Hello, I'm new here. I've just recently purchased a 2008 Acura TL. I noticed the right headlight was out. And they driver side headlight is on but very dim. If I turn off the fog lights, you can barely tell that the driver headlight is even on. How do I go about checking the igniter, I've done research. Is the igniter and ballast separate. The used car dealer said they will replace the entire light assembly. Do you all think that would fix it?! Any info is useful. Thank you.

 

The light assemblies wouldn't include ballasts.

I'd read up in removing your front bumper, you'll be going down that road soon.

 

if it turn on then the igniter is good, however the ballast is more like a main cause for this problem. You have to remove the front bumper then took the headlight out, OEM ballast locate under the headlight assembly.

 

Do the high-beams work fine? The bulbs are dual HID / bi-xenon. If high beams work, I'd rule out the ballast and replace the bulbs.

Read up, enjoy, you're welcome.

From a 2004-2006 service manual, similar, but not identical.

 

Ok I'll let you all know how it goes

 

No the high beams do not work on either side. The driver side light that's dim just does one flick on high beam but it's no brighter. The right side is still nothing. No light on bright or low beam.

 

What? No, that's not good troubleshooting.
The headlights on the Acura TL use the same D2S bulb for low and high beam. When you activate high beams, you only move a shield out of the way of the bulb using a solenoid in the headlight. The bulb is a single filament, which you can clearly see upon inspection of the bulb itself.

D2S



H4 (dual filament)

 

Are the ballasts located inside the headlights? In that case there's no problem if you replace the entire assembly. If the ballasts are outside headlights then you can test by switching out ballasts / igniter from either side and see if the problem follows the ballasts, igniter or headlights.

 

Ok good that makes sense

 

The ballasts are located under the headlights. As MonkeyTrucker said, I'd read up on how to remove your bumper.

 

it will be a great help if you can snap a night with headlight on pic and upload it to here. one low and one on high beam so we can see what are we dealing with here.

 

This is a picture of the lights on the low beam setting.

 

 

your parking light bulb is out, you'll want to replace that too.

as stated, most likely a bad ballast.
remove the front bumper to get to it.

 

OP

Tell the dealer to replace the igniter and the ballast instead of the HL assy.

Then use the new parts to diagnose the rt side hid.

 

its the ballast, but to be safe get a new igniter too. Reason why you said driver beam is dim because normally the car design to run on both beam create a wide beam pattern and bright in the middle. Your driver side is fine, but on the passenger you will need to replace the ballast and ignitor. BTW who's cost is this gona fall under? if dealer will cover the cost get new parts. If you are paying then DIY with used part for cheaper.

 

Hey thanks for your response. And the dealer agreed to cover all cost for headlight repairs. I had them put it in writing, on a paper with the dealer heading.

 

good, now let they replace the entire headlight unit as they insisted.

 

Sup guys well the dealer finally replace the headlights and park light bulbs. I just want to thank everyone for their

 

[QUOTE=SouljaTL;15604065]Sup guys well the dealer finally replace the headlights and park light bulbs. I just want to thank everyone for their replies.





Fixed. Right side still looks dim.

 

You know you have 04-06 TL headlights?

 

^Good eye Thanh!

 

yeah saw that too.