JMAL

So i searched and read posts about the ballast going bad and the bulbs going bad, but i have a question for the experts out there.

I have an 03 TLS with 77k. i replaced the hids with kiaxen 5k about a year or so ago.

Here is the issue, my drivers side headlight flickers about 50% of the time i make right hand turn at moderate/low speed like tight exit ramps or local street turns. and it flickers about 20% of the time when i make left hand turns. very rarely it will flicker when i hit a hard bump which is what confuses me. on long turns sometimes it will flicker then turn off. but if i turn off the headlights and back on it comes right back on. it also seems more common when its colder.

Anyone have any idea what would make the ballast malfunction mainly while turning? since it doesnt really ever flicker on hard bumps and it pretty much works perfect on normal highway driving, i am not sure its a loose connection.

Any advice is appreciated.

J

ANC297

iTrader: (2)

I'd say its probably a loose connection...

daNNiebOixDD

iTrader: (3)

^ i agree.

my HID foglights had a somewhat similar problem. it usually flickered whenever I went over bumps. found a small area of wires that were not intact.... electrical taped it up, unplugged and replugged, and it was okay.

'03TL-S

iTrader: (10)

I would open it up and check to see if anything is loose. Switch both sides and see if it does the same.

JMAL

should i just swap bulbs? or pull the balast and swap that too?

ts_vaj

Weird. I've had that exact same problem this month. My lights flicker over hard bumpy roads and the driver's side would flicker during left turns and eventually turn off. Turning the lights off and then on again would light it back up until the next time I turned or hit a bump. It happens everytime I drive and bugs me at night.

I took the car to the dealer last week to do a 180k service and told them about that problem. They checked it and could not duplicate the problem at all so they told me nothing was wrong....I got the car back and it's normal again...No more flickering... Weird.

JMAL

argh its soo annoying. that kinda funny that mine does it on right turns but is also the drivers head light.

so they didnt do anything at all? bummer i wanted to see what could be the issue.

jdjohn84

I would suspect the bulb or bulb connection rather than the ballast. Maybe the bulb is not seated properly in it's socket; they can be tricky with that wire clip. Maybe the centrifugal force during a turn makes the bulb lean to the side and lose contact temporarily.

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

it might also have to do something with the laterial forces, when turning and such, something is moving

btw has the car ever been hit on the driver's fender, something might be rubbing or something there, which when turning the front kinda moves to the side then it breaks the connection and such, but when going striaght the front end is not flexing (think of why we got a strut bar stock, even if it is not that good)

JMAL

yeah lateral forces seem pretty likely. the car has never been hit so its not that i assume. i think im going to remove the bulb swap them and replace. see if the the process of swapping cures it.

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

just that some people like those salvage cars on here , so just doable checking



and the swapping bit, it probably won't cure it, but if it swaps sides now, then you know it is following the part last swapped (i did the same thing to make sure it was my ballest when it did crap out on me at 100k, like a week after i got the car, so no idea if it had flickered before [and that was my passenger side btw]) and when i opened the ballest, it litially had burn marks on the board, let me dig for the picture of it real fast

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

JMAL

i really am not in the mood to take the headlight out... i am wishfully thinking that the swapping and reconnection will help hahah

JMAL

argh that is crazy. what did you end up doing? did you swap to after market?

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

you can swap the bulbs from side to side from the back, but otherwise the bumper and such has to come off


no i just put a stock one back in, and they actually had it in stock , it went out sunday night, and was fixed monday afternoon
and i do know that the ballest has been redesigned since the cars were new, idk for that specific area though, but i do know they got seals around the connecter for the igniter now though, to help prevent water intrusuin