Tonite, while i was driving on the freeway, i noticed that my left HID light was flickerin on and off, then later on it completely shut off. I turned off the lights and it came back on. Soon, it started to flicker again but didnt turn off. Im wonderin, is the hid light dying, or is there some kind of other problem that i need to get check out.

 

It sounds like your left ballast is about to fail.

 

Hey, i got that same exact problem...Its not the balast, the bulb NOR the ignitor. I have an appointment this tusday to get that checked out, i'll post here how it goes.

READ:
My problem started like that and the it progressed to the point that it makes almost no light and it just flickers. To see what was wrong (dealership wants to charge $100 to do what i did) i took the bumper and both headlights out and then connected the flickering headlight to the cables of my right headlight (right H was working OK) and guess what, every bulb worked fine. i put everythjing back together and yup, the left headlight flickered.

When i switched the Hs, i took the WHOLE THING, balast, bulbs and that case under the H (HID ignitor shit). I'm not sure but it might be our batteries?? i havent changed mine in over 4years. how about yours? are BOTH your Hs doing that? whichone?

 

yea, its my left hid, and its the only one that has the problem. It just flickers a bunch of times and sometimes it shuts off completely, and then ill turn the lights off and back on and itll work again but 5 seconds later it starts to flicker again.

 

the car is about 3 years old and i bought it used a couple months ago, so its possible the batt hasnt been changed for that long.

 

mine did the same thing. it is my left HID. but mine never turned back on

 

i had this same problem, my headlight assembly was cracked on the side and water had gotten in and caused the bulb and the inverter to start fuckin up...it always turned on but turned off after like 2 minutes and i'd have to turn it back on... if you bring it to Acura you'll either have to buy a new bulb $144 or a new assembly if yours is cracked too $230 something and if the invertor or ignitor need replacing theyre not too cheap either good luck

 

TPATEL, did you fix yours? what did you do?

invertor= 128
ignitor= 120
bulb=136
atleast @ my dealership.

but Alley, our problem is different, our headlights are not cracked meaning none of this components are bad...actually, the ignitor (black box) is weather resistant and if your bulbs makes light then its good, this HID bulbs either work or dont.

The only other chance other than our question on the battery is the inverter...because i dont know what it is

ill post the results of tusday's visit...untill then,

peace

 

Hey, i just came back from the dealership and guess what...It was the gound wire...apparently when i installed my CAI, i dont konw how this got loosen or watever...i got chaged like $50just for labor...i coul've done that myself...

Oh, i talked to them about your problem and they say if its not my same problem it HAS to be the ignitor...$227+1.5hr labor+tax =$411... thats what i was gonna get charged untill they noticed that after the replacement nothing happened and someone noticed the unconnected spliced gound wire...WIeeeRRRD

peace.

CHECK YOUR GROUND WIRE...you might be runing lower voltage b/c of this...

 

mine did the same thing. i took it to acura. they tested the entire system, ballast and igniter were fine, bulb was blown. new bulb $140 !!! install $20!!! total cost $160!!! (canadian dollars, so like $130/140US) what a damn joke for a headlight. i rang the BMW dealership afterwards to see what they charged for the HID bulb (they are all the same philips D2R (i think thats the part#)), and it was like $30 cheaper, had i known i would have done it myself.

 

spoke to a few people about this, it has to be the ignitor b/c if it were the ballast, the light would just die, there would be no flickering. ACURAOEMPARTS.com so far has the best new prices.

 

scratch last reply, just installed new igniter and the headlight continues to randomly turn on and off. I am not convinced it is probably the inverter/ ballast. Or at least that is what i think

 

I'm having a similar problem. Sometimes my left headlight doesn't turn on. When it does, I've noticed that it seems to have a yellowish hue vs the whtie light from than the right headlight. Now what does that mean?

 

swap the bulb out with the bulb from the other side and see if you have the same problem...if not..then your original bulb is going bad.

 

Thanks for the advice. Other members seem to be having problems with ballasts and ignitors, so I was curious if there's a common problem. I hope it's just the bulb.

 

Wish I had read this before spending my time on my driver side light that was flickering and then turning off. I pop'd the hood and listened to the lights as they turned on. If you hear a noise it is probably your bulb. I thought it was my ignitor so I bought another $150 at my dealer, I put it on in front of the dealership, and it did the same thing. Now I know it is the bulb, I only have 40,000 miles on this bulb. I bet when I take it out it will have a hot spot on it from the tech that touched it when he installed it. I have already put one complete set of bulbs in this car.

But, they look cool.

 

wait DON'T DO IT!!! Don't buy a new bulb yet, and read carefully the last couple of posts again. You may be coming to a bad conclusion like I did. First SWAP the bulbs to see if it really is the bulbs and not the BALLAST. I made the same mistake by first replacing the bulbs, then the igniter, and now only finding out that it is probably the BALLAST. Furthermore, since you were willing to spend 150$ from the dealership to buy the igniter, I urge you to note that these parts can all be found online cheaper- IE- my igniter was 100$ from acuraoemparts.com, bulbs were 35$ each from ebay, and Ballast was 80$ from junk yard. PLEASE SWAP THE BULBS FIRST.

 

there is some good information from some mechanics over at the ACURA-CL.com forum. If researching this problem, I also recommend going there for advise (sign in w/ same username and password). In terms of this being a common problem, my acura dealership at least said it was common enough. Looking through search, it seems a portion of this is coming from water getting into the ballast after people clear their headlights, though mine are stock and I've had no accidents.

 

i can sell you my set for 280 shipped. I have a 2000 tl and i dont drive with it on during the day and i hardly go out at night since i have to study.

 

As in your black market ad, I think we are still confused with what you are selling... would you be able to post a pic?

 

I will try swapping the bulbs. PS the tech at acura told me to do the same thing. I was just lazy and didn't want to. But you convinced me. I will try that.

 

write back if you have any problems..those annoying safety screws can be removed with a small flat screwdriver, which is what I did. And the lights are locked in place by the little clip.

 

Swapped the bulbs - the same one still flickers and the good one is fine, so I guess it's the bulb and not the ballast, inverter or igniter, after all. If you have an ACE hardware nearby, the Torx T-20 secure bit costs about $1.50. Home Depot didn't carry it.

 

I switched the bulbs, and my bulb is going bad, in fact after I switched it it completely blew. I just won a auction on ebay for 10,000k bulbs for $118. That is for two bulbs. I will let you know how they look.

PS. When I took out the blinking bulb it was dark inside the small circle in the center of the bulb. If your bulb looks like that then it is definetly going to burn out soon. (This will save you having to switch the bulbs).

 

did your bulbs light output turn pinkish before this happened?

 

It was pink for about a week, then when I turned it on it would blink for about thirty seconds then go out.

 

I put the new bulbs I got off ebay in last night. 10,000 k Man are they cool. Very blue white light not the yellow tint they had with the factory 4,500 k bulbs. $118 for 2 bulbs.

IMPORTANT READ THIS!

When I switched the bulbs on these as recommended by you guys, I noticed that my right side did not have the plastic ring around the assembly where the ignitor is housed. The last time I had the bulbs replaced the dealer must have taken it off. (it is easy to take on and off without it.) After thinking about it that must be why the bulb only lasted 40,000 miles. Without sealing the fixture it allowed moisture into my bulb area where it caused undo stress on the bulb. I am going to replace the plastic ring before I drive the car. I would recommend if you are having issues make sure the ring is there. I leave the lights on all the time on my car and they lasted about 130,000 miles for the first set.

Good luck.