Quick note in case this helps anyone else having this issue. I found several very helpful posts in the forum about similar issues which pointed me in the right direction, but none exactly like this.

I thought my drivers side low beam HID bulb had burned out (and maybe it had). It is a 2003, so 19 yrs seemed like it had a pretty good run. I replaced it with a Phillips D2R and thought I had fixed it, as the light would usually come on. I did notice a delay of about half a second, but figured that as long as it comes on, it was no big deal. I then noticed that if often would not come back on after I turned them off for only a few mins. Sometimes turning them off/on a few times would work, but sometimes it just would not come back on until it had been turned off for an hour or two. It never went out once it was on (i.e. while driving). As I suspected and searches on this site pretty much confirmed, it was my ballast and/or igniter. I needed it fixed ASAP and was not about to take it to a shop or the dealer, as I figured it would be several hundred (or over a grand) for them to fix it. I ordered a new OEM replacement ballast and igniter from Amazon and replaced them this morning and it fixed the issue. I just replaced both vs trying to figure out which was causing the issue, as I am short on time and it was only $20 more for the igniter.

I know most posts say not to use the cheap stuff from Amazon/Ebay, but I was in a hurry and not wanting to put much money into a 19 yr old car. Time will tell if I made the right call, but here are the parts I ordered:
Ballast: Ignitor:
Vids showing what I needed to know to do the job:
front bumper: light/ballast:

 

I've gone through so many bad OEM ballasts on my '02 TL I just decided to replace the whole wiring harness with a full HID kit from HeadlightExperts.com. They work great and I no longer have to worry about finding new old stock parts. What's also hilarious is a ship quoted me $700 just to replace the bulbs and I LOL'd at them and got a really nice pair from the same site for around $50. They do also sell OEM ballasts but I wanted to try the kit for myself and I've had no issues.

 

I just did this a few months ago and then one of the ballasts died already. I'm assuming its because its getting fried when wet. Is there any place I should be putting some silicone or something to better seal it?

 

Is there any videos on how to do the set up of the whole wiring harness? Both of my sides crapped out after replacing both bulbs and HID ballasts. I do not want to pay someone money if I do not need too!