jsluman

Hey everyone,

I took my 02 TL-S to Cush Acura in San Diego this morning to troubleshoot why the new bulb in my driver's side headlamp won't work. They told me it was the "invertors" or power source that wasn't working properly. I was quoted $730 after spending $95 to diagnose this problem. I've already spent $150 on a new bulb and another $30 for installation only it find out it still doesn't work. I'm about to pull my hair out and need an alternate solution. Should I call a local shop who deals with Acuras to quote me a price? I refuse to pay the dealer this much money to fix a bleepin headlight. Thanks for your feedback!!!!
Jerry ~ jsluman@gmail.com

fsttyms1

Sounds like the inverter. I would try swaping the one from the other side that does work to see if it fixes the problem. If it does, then i would replace it.

You can buy a new one here for 291.00
http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...prddisplay.jsp

jsluman

Thanks, I appreciate your post! Sounds like this invertor is just an expensive part. Is it worth trying to find one at a junkyard?

fsttyms1

You can try. May not be much cheaper, and you dont know what your getting

JAYCEE

Well you could have saved 150.00 plus whatever labor you spent to replace the bulb if you would have had it diagnosed properly from the get go. Ive seen inverters go out and bulb still be good>>>> but whats done is done. I dont think there is any refunds on those light bulbs, My suggestion is find the invereter online most likely will be cheaper than the dealer and take it to back to cush and ask for a discount to install.(DO NOT buy something like this at a junk yard) Ive dealt with Cush and they are reasonable and will work with you. See if they will inlcude the 95.00 you already spent to diagnose towards any labor charge to replace the inverter.
Good luck!!

jsluman

thanks for your input. You are right, cush will apply the $95 toward the replacement of the inverter, however they want to charge $750 total to replace it. I'm getting a quote from Z-Whizz Auto repair to see if I can get the price down to earth. I simply can't bring myself to spend this much $ to replace a non-working headlamp. I appreciate the light system is hi tech and so forth but this is a joke. Do you know of any local (SD) auto repair shops that do good work or specialize in Acuras? Again, I do thank you for your thoughts.

fsttyms1

If you have a baisic set of metric hand tools, you cna do this yourself and save alot of money. The link i posted is for a oem part. and replacing it isnt that hard at all.

h22aDc2

Sounds like the same problem that I am having... I just bought a new bulb and still didnt fix my problem. Thanks for the heads up guys

JAYCEE

Ok, ill try this again.... Buy the part online (refer to the link given above) $291.00 on line versus $490.00 (parts) at the dealer. Then, you take the part to the dealer
ask them to implement the $95.00 already spent in diag to replace and you should come up to a total of approximatle $100.00 to install. You save close to $360.00!!!!

fsttyms1

Yep. Its oem, id order it take it to them to replace. That or do it youself and save even more

JAYCEE

jsluman

What up fellas? Both good solutions, thanks again. I appreciate the heads up on where to find the part online too. Does "OEM" mean it's a genuine Acura part? The dealer tech said if I were to attempt the labor myself I'd have to have access to a lift ~ is this true? Thanks!

JAYCEE

Its probably 10 times easier with access to a lift seeing the inverter unit is located under the headlight and to get to it with ease the front bumper will need to come off, so yes it would help but not absolutely necessary.

JnC

iTrader: (12)

Hey J, heres a solution to your worries. You would need to take the bumper off to take the headlights off of the car but worry not you dont need a lift to do that. Trust me if you know your way around some basic tools then you are all set and you can do it yourself instead of paying the dealership huge amount of money to change the headlight invertors or the ballast themselves.

Link to taking your headlights off of the car


Link to Acuraparts247.com (cheapest place to buy OEM parts)

^^ The above page has the parts listed at the following prices

CONTROL UNIT ASSY. Part Number 33119-S0K-A01 Price---- $180.03

IGNITER, HID Part Number 33129-S0K-A01 Price---- $ 168.06

If you dont want to spend all that money then I suggest you search for the part online. After having my headlights retrofitted i blew one of the ballast but was able to find one on ebay (ballast and invertor) for 50 dollars.

TripnCL

Hey guys sorry to open an old thread but needed some advice. I am having the same problem with my car. I am having hard time finding any good deals on ebay so I am going to buy it from acraparts247.com.

My question...I know my Control unit assy/ballast has gone bad...can I just order the Control unit assy by itself and replace it or do I also need to get the igniter as well? I mean can I just plug my igniter to the new ballast?

Thanks.