2006 | 10:56 AM
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wow old thraed.

the TL uses reflector type headlights so its just D2R's.

i retrofitted projectors on mine and definitly gives a wide variety of different colors. the cutoff beam shows a rainbow effect when car bounces around on road so it looks alot nicer than a reflector would. a reflector shows one solid color.

even my OEM HID bulb has a nice effect when lit up behind projectors. but now im running 6000K's behind them so it has a purple-blue-white effect when looked in different angles
Old 02-01-2006 | 10:57 AM
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ohyeah, on my avatar, it has a white-ish purple hue. its becaus ei have projectors instead of ugly huge diffusers 99-01 TL's came with
Old 02-01-2006 | 12:29 PM
  #31  
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I got 8500k in mine.....there blue as hell

but my original bulbs did look yellowish a little
Old 02-01-2006 | 01:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Luke7
my 99 TL's are fine also, original bulbs 7 yrs. and 3 months old
Hey this thread is almost that old.

Actually it's nearly 5 years old, but same difference.
Old 07-31-2006 | 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by RelentlessOne
Just recently I noticed the same problem on mine (2000 TL). It's sort of a pinkish color, which from what I've read, means it's going. Plan to upgrade to Phillips 6000k.
Same thing for me. As I pulled up to park, I noticed one side was not as "blue" looking. I got about 3 years on these bulbs, so I am going with Phillips 6000K bulbs or something similar that is reliable.
Old 08-06-2006 | 09:09 AM
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As far as the color of the lights goes, it doesn't matter if you have reflector or projector type headlamp housings (unless your projector lens is tinted). It all depends on the color temp (kelvins) of the bulb. The lower the k rating, the more lumens. So while 3500k is yellow, it actually has the brightest light. The next up color temp would be around 5000k and that's pure white. 6000k has a slight blue tint but is still more on the white side. 8000k is what you're talking about when you refer to the Lexus H.I.D.'s, they're more blue. After that you have 10000k which very deep blue, and 12000k which is purple. Anything above 8000k and you're noticibly losing lighting power. They might LOOK brighter, but it's just the color of the light playing tricks on your eyes. I have seen bulbs which claim to have a k rating of 30000k. They look awesome, very deep purple, but I can't imagine actually driving with them for too long.
Old 08-06-2006 | 09:40 AM
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Please - just let this 5 year old thread die!
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