My girlfriends 2000 TL passenger side headlight went out. I switched the bulbs from side to side, and they both work. The ballast isn’t wet, so I don’t think it needs to be baked in the oven, as I've seen has worked in the archives. I can see the bulb partially fire for a brief second, but it doesn’t successfully turn on.

I am ready to start replacing parts, starting with the ballast.

My question is - what is the best resource to purchase the ballast? The car has about 130k on it, so we want to keep the cost minimal. While cheaper is better, we'd still like to get a quality part. I’ve been looking on car-part.com, but they don’t list the ballast independently.

 

The ballast is both the inverter and the ignitor, so yeah that's what you need to replace. It sounds as if it's not giving the bulb enough juice to ignite the arc in the HID capsule.

At Acuraoemparts.com the price is $204. I guess that's probably more than you want to spend.

I don't think I know of anywhere else.

 

Hi, i saw one on ebay for 150. And there is an aftermarket one at gohid.com for 75 i think.

 

oh by the way, one of my ballast went out and I bought a bulb on ebay for 32 bucks. the bulb worked fine but since it was my ballast and not my bulb, it was 32 bucks wasted. I didnt want to spend 200+ on a new one or even 150 for a used one that might not even work. I was going to try an aftermarket ballast but still was a bit unsure, This weekend I just ended up converting it to halogens. I spent like 16 bucks at wakmart for 2 9006 bulbs and 2 9006 connectors. So far they work fine and I dont have to worry about getting a ticket

 

Well it is your car to do as you please, but if you ever go to get rid of it please be kind enough to let whoever know that this TL has halogens. People who buy TLs after researching expect HIDs.