Last week I lost the passenger headlight. Figured it was just a lousy job in replacing them.

Tonight the driver's side headlight would turn on, and randomly turn off. If you restrike the lamp, it'll come back on for a random time. Sometimes it would flicker and immediately shut off.

Since it was dark, I just kept shutting the lights on/off so that the 1 lamp would work.....I'll have to look at it when it's daytime. Doubt it's a loose wire or else it wouldn't work at all or at the very least, restriking it wouldn't have worked.

Any ideas?

 

.......i had a very similar problem awhile ago.......this is the thread i started about it.......hope it helps.........

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-talk-5/just-got-my-dewalt-cordless-impact-wrench-148879/

 

Finally got all the parts and had some time.....

The headlight which kinda worked but had to keep getting re-lit works fine now....put a new assembly in and a new bulb.

The other headlight which completely failed had brown goop in the grey plug....looks like rusty water got in. I get 14V going to the ballast and 12V coming out....it'll quickly spike to 100V when I plug it in, but then drops. Guess the ballast is bad.

You'd think they would have some sort of a rubber washer on the plugs

 

i think it's kind of shitty that Honda didn't put the rubber seal on the ballasts to begin with. if you've read my thread on the main board then you know the dilemma I'm going through. i need to decide if i'm going to buy used or new. and i hope it's the ballast and not something else. i haven't really heard of the igniters going bad.

 

I really doubt the dealership would give me a copy of the schematics of the ballast....so I'll have to try and get a mechanic on the phone who knows electronics.

The ballast says 380V with no load....and I get 12V. The spike I see might be the igniter striking the lamp, but since the ballast is bad, it doesn't stay lit.

Unfortunately, when I opened the ballast, it's a solid block. Not sure if that's how they waterproofed it, if it's a super secret system, or if it's to keep people out so they don't kill themselves.

I'll say this though....I took out the 6000k lamp and had a Philips 4300k in the new headlight assembly. Just ONE lamp was brighter than both 6000k bulbs

 

check the fuse. ihad a headlight go out cuz i shorted something. replace fuse and worked again.

 

Fuse was the first thing I checked...and if the fuse popped, then I wouldn't get any voltage.

My local dealership said it's against their policy to discuss the inverter. Emailed Del Ray Acura (since I'd be buying the inverter from them) and didn't get a response yet.

 

fuse was the first thing I checked as well. next was the relay. then the bulbs. so it has to be the ballast. i was trying to cheap it out and buy one on ebay, but i think i'm going to get one from acuraoemparts.com.

i should go cheap after looking at my account balace this morning!

keep me updated on what you find out.

 

Yeah that site is Delray acura....I get just about all my parts from them.

 

Well I called my local Acura dealer to see if they would price match against Del Ray. The answer was NO of course. Someone on the board had been successful with a dealer price match.

The parts guy tried to get me to buy the iginter as both usually fail according to him. Uh huh... I think he was just going for the hard sell.

So Swampgas, did you buy the igniter as well? I can't decide if I want to buy just the ballast or both.

 

I didn't buy anything yet....I just ran home to get the old inverter. Since I'm at work, I can use the fancy equipment here to check the inverter.

Of course, it's like in the 80s today and sunny....so I'm waiting for the afternoon sun to go away first.

 

Hooked it up to the bench supply....inverter worked. Went to the parking lot, took the bumper off, installed the ballast with a new bulb, and it worked. Put electrical tape around the connector.

Weird.

 

So let me get this right. You never bought any new parts? Just took the old parts off and reinstalled them?

Hmm...

Well I'm pretty sure my ballast took a dump so I finally placed an order at Delray. Can't wait for it to get here. UPS ground is so slow!

 

I replaced both headlight assemblies because the clip to hold in the bulb was broken as well as went back to 4300k bulbs (Philips). Apparently both ballasts were fine.

I guess the water dried up and it fixed itself....but I added electrical tape just in case.

 

Well thats cool. You saved a lot of money. If the ballast does fix my issue you'll see it on ebay the next day.

 

just bought the phillips 4300's.....extremely satisfied

 

Just a little update from me. I ended up buying a new ballast. Turns out this was a bad mistake. So I got the bumper off pulled the headlight and installed the new ballast. It still didn't work! I was like WTF! So I said to my buddy lets try the new bulb that was just sent to me. We popped it in, hooked it up and sure enough it turns right on. Just 2 weeks ago this same friend of mine had swapped both bulbs the bad side bulb worked in the good side. So I say lets try the original ballast and sure enough it's still good! So at this point I'm like FUCK!!!

So we ended up making a trip to get some silicone, sealed up the ballasts and then put her back together.

I have absolutely no idea what the hell happened. I asked him 3 times, are you sure the bulb was seated properly? He thought it was, but wasn't sure. I can't think of anything else it could be other than the clip holding it in came loose or something. Either that or theres a short in the igniter and we jiggled it around.

So at this point I just hope it keeps working!

I also have a brand new in the bag ballast to somehow get rid of!

Oh yeah... And a fix it ticket to get written off.

 

Well it failed again! I'm pretty sure it's the igniter. I can't see what else it would be! The only other thing that I think it can be is the clip that holds the bulb in. I thought I saw a picture of it on the board, but I can't find it.

Any suggestions are very appreciated!

 

The igniter just ramps up the voltage to strike the bulb. The bulb has an infinitely high resistance until you get it going...at which point the normal voltage is sufficient.

If yours didn't work, worked, now doesn't work again, it sounds like water is getting in. That's the same problem I had.

 

Thats why I think it's the igniter. I mean it can't be the ballast because I swapped in a new one and it still didn't work. Also tried a new bulb. The leaves only one thing.

Now heres another weird deal. If I would bang on the headlight and/or jiggle the outside wires around it would light up after I restriked the light. However, if I turned off the light right after and turned it on it wouldn't light again. There has to be a short in the igniter and I somehow tweak it to work when I bang on it.

I'm buying a used igniter off a guy on ebay for $35 bucks. I'll let you know what happens.

I can't wait to pull the bumper off again.

 

I'm sure you already know it, but short the wires to ground before cutting them or doing work. This is the part where you actually can get zapped. I believe the ballast is 380V open circuit and the igniter is several kilovolts.

 

So there is a real danger to messing around with the igniter? As you know we've played around with a couple ballasts and the bulbs already.

I'm not sure what you mean by shorting the ground wires. Can you explain it a little more?

Thanks!

 

Prior to working with high voltage, you touch the wires to something connected to ground. That will ensure that any capacitors that still hold a charge are discharged (not every cap has a discharge resistor).