So here's the gist. My driver side igniter keeps going out, making it so my low/high beam on that side is out. Once this issue starts, on very rare occasions, it actually comes on and stays on. But if I toggle the lights it goes off again.It's more likely to work right when cold, but still rare.

All other lights work, side marker, fog, etc. I diagnose the igniter every time by swapping it to the other side. Problem ALWAYS follows the igniter only. Not ballast or bulb. This has happened 3-4 times in less than 6 months.

I have tried used OEM igniters from the junkyard, and new aftermarket from eBay. None of them have lasted longer than a few months. I have not spent the money on a new OEM igniter.

It's possible the igniters I have gotten are just shit. If so, what igniters have you guys used that have lasted (other than expensive new OEM)?

Maybe my ballast on the driver side is faulty and slowly killing my igniters? I replaced the original faulty one with used OEM years ago and it seems to still be working fine.

Is it also possible there is some sort of ground issue slowly killing my igniters? I plan on doing a voltage drop test on this circuit, but I've never done that before. If you've dealt with ground issues on this circuit, I'd appreciate your input.

Thank you.

 

In case anyone cares, I did the voltage drop test after swapping igniters from side to side (the problem followed the igniter).

(These numbers are all under load, headlight low beams on, no fog)

Driver side, good igniter
RED/YLW to BLK
11.71v

RED/YLW to Battery +
0.18v

BLK to Battery -
0.05v

Battery voltage
11.94v

Passenger side, good igniter
RED/GRN to BLK
11.69v

RED/GRN to Battery +
0.22v

BLK to Battery -
0.04v

Battery voltage
11.97v

Passenger side, bad igniter, headlight bulb was off
RED/GRN to BLK
11.88v

RED/GRN to Battery +
0.05v

BLK to Battery -
0.00v

Battery voltage
11.96v

My interpretation of these results is that I have had just shit luck with my igniters and there's nothing wrong with my ground or ballasts. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yup doesn’t really
look like an issue upstream to me neither

 

If anyone is wondering what I mean by the colors, I used post #17 in this thread as a reference on how to do this.

 

Update: New igniter put in. Seemed to work at first but under stress testing it failed. I stressed it by flicking the lights on and off in quick succession. The new igniter only ignited like 60% of the time, and when it did it was half a second slow. The old, good igniter worked flawlessly 100% of the time. I even swapped sides to double check it's not a bulb or ground issue.

The new igniter was a new Dorman 601-167 from Amazon. I'm gonna have to just bite the bullet on new OEM.

 

Good luck! Looking forward to see your updates. I had a similar issue and got a used ballast/ignitor from ebay that turned out to be the wrong size. Put the factory ones back in and they magically started working again... ebay is hit or miss when it comes to some of these parts.

 

The wrong size? Can you elaborate on that.

There are so many part numbers for these igniters. Acura has their own numbers, Mazda and Mitsubishi do too. Is there actually a difference between them?

Acura parts website says either of these fits my car:
33129-S2A-J01 - 8 results on eBay
33129-SCC-003 - A million results

W3T14471 - Number written on the good igniter. A Mitsubishi number? 4 results on eBay.

Which to buy? I went with a seller that had unique pictures.

I know I said I would go with new OEM but the cheapest I could find was $500. An eBay "new" gamble was still $225. Couldn't justify it.

 

You can see my thread here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2...ource-1010245/

They sent me ignitors but I never tried them as I was trying to reuse my factory ones. Below is a pic of the ebay ones that came with the used ballasts:

 

Why is your battery voltage below 12V? Engine off, no heavy load, you should be around 12.5V. Engine on, you should be around 14.5V.

Looking at the rest of the readings, there is for sure something not right. With no load (the non-working light), your RED/YEL and RED/GRN to BLK should match the battery. You should take the same readings further upstream at the fuse box to see if you see the same drops.

- Check Fuse No1 to GND on both sides of it
- Check Fuse No6 to GND on both sides of it
- If those two readings are not matching the voltage across the battery directly, then check Fuse No22 on both sides of it.

Also compare hitting GND from the battery directly to BLK at the harness.
* battery + and BLK
* RED/YEL and battery -
* RED/YEL and BLK

If those three don't match, this info will help narrow down where the extra voltage drop is coming from.

 

Jack, I think the voltage drop in the test is pretty normal. There will always be some voltage drop, it's inevitable.

So update, got the "new to me" used OEM igniter off eBay.from seller SparkHID. It did not look like the pictures at all.

It was supposed to be a 33129-S2A-J01 (rubber insulation on the tail). What I got was a 33129-SCC-003 (braided insulation). I thought that was a red flag but said fuck it, let's try it. I put it in and it worked perfectly. Just like the good igniter, 100% ignition rate despite heavy stress testing by toggling the lights in rapid succession. No delay either.

So moral of the story, if you have a similar issue, do your tests but it's pretty likely to be a faulty igniter. Brand new Dorman is not reliable. Junkyard used OEM is also not reliable. Pray you get a good part on eBay or pay the big bucks for new OEM.